In order to dry out our floors/ceilings after a water pipe break, the drying company had to drill holes in several parkett boards. Originally it was expected that a lot of boards would need replaced and a flooring company was supposed to do that part of the job.
However (good news) it turned out that only five boards had to be drilled, but (bad news) that means the job of replacing those five boards is now too small for the flooring pros we have asked to be willing to do.
So we’ll have to replace those floorboards ourselves.
OH has been watching Youtube videos and thinks it should be easy. But having learned the hard way that so much house renovation stuff is just different here, are there any ‘Switzerland specific’ gotchas to laying Swiss parkett that I need to be aware of?
I’m especially concerned about making sure I don’t do anything that might affect the underfloor heating.
(I have enough of the original parkett, so that’s one problem already solved.)
Tips or things to look out for from those of you who have replaced parkett in Swiss floors woud be much appreciated!
Seriously? They’ve never heard of customer service? Make sure you never, ever even consider them for a job again and name and shame so none of us doesn’t either.
If you get good tips here, great. If not it seems you had enough craftsmen walking in and out your house lately to maybe get a contact to someone who’s willing to to a quick (to a pro) evening job. That’s what I would do.
the drying company - or whoever is handling the works from the insurance side - should assure that your parkett is fully restored – if it means subcontracting to change the damaged boards, that’s the insurance’s work, not yours!
Hope that the boards were not glued together - while the “tongue and groove” fittings are relatively easy, it’s quite common for installers to put a bead of wood glue to bind them.
Also, typically - to remove one without cutting the tongue/groove means lifting A LOT of boards to get to the edge of the room…
I second Izzy_the_busy_bee … recommend you push back on the drying company and have ‘them’ fix the repairs …
Had flooding in the kitchen (broken/old drain). Did not know. Downstairs neighbor informed us of water coming through their ceiling.
Luckily, most of the flooding was under the sink. Drying/plumbing people came, installed a hot-air heater and a de-humidifier for 2 weeks. They drilled a hole into one of the tiles to determine the breadth of wetness. As part of the repairs, they brought in a tiler who replaced the only tile they drilled into.
Yeah, I hear ya - in a perfect world the whole repair job would be one seamless project. But in reality each bit requiring a separate skill is done by a different company, and coordination is the biggest challenge.
I can’t fault the drying company, they’ve been very helpful. They have done their bit, and done it well. The next step is not their problem.
As above, the original company that was to do the floor is no longer interested given the change in the job scope. We have not been able to find another local company.
(Welcome to home ownership! It’s always difficult to find a professional willing to do a very small job. One learns to roll with the punches and to up one’s DIY skills.)
Don’t know if the floor boards are glued together… that will be interesting if it turns out they are. Thanks for that warning! OH is very handy, but…
Best of luck. I have made ‘small’ repairs on my parkett several times. It is never small. And every time, (on the parkett of the same house), I had to change the process because of the substrate underneath, how the planks were fixed, or how the wood had been treated or restored… But of course, that is on a Secession building… hope your flooring is not so old
In any case, i foresee hours of joy looking for new youtube videos, and practicing various yoga positions - and not necessarily for relaxing purposes
…
I managed to damage three or four boards and the company that did the installation said matching boards are not available.
I tried a couple of places but no luck, so gave up.
It nags me so I willhave to get on the case again.
As others have said it should not be difficult so long as there is no glue between the boards or under them.
Try lifting the boards in a corner or under furniture to check how easy that is and in case of damage
Possibly your floor has has changed colour slightly so might be worth taking boards from some out of the way part of the floor for the repair and replace them with fresh ones from your store
I feel your pain. We had water damage at the family home. The company that came out on behalf of insurance wrote the report and handled the drying, but their report clearly says the owner needs to contact the floor guy, the plasterer, the painter, etc. And they wouldn’t make recommendations because it would be unethical or something. Getting companies to come out to make a quote is nearly impossible, forget actually having repairs done!
One one hand, the holes are six centimeters in circumference, in a seven centimeter board. Cutting a piece to plug the hole will be noticeable.
But on the other hand, plugging the holes could be a workable stop-gap measure. At least that would allow us to move forward with the rest of the repairs.
Who knows, perhaps one day we might have more floor work to do, which would make a job more attractive to professionals.
But on the third hand, if we wait and use professionals later, we won’t get the repair covered by insurance.
But on the fourth… if we do it ourselves, there is no cost.
There must be a lot of Swiss people who have had the same problem.
We did but the insurance company arranged the replacement tiles (not wood) which had the 7cm holes in them. We did have to organise the painter though for the walls.
Anyway, if many people have this problem, and only require a few boards, or tiles to be replaced, then there must be companies here who can carry out the replacement of just a few boards.
If I were you, I’d take some photos and ask for quotes on Renovera.ch. Quotes are free with no obligation.
Likewise for us.
The insurance company arranged for the tiles to be replaced but we had to get quotes for the replacement doors and painting and then the insurance chose which ones to go for and authorized the work.
I would imagine it’s something they have to deal with relatively often.
I suppose we were lucky; the rooms where the other dozen or so holes needed to be drilled had tile floors. Those tiles have been replaced, along with the bathroom wall, by the tiler who partnered with the plumber who fixed the leaking pipe.
So we just have two rooms with wood floors to worry about…
And then the plasterer and painter, who won’t be free to start for about a month or two…
And then the many other non-leak related fixing-up projects that, since the house is now empty, I can see need to be done…
And down the renovation rabbit hole we go.
The saving grace in all this is that 20-some years ago when I first renovated the house I miscalculated and bought more tile and wood flooring than needed. For twenty years I have been cursing that pile of extra tile and flooring for taking up precious space in the cellar. Well, not cursing anymore.
A hole saw is one way, but maybe you can find someone with a workshop to cut you “biscuits,” which is done with a special joinery drillpress. (Obviously they would cut you round ones.) Normally they are used to join two pieces of wood together, but I can see fabricating thick ones to plug your parquet. Pop them in and refinish…
