Wood Parquet Flooring

[Seirra]

I'm laying out a parquet floor design for the Heritage house by Duracraft right now...the instructions booklet advises that I use contact cement to adhere the floor because any sort of water-based glue will warp the wood strips because they're so thin, and stain the floor after it's been adhered. I'd like to use multiple shades of woodstain in different parts of my parquet design & feel it would be too difficult to keep each color separated to the appropriate pieces once everything is glued together. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can stain the wood pieces prior to adhering them without them warping? I worry that weighting them down to keep them straight might rub off the stain unevenly as it's drying...

[Seirra]

Here's the floor layout thus far...I'd like to do a different color stain for the triangle areas in between the framework...

(None of it has been glued down yet)

Edited August 6, 2021 by Seirra

[Kells]

That is going to be a beautiful floor. Oil-based stain won't warp like water-based stain might do. It's messier and harder to clean up but worth it. Get a little bottle or can of turpentine to clean your brushes. Once dried, they can be permanently ruined.

Wax paper is a gift from god, I swear. Lay it over the pieces before weighting them down. It is non-absorbent and won't pull stain out of the wood.

[Seirra]

Thank you Kells!

Yes! I discovered the glory of wax paper when staining the floors of my first dollhouse & got frustrated with the newspaper sticking...I imagine with oil-based stain it won't shift around under the wax paper & settle unevenly as much then? I'll have to pay closer attention to that difference, as it's probably been my majority issue in the past. That's good to know that it shouldn't warp as much too- those wood pieces are SO thin! Lol

[Kells]

I would give a light coat of stain to each piece individually and then weight them down. That first light coat seals the wood. After that you won't need to worry so much about warping. Also, you'll need to very lightly sand each piece afterward because even oil-based stain will raise the grain. Use very fine sandpaper, like 150 or 200 grit. You need to sand in the direction of the grain of wood. Take it from someone who refinished an entire parquet floor in RL and had to change direction a few thousand times, you want to do that when the pieces aren't put together!

For a final finishing coat, buffing with beeswax gives a beautiful, rich and glowing finish. Give everything a day or two to dry well first. Oil stains take a lot longer to dry than water-based.

[havanaholly]

For next time you might want to stain your veneers before cutting them into shapes and touch up the edges, then let the stain thoroughly dry before laying your pieces.  That's going to be one elegant floor!