Parquet for bitumen - is the “Soviet” technology worth attention?
Good afternoon. My grandfather was a SUV, and the master with a capital letter. He was very much appreciated. And as far as I remember, in those days (Soviet) parquet was laid on bitumen. Since then, much has changed, but I know several apartments where the parquet laid by him is still preserved. What do you think, maybe the old proven "grandfather" method is worth remembering. I'm just going to lay the flooring in my "kopeck piece". I would like to do as qualitatively “for centuries” as the previous masters did.
Frankly speaking, the popularity of bitumen as a material for laying parquet is not very clear. Even then, there were easier and more environmentally friendly ways of installing a parquet floor. You may not remember all the details of your grandfather’s work. As for bitumen, we want to say the following:
- Bitumen is a black substance with an amphora structure. Its main difference from crystalline bodies is the absence of a specific melting point.
- It is resistant to aqueous solutions of most acids, salts, alkaline compounds, but is “afraid” of organic solvents - ethyl alcohol, gasoline, turpentine, acetone, benzene, etc.
- Bitumen is a hydrophobic material, that is, it is not wetted by water. It has a dense structure, its porosity is almost zero. It is for this reason that it is waterproof and frost-resistant.
If we consider it through the prism of requirements for parquet glue, then it has a whole host of disadvantages:
- Black color. Most natural wood does not accept this parameter. If bitumen gets to the ends, then after opening with varnish this place has the form of a black strip imitating a gap between parquet dies.
- Heating radiators. Since the bitumen does not crystallize, then near the heating devices the parquet floor may be deformed.
- Stability. It does not have sufficient rigid elasticity.
- Low stabilityl to chemical influences.
- Installation. It is necessary to carry out the laying of the parquet piece by piece, since the material immediately becomes rigid when it cools down. After laying, the master is not able to fix or correct problem areas.
- Environmental friendliness. This parameter is generally very problematic, since bitumen is a product of oil refining.
Based only on this short information, we can conclude that bitumen is not suitable for laying parquet. The market has enough modern high-tech and safe adhesives for laying parquet.
