Burlington County NJ white oak parquet floor refinishing

This unique white oak hardwood floor in Burlington County, NJ was something different for us to restore. The flooring was custom-made in the 80s. It looks like it belongs in a French villa. A lot of work and effort had gone into designing and making it. It’s constructed from dozens of individually crafted patterned panels, each over an inch thick. Each panel has dozens of boards cut into a custom parquet design, and the individual panels are held together by dowels.

Originally coated with oil-based polyurethane, this floor had seen better days. It was now worn out, scratched, and wavey from the previous sanding. Our goal was to remove the old finish, flatten the floor, and give it a crisp new look and lease on life. Below you can see the before and after photos of this project.

Project details...

The parquet floors installed throughout the main level of this home were in dire need of restoration. In the photos below, you can see spots where the previous finish has worn away. There were marks, dents, and scratches all over the surface. And the floor had last been sanded and refinished before the invention of multi-head sanders that flatten floors, hence the waves and sanding divets you can see below…

These two photos show the construction of the individual panels. Each is made in a basketweave pattern with multiple pieces of white oak. Backing boards were fixed to the top boards making up the design, which made each panel over an inch thick. These are solidly built panels!

The client wanted to step away from the 80s-style oil polyurethane look and give it a modern feel. So we set up a few samples of different colors of stains and finishes…

Ultimately, they decided to go natural and coat it with an ultra-low-sheen water-based product called Loba Invisible. That gives it a modern raw wood look and keeps it bright and non-yellowing.

But first, the floor needed to be sanded…

The photos below show the first couple of coats of the Loba Invisible after coating. A huge difference compared to the 80s original finish. It looks like a brand-new floor.

Here is a shot showing how the individual panels look. Each one is held together to the other by a series of dowels...

And below, you can see the finished result after refinishing and coating with the commercial-grade finish, Loba Invisible. It now has a beautiful modern matte sheen coating the super flat freshly sanded panels.

New white oak stair treads were also custom fabricated and installed to match the white oak flooring. We finished them with the same commercial grade water-based finish…

And here is a final photo showing a more extensive section of the floor—what a change from the worn-out oil base yellowing poly that was on there before. Many hours went into using our multi-disk sander to ensure a super flat floor…

We enjoyed sanding and refinishing this unique hardwood floor in Burlington County, NJ. It now has a brand new lease on life and has come out of the 80s into the modern world while retaining its beautiful old-world character.