Page 10 - Parquet International January 2014

ON FIELD
Here we see the results of an attempt to remove laying glue residue through mechanical action.
IN DEPTH ANALYSIS
Cloudiness can also be seen in the board’s head sections.
Laboratory results
of a material sample confirm the presence of calcium carbonates.
stallers use the same cloth over and over again to remove different types of glue in various different surroundings, with the re- sult that instead of cleaning the floor, they only make it dirtier!
The consequences of the wrong
type of cleaning
If we were to insist on using an erroneous method, precisely how would the floor’s surface get soiled, and what would the con- sequences be? When the wrong type of
cleaning is performed, the dissolved traces of adhesive expand into the pores of the wood. After cross-linking occurs, especial- ly on brushed and/or darker surfaces, cloudy spots can easily be seen on the sur- face of the floor.
These marks are simply the remains of the filler contained in the adhesive, most usu- ally, calcium carbonate, which stands out clearly due to its white color. When this hap- pens, the damage is considerable, and only mechanical methods can be used to remove the residue at this point. Darker floors will be dotted with white specks. The class of grain section also plays a role in the greater or lesser visibility of these white spots, which are particularly evident in the tan- gential grain (Standard), whereas in boards with radial grain (Extra) the anomaly is less visible, even if it is still there.
Looking at the planking with a digital mi- croscope shows the presence of substances that are most likely minimal portions of the adhesive used. This particular brushing makes the problem more evident: the mi- croscopic space created in the wood is filled with adhesive residue. It must be remem- bered that we’re looking at a millimetric area, and that this is entirely normal in a wood floor subjected to brushing. As shown by digital microscope, similar “white spots” can also appear in parts of the board’s head because some portion of the chemical sub- stance, in fact, always remains trapped in the grooves created by the mechanical brushing that always begins at the edge of the plank or strip.
Lighter-colored wood
and oil-finished floors
Although “white substances” are obvious- ly more evident in floors of darker color wood, the problem also arises in wood floods of lighter color. In this case, the prob- lem is usually exacerbated whenever the