Heritage Floors – Working safely on Heritage Parquetry flooring

Many flooring professionals will come into contact with old Parquetry, or wood flooring that has been adhered with Bitumen (tar), or Bituminous Adhesives. It is therefore important that we understand the dangers of working with this type of adhesive as it ages and becomes dust particles. Bituminous Adhesives become brittle as they age. At some point, the adhesive ‘gives up’ and no longer holds the flooring down – creating a situation where the adhesive will over time become pulverised, becoming a dust beneath the flooring itself. When exposed, the pulverised dust (adhesive particles) can become airborne.