Reclaimed parquet

[AJB Temple]

Mrs AJB T has found about 22 square metres of oak 22mm thick T&G parquet for free, which we picked up yesterday and stacked in an outbuilding today. Bizarrely this was in a house in our lane and had been on FB market place for weeks, several buyers having turned it down for being too thick or failed to turn up to buy it. Hence it was destined for a skip this weekend :-(

It was apparently laid in the early 1980s and for most of that time it has been under a carpet. It's rather scratched, but not worn. I'm not entirely sure what we will do with it, but gift horse / mouth etc....

It was laid on tar. There are obviously hundreds and hundreds of blocks with a solid black tar base. I'm wondering how to deal with this. Any ideas guys?

It's either going to go (if useable) into a large bedroom (along with some ex church reclaimed pitch pine to make a raised 4 poster dias) or into a yet to be built downstairs double loo and overflow cellar store. I'm wondering if I can just ignore the tar and re-lay it on a fresh base of something, then sand the top with a floor finisher, or whether I need to clean it all off (daunting ? ).

Can I blow torch the backs to clean / smooth it? I think it would seriously FU my PT.

 

[Distinterior]

If I remember correctly, there was a thread over on the "other place" where someone also acquired/was laying some pre-laid parquet flooring.
Perhaps have a search for that thread and it may offer some useful information...?

 

[Cabinetman]

I certainly wouldn’t try to remove the tar with a blow torch! Your lungs wouldn’t thank you. It can be brittle but it’s a Hell of a job chipping it all off.
Yes I remember that thread, but sorry can’t remember what he did,