Dellmensingen Castle, located in the municipality of Erbach in the Alb-Donau district of Baden-Württemberg, was built in the Baroque style. Over the centuries, the castle changed hands several times and served various purposes, including as an agricultural estate, a monastery and later as a residential and administrative centre. Following extensive renovation work in the 1970s, the castle is now divided into several apartments and a business centre.
As part of the ongoing restoration of the castle, the flooring was recently refurbished. Local expert Rudolf Scherer, owner of the Scherer joinery in Dellmensingen, took on the task and laid 75 square metres of coffered wood flooring, using half of an original coffer as a model. The rest of the floor was reproduced and then laid. The aim was to revitalise the castle by carefully modernising it, while preserving its historic charm. Thanks to the expert work of the wood professional and the high-quality 2-component Magic Oil 2K Original wood floor oil from Pallmann, this was achieved to impressive effect.
Laying and finishing the cassette floor
Mr Scherer had previously discovered half a cassette of the original historic floor, which he used as a template for the rest of the panelled wood floor. Using his skilled craftsmanship, he completed the old oak and spruce cassette and produced a further 80 cassette elements in his workshop. He laid these on the existing substructure and expertly screwed them together. The original cassette was placed in the centre of the floor. To ensure a strong bond between the floor and the subfloor, he used Uzin MK 200 1-component STP wood floor adhesive, which he applied evenly to the subfloor using a B11 notched trowel, and carefully pressed the wood floor elements into place to create a perfect base for the finish to be applied.
The next step was for the specialist to sand the floor with his single disc machine at 80 grit. He repeated this process a second time with 120 grit, using the dust from these two sanding processes to optimise the subsequent cementing of the floor. After a drying time of approximately two hours, the surface was sanded again with 120 grit.
The wood specialist then treated the prepared floor with Magic Oil 2K Original, a solvent-free oil-wax combination from Pallmann. He mixed the two components A and B of Magic Oil 2K Original and applied the product evenly over the entire floor with a smoothing trowel. When dry, he used a single disc machine and a beige cleaning pad to remove any excess material. He then applied a second coat of the 2-component wood floor oil over the entire surface. After this step, he again removed any excess material with the beige cleaning pad and finally, he polished the surface twice with his single disc machine and a white cleaning pad to create a homogeneous appearance on the surface.
Thanks to the meticulous work of Rudolf Scherer and the use of Pallmann's high quality Magic Oil 2K Original, the panelled wood floor has been professionally reinstalled according to the historic model. This successful project shows how traditional craftsmanship and modern materials can be successfully combined to preserve cultural heirlooms. The floor is now resistant to mechanical and chemical wear and tear and ready to withstand many more historic moments.