Parquet Floor Fitting

Parquet Flooring Blocks - Being in Style with Classics

Parquet flooring is a classic type of wooden flooring distinguished with its elegance and style. It consists of parquet blocks, rather than floor boards, which can be installed in various patterns such as Classic Herringbone, Brick style, Ladder, Basket weave and Chevron.

While there are many types of parquet floorings on the market today, oak parquet blocks remain the most popular choice for many homeowners. Some more exotic timber types such as walnut, merbau, teak, and ash are also available in parquet blocks for a more contemporary and vibrant interiors. Parquet flooring is a prominent choice of floor covering not only because of its magnificent appearance, but also due to its durability and endurance. Most parquet flooring types come in 20mm thick tongue-and-groove solid wood blocks, which allows for several rounds of sanding and resealing. There are of course thinner options such as 10 mm thick parquet blocks, but these are less popular as the thicker the solid wood the greater the longevity of the floors.

Engineered parquet flooring is also available on the market today. Engineered parquet blocks are composed of several layers of wood, where only the top layer consists of solid wood, adhered together to form the parquet block. Engineered parquet flooring is a perfect solution for for underfloor heated areas, which is not possible with solid parquet blocks. The most popular pattern of installation for engineered parquet blocks is herringbone. Similarly to engineered floor fitting, most engineered parquet blocks can be installed as floating, where they are clicked together or glued together. Most engineered parquet blocks come prefinished and therefore, installation of a boarder or a decorative strip is not possible. Blocks are usually laid throughout the floors from wall to wall, allowing sufficient expansion gap for the natural expansion and contraction of the wood as a response to changes in air humidity and temperature.

Similarly to all other types of real wood flooring, parquet is available in three grades – prime, natural (also referred to as select) or rustic. The grade defines the quality of the wood and its appearance. Prime grade parquet flooring is characterised with no knots or sapwood or very few and small knots, which provides a smooth and uniform appearance. Natural (or select) grade floorings have a few knots and some sapwood, while the rustic grade offers the greatest level of colour variation between the blocks with plenty of knots and sapwood for a more natural and vibrant presentation.

What You Need To Know About Parquet Flooring

Parquet floor installation requires a precise planning to ensure the desired appearance and feel. Achieving the selected design and pattern is only possible if the area is carefully prepared and depicted in detail. Parquet floor fitting is also a more time-consuming process as it involves several essential steps such as subfloor preparation, parquet fitting and then the final finishing.

Subfloor Preparation

Unlike other types of floor installations, such as engineered wood or solid wood floorings, parquet flooring is made up of small pieces and therefore it requires a perfectly levelled subfloor. That’s why before installation of parquet floors, it is essential to prepare a perfect base which is stable and even such as concrete. Where parquet flooring is to be laid on top of floorboards, it is important to first install a layer of plywood or chipboard to ensure that the subfloor is solid and flat. For new or recently renovated buildings, it is also important to make certain that the screeds are well dried before proceeding to parquet fitting.

Parquet Floor Fitting

Once the subfloor is perfectly levelled, the parquet blocks are installed in the desired pattern - Classic Herringbone, Basket weave, Mosaic or Chevron. Parquet floorings can be decorated with a boarder around which can be made up from a single or double block. For an even more alluring appearance, you can also choose to have a decorative strip around, which is usually made from an exotic coloured wood such as walnut, mahogany or wenge. At Floorworks™ we can also offer a decorative 3-strip deco borders made up from different wood species such as merbau-ash-merbau and walnut-ash-walnut timber, providing an excellent finish to any floor.

The Finish

Most parquet floorings come unfinished and therefore, once fitted the floors need light parquet floor sanding, buffing and sealing with either hardwearing varnish or hardwax oil. For our projects we rely on the leaders in the floor finishing industry, including Bona, Osmo and Loba floor sealants. In most cases parquet floor gap filling is also done before the application of the sealant to ensure that there are no gaps and imperfections between the blocks. At FloorWorks we use the latest technology for dust free sanding including "Lagler Trio" and Bona "FlexiSand", which are the perfect tools for fine finishing of parquet flooring. Staining is also possible, should you wish to change the colour of the parquet blocks. This is done after the gap filling and before the sealing stage of the parquet finishing process.

Installation of Reclaimed Blocks

At FloorWorks we do not install reclaimed parquet blocks. The reason for this is that all our services come with a service guarantee. To maintain this guarantee, we always seek to ensure that the timber is sufficiently dry and of a high quality. This, unfortunately, is not possible with reclaimed parquet blocks. We also ensure that parquet blocks are sufficiently thick to accommodate the sanding and finishing process. Again, we cannot guarantee this with reclaimed parquet blocks and therefore, we do not provide this service.