When people go in search of wood flooring, it’s always surprising at how quickly most of them rule out hardwood parquet flooring.
Parquet Flooring
For people wanting to contract a floor, a prime concern is cost; anything that looks as sumptuous as parquet flooring has got to be ruinously expensive, especially when it comes near the end of the construction budget (as is usually the case with flooring).
Believe it or not, even some of the complicated parquet flooring patterns are in fact easier (but not necessarily faster) to install than strip or plank, at least in a square or rectangular room without a lot of cut-up space. For simple patterns like Finger Block, you can usually figure that a parquet floor requires about 25% less work during installation than the equivalent area in strip or plank.
Depending on the grade, species, thickness and pattern, hardwood parquet flooring is often cheaper than strip or plank. That said, parquet might not be right for every room in the house. Like a rich dessert, a little of it goes a long way. Intricate patterns like diamond or herringbone may look attractive in a single room, but vast expanses of the stuff may be more than you can stand. Moreover, some parquet floor patterns are acutely direction sensitive, which means laying them one way will look fine but laying them another way will look just awful. The only way to find out for certain is to “dry lay” trial patterns on the subfloor and have a look.
Hardwood Parquet Flooring Materials And Design
Parquet Flooring
Even though it’s not as widely used as strip and plank, parquet flooring is sold in considerable variety. Well-stocked flooring suppliers are almost certain to have on hand popular patterns like 5/16-in. thick Finger Block and Haddon Hall. Most suppliers should be able to order any pattern or species you want. You can design your own parquet and have it made (for a price that may be breathtaking) by mills that specialize in custom work.
Parquet is sold in a multitude of sizes and thicknesses. The most common thicknesses are 5/16 in. and 3/4 in.; tile sizes vary greatly, depending on the pattern. The most common sizes in the thinner tiles are 11×11, 12×12, 13 1/4×13 1/4 and 19×19. In thicker parquet, common square tile sizes are 9 in., 13 1/2 in., 18 in., and 22 1/2 in. Thicker parquet patterns are sometimes found in very large tiles, even up to 3 ft. or 4 ft.
Generally, the thinner the block, the more easily the pattern lends itself to glue-down installation. But most people find the larger, thicker strips and pieces easier to handle (especially when cutting) than the thinner material. This is one of the reasons that laminated products came into being. They’re glued to a plywood-like structure and are easier to handle and more stable than solid parquet. Laminated parquet stays put better on most subfloors, regardless of the parquet flooring adhesive used.
To hold them together during handling, the individual pieces that form parquet tiles are held together by a web backing, paper facing, or by a plastic or metal spline. Some are even edge glued. Web backing is the most common method for unfinished parquet in the thin, simple patterns. The webbing is porous to allow the parquet flooring adhesive to grab to the underside of the parquet when the tiles are set into the glue. Often four tiles are combined to form a single block; sometimes a block is composed of 16 or more tiles. The larger the block, the more unwieldy it is to handle, but the faster the installation will go.
Parquet Floor
With paper facing, the parquet is set with the paper facing up. Then, before the adhesive sets up, the paper is dampened with a sponge and removed. This is done before the glue sets completely so the tiles can still be moved to even out gaps. Soft metal or plastic splines are the usual binding agent for thick hardwood parquet flooring. The splines are soft enough to be cut without damaging ordinary sawblades.