Parquet
You are embarking on a renovation and are looking for wooden floors. How to know which floor to choose and what are the differences?
The trend of natural materials in interior design continues. It seems that wooden floors have never even gone out of the fashion. On the market, there is a strip parquet, lam parquet, mosaic parquet, industrial parquet. All of these names seem confusing at first. When you read the article to the end, everything will fall into place.
By now, you probably already know that wooden floors are a long-lasting and the most elegant choice for decorating a space. There are great possibilities for surface finishes, dimensions, installation styles. You can enrich and complete any interior style decorating with wooden floors. Once you decide on natural materials in interior design, everything else will seem too artificial. You will always notice the difference.
Wooden floors, with proper care, can last for years. Once you invest in a quality wooden floor, you won’t have to change it for many years. That is certainly a great and important advantage.
If you have already searched for our products you may have noticed that they are massive floors. This means that each board is made of one piece of wood.
Although such floors are initially more expensive, their longevity and durability justify the cost. It won’t look worn out in a few years. After several years of use, you will notice that the varnish is damaged or worn out. Don’t worry, it’s normal. Especially in places where you are constantly passing. Solid floors need to be resanded and repainted. They will look the same as when you set them up.
Types of parquet
After you started researching about parquet, you came across several names: strip parquet, lam parquet, mosaic parquet, and industrial parquet. Who would say at first that there are so many options. All types are massive, only differing in dimension. On our website, you can find all types with their dimensions, and in our retail showrooms, you can also look at parquet samples. We make all types of parquet in oak and ash. The exception is lam parquet, you can only find it in oak.
As we mentioned earlier, the main difference is in the dimension.
So oak strip parquet comes in a thickness of 21mm. Width from 32 – 70 mm, and length from 250 – 500 mm. Ash classic parquet also comes in a thickness of 21mm but in a slightly smaller range of lengths and widths.
Strip parquet by its physical properties has a tongue and groove and allows different ways of layering. We can often see it layered in a fishbone or in parallel.
When speaking of popularity, lam parquet follows its footsteps.
It is 10mm thick, 50/60mm wide, and 250/300mm long. Lam parquet also allows different ways of layering and is therefore very popular. Although its dimensions are slightly smaller than strip parquet, it always provides the rooms with discreet elegance.
Even in smaller dimensions comes mosaic parquet in oak or ash.
8mm thickness, 320mm width, 640mm length. The slats of the mosaic parquet are placed horizontally on the grid as a mosaic parquet.
Industrial parquet is ideal for commercial spaces. It is composed of the same solid wood lamellas as the mosaic parquet, only laid in an upright structure. This is why it can withstand much higher concentrations of people, more frequent restoration, sanding and varnishing. Its thickness is 22.8mm, width 8mm, and length 160mm.
All these types of parquet are delivered unfinished. After installation, they require sanding and varnishing.
Grade description
Natural materials will always look more comfortable, warmer than their artificial, perfect copies. You just can’t copy nature’s design. A tree that grows in nature has its own story. Manufacturers can classify the obtained material according to certain parameters. Based on that, we have different grades. Each grade has its own characteristics and you can read everything about it on our website. You can also always ask the manufacturer for a detailed grade description to know exactly what you can expect.
Therefore we have grades that form exclusively straight lines, without any knots. They almost look artificial. Some areas like just such grades. If you want a space that looks minimalist, those grades are an ideal choice. Usually, this is only first grade. Each subsequent one has a few more characteristics of real wood. Some of you are fans of these characteristics, some appreciate the uniqueness and non-existence of these natural wood characteristics.
If you prefer a more natural-looking interior, you will choose other grades. Such planks will have smaller or larger knots on them, sapwood in oak. Everything is in allowed proportion. Some grades are also allowed to have pinholes. A lot of it depends on the eye of the observer. The way you envision your home, what you like to most.
Today it is fashionable to combine different styles. This means that you can decorate the entire interior in a completely industrial style, but with a wooden rustic floor. And it will look great.
It is important to note that our parquet, and all of our products, are heat treated.
Thanks to that, all of the possible insects that can be found in raw wood are destroyed. We mention this because of the grade in which pinholes are allowed. This does not mean that the woodworm lives in the board. It just left its mark on it. It gives another irreplaceable characteristic to it. Such grades are great for achieving a more rustic look of the room.
When choosing parquet and grade, it is best to look at in person what grade looks like. In addition, it is important to ask what are all the characteristics of that grade. This will give you the best insight into what you can expect. At floor manufacturers or showrooms, you usually have samples that faithfully depict each grade.
Underlayment
The important thing when choosing a floor is not only the type of floor but also the professional who will install the flooring. In general, the professional, in charge of performing the work, should pay attention to details. The underlayment must be well done, flat, and dry enough. You must have heard enough times that preparation is the most important thing.
If you place wooden floors on an insufficiently dried base, deformations of the newly purchased floor can easily occur. By such mistakes, there is no help. The professional installer should always measure the moisture of the underlayment before laying the parquet. The permissible moisture of the underlayment must not exceed 2%. Moisture needs to be measured in several places in the room to make sure the underlayment is equally dry everywhere. The installer should use two–component adhesives that are not water-based or even better polyurethane elastic adhesive.
Conclusion
Interior design is a creative process that begins with research. Informing about materials, market offerings, prices, quality, and aligning with your own budget is part of that process. The end result is a home, made to enjoy. You probably purchase wooden floors once in a lifetime. Feel free to take your time to think.
Floor prices will depend on the manufacturer, type of wood, size, and type of parquet. Finally, it is important to note that wooden floors have always held a high place on the scale. Their natural color, ease of maintenance and longevity, is what always prevail in the end.
