Wooden floors: information on types of wooden floor, installation of wooden floor, and maintenance of wooden floors.

Groups of Parquet Floors

Various groups of parquet floors can be distinguished: solid planks, engineered planks, solid herringbone, engineered herringbone, mini planks. These wooden floors are also available in different wood types such as oak, ash, pine, wengé, merbau, cherry, ... Each group and wood type has its specific properties.

Solid Oak Plank Flooring

A solid plank floor consists of planks made from a single solid piece of wood. These planks are generally processed to be ready for installation. This means they have tongue and groove around them so they fit easily into each other, the top layer is already sanded and ready for finishing with a color oil or varnish. Usually, the solid parquet planks have longitudinal grooves milled on the underside. This is done to reduce cupping. These planks often also have a beveled edge. This so that any potential gaps and cracks are less noticeable. A major advantage of solid parquet flooring is that it can be sanded down more often than an engineered oak parquet. On the other hand, solid oak parquet flooring will expand and contract more than engineered parquet.

Advantages of solid plank flooring:

• The solid feel
• Can be sanded down often
• You have an authentic oak parquet floor

Disadvantages of solid plank flooring:

• More prone to moving
• More prone to gaps and cracks
• Not suitable for underfloor heating

Engineered Oak Plank Flooring

An engineered oak parquet floor is also called engineered parquet, multilayer parquet, 3-layer parquet, strip parquet, layered parquet, laminate parquet or veneer parquet. Essentially, all these terms mean the same thing, which is a thin oak top layer of 2 to 6 mm thick with a thicker base layer of another type of wood. This base layer is generally between 6 and 15 mm thick. Often, this is birch plywood. The engineered floor is less prone to movement. Therefore, this parquet floor is suitable for installation on underfloor heating. Because the top layer is not very thick, this floor is limited in terms of sanding, but since this is usually only necessary after 15 to 20 years of normal use, the impact of this is fairly limited.

Advantages of engineered parquet

• Installation on underfloor heating
• Less prone to movement
• Less prone to gaps and cracks
• Less prone to issues

Disadvantages of engineered parquet

• Less frequently sandable

Solid Oak Herringbone Parquet

A solid oak herringbone parquet is a solid plank as discussed above but in smaller dimensions. These smaller parquet planks are then placed in a herringbone pattern. It can also be placed in a double herringbone pattern. The herringbone pattern is a more traditional form of parquet installation, but has become popular again in recent years. The herringbone parquet is then finished with a modern, lighter color so it does not look outdated. Optionally, the edge is finished with a band or a band and wengé bies. This is a matter of taste whether you do it with or without a band/bies. Unlike a solid plank floor, a solid herringbone floor can also be installed on underfloor heating. This is because an oak plank mainly works in the width of the plank. Because the width of the plank lies in a different direction in a herringbone floor, this will not cause problems when installed on underfloor heating.

Engineered Oak Herringbone Parquet

An engineered oak herringbone parquet is also called whale parquet. This is because this engineered herringbone parquet is significantly wider than the solid herringbone parquet. The engineered herringbone parquet is also seriously gaining in popularity. However, these floors are better suited for wider or larger spaces. Like the plank floors, the engineered herringbone parquet has an oak top layer of a few millimeters and a thicker base layer of another type of wood.

Solid Pine Plank Flooring

A pine plank floor is a floor that consists of solid pine wood. This means that this floor is not suitable for installation on underfloor heating. Pine is significantly softer than an oak wood floor. As a result, the floor will show signs of use such as scratches and dents relatively quickly. It is therefore possible to scratch the floor by moving a chair or by entering with dirty shoes. Also, dropping your keys or walking around with stilettos can damage the floor. On the other hand, this floor is also much cheaper than oak wood, even up to 2/3 less!! Pine parquet is often used in less used areas such as bedrooms, attic, upper floor. Pine wood is related to fir wood. The color is slightly redder and the knots are somewhat larger than in fir. Other properties are very similar.

Advantages of pine parquet

• Cheap
• Chalet look

Disadvantages of pine parquet

• Easily damaged