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You have questions, we have answers. Explore the most frequently asked questions about Parquet wood flooring below. Need assistance or want to know more? Contact Carlisle or call 800-595-9663 today to get all your inquiries answered.
Floors with a parquet pattern have been a staple of residential interior design since the 17th century. While its popularity waxes and wanes, parquet flooring has a timeless appeal and will likely never go out of style. The use of parquet floors fell off somewhat during the 1970s. But in the decades since, many homeowners have rediscovered these stunning flooring options as they seek visually compelling design elements that add luxury and sophistication to their interiors.
A hardwood parquet floor is a surface where the floorboards are arranged in a pattern, rather than being laid out side by side. The most common patterns include Herringbone, Chevron and Versailles.
No single parquet pattern is inherently better than another. The choice of pattern falls entirely to the homeowner’s preference.
Explore and select from our gallery of our most popular finishes, specially categorized by the personalities and traits of the floor designs.
ExploreParquet wood flooring adds beauty and a compelling visual design to a room. Certain patterns like Herringbone may add additional support to a floor and minimize the chance of warping because of how the boards are arranged. The disadvantages of a parquet floor include a higher cost for installation.
Both Herringbone and Chevron floors create a zigzag pattern that adds visual interest and movement to the floor’s design. Herringbone floors use rectangular floorboards of identical length, laying each board at a 90° angle from the last to create an overlapping geometric pattern. In a Chevron floor, the ends of each board are cut at an angle so that two adjoining boards form a V shape. The result is long columns of arrows that flow across the floor. A Chevron pattern has a somewhat more orderly and cleaner appearance than a Herringbone pattern.
Versailles wood flooring is patterned after the floors at the French Palace of Versailles. This pattern features small blocks of wood cut into geometric shapes and fitted together within large squares bounded by longer floorboards. The resulting pattern has a three-dimensional, interwoven appearance.
A Chevron pattern wood floor can make a room appear somewhat larger since diagonal shapes contribute to the perception of more space in a room.
Because a Chevron pattern requires more intricate cuts, a Chevron floor may be somewhat more expensive than a floor installed with a Herringbone pattern.
Parquet floors may be stained in a wide variety of hues. Staining individual boards in an intricate pattern like Versailles may accentuate the geometric shapes and help the pattern “pop” more.
Parquet flooring may be refinished just as any other hardwood surface by sanding and re-staining the floor before applying sealants. However, refinishing parquet patterns of wood flooring may be trickier and more time-consuming than refinishing standard floors. Multiple steps with a variety of sanding grits may be required as you often must sand across the grain, which can leave small scratches in the wood unless you use the finest of grits.
Yes. Prefinished parquet floors are cut, sanded, stained and sealed within the ideal conditions of a manufacturing facility. Once the boards have been prefinished, they are shipped to a job site for installation. Refinishing a parquet floor speeds installation on site and allows the homeowner to avoid the nuisance, mess and smell of having a hardwood floor sanded, stained and sealed within the home.
Yes. Parquet engineered wood flooring uses floorboards constructed with multiple layers of material, rather than solid hardwood. In an engineered floorboard, a top layer of hardwood – the “wear layer” – is glued to multiple layers of backing material like plywood or Baltic Birch to form a board with a solid core that is more resistant to changes in moisture and humidity. This makes an engineered wood floor ideal for installation in basements, radiant heating systems and concrete slabs.
Parquet flooring can be maintained just as any other hardwood floor. Vacuuming or sweeping away loose dust and debris will help keep floors clean and prevent wear. Cleaning a floor with a mixture of water and vinegar (1 to 2 ounces of vinegar per 2 gallons of water) can help remove stubborn dirt and contaminants. This mixture is not only safe for hardwood floors, but it’s also friendlier to the environment than harsh industrial-type cleaners.
At Carlisle Wide Plank Floors, we offer a wide range of parquet flooring in solid hardwood and engineered floorboards. Our parquet floors may be prefinished or finished on site. Our design consultants work with each customer to choose the ideal pattern or create a custom pattern and settle on the choice of wood, color and texture. Every Carlisle wood parquet floor is a stunning design element that will transform and warm any interior.
