Features

Hardwood Parquet Flooring

Discover the allure and timeless elegance of parquet flooring.

Updated on

March 12, 2024

What is hardwood parquet flooring?

To define hardwood parquet flooring, let us begin by describing parquet—a flooring made of small, geometrically set wood pieces forming intricate patterns.

Hardwood parquet flooring, therefore, is a type of floor that uses solid hardwood pieces to create durable and visually appealing interior surfaces.

Unlike the old-style method of fitting parquet piece by piece, modern parquet floors are most often available in tile form with wood slats adhered to a backing material.

Installation of parquet tile flooring involves gluing the tiles to the subfloor, nailing, or stapling them in place.

Due to the hardwood nature of the parquet strips, this flooring closely resembles traditional solid-hardwood strip flooring, both in appearance and performance.

Parquet flooring composition

Hardwood parquet flooring is composed of narrow hardwood strips, either joined directly to the floor to create a pattern or installed as prefinished parquet-style tiles.

Common tile sizes include:

9×9 inches
12×12 inches
19×19 inches

Parquet tiles vary in thickness from 5/16 inch to 3/4 inch.

They often feature a mesh backing made of paper, cloth, or plastic, stitched with a thin metal or plastic skeleton.

Oak is often the primary hardwood layer, although it can be substituted with maple, walnut, or other popular hardwood species.

Pros of parquet flooring

Wood selection: A wide variety of wood species is available for you to choose from when creating your parquet floor design.

Easy to install: Parquet strips and tiles are thin and easily cuttable. They, therefore, can be laid out and glued directly to a flat subfloor, eliminating the use of nails.

Visual appeal: Parquet flooring is an impressive and bold kind of flooring, very common in living rooms, dining rooms, and foyers.

Long-lasting: Hardwood parquet will serve for a long period, assuring the owner of high-degree structural integrity. It will maintain its fine looks and strength for many years.

Low-maintenance: Hardwood parquet flooring never fades. It needs little maintenance to keep it looking nice.

Cons of parquet flooring

Potentially old-fashioned look: When selling your home, potential buyers might view the parquet as an outdated design, posing challenges in convincing them to buy.

It can get busy: The geometric patterns of parquet may appear overly busy and overwhelming in smaller spaces, such as kitchens and bathrooms.

Prone to marks: Parquet floors are prone to easy scratching and scuffing, and these marks can be challenging to buff out.

Damage in damp spaces: In damp environments or below-grade basements, the parquet is susceptible to warping and other issues.

Refinishing and repairs can be tough: Refinishing wood parquet is challenging due to alternating grain directions. On the other hand, repairing it involves standard hardwood floor treatments like sanding, wood fillers, and colorants.

Types of parquet floor designs

Here are the most popular parquet patterns:

Mosaic or brick: Equal-sized thin wood strips form individual squares, which are then arranged adjacent to one another to create a pattern.

Herringbone: Zigzag pattern created by arranging rectangular blocks or planks with straight ends.

Basketweave: Wood planks seem interwoven, creating a visual resemblance to a woven basket as they alternate under and over each other.

Versailles: Wood strips woven in a diamond pattern.

Chevron: Zigzag pattern created with planks featuring ends angled at 45 degrees to form a true V-shape.

Checkerboard: Wood strips are arranged to form squares that create a checkerboard pattern. Refinishing a parquet floor.

Refinishing a parquet floor

Since the parquet is often made of hardwood, it can be sanded and refinished. Some parquet tiles can be refinished as often as hardwood plank flooring of comparable thickness.

The refinishing process is not as easy with parquet floors as it is with regular hardwood planking since there is no uniform direction of the grain.

The small slats of wood may be oriented in a variety of directions, resulting in cross-grain scratching that will prove difficult to buff out.

Hand sanding will be required in some areas to create a smooth surface.