Parquet

How to choose parquet

Parquet is a floor laid as a pattern, and this range is the engineered version of it: 15 products, all with a European oak wear layer over an engineered core, all tongue and groove and micro-bevelled, all listed as compatible with underfloor heating. Ten are Oxford herringbone blocks in two sizes, two are Knightsbridge chevron boards, three are Versailles panels. The solid oak parquet blocks, which are not listed for underfloor heating, are in the solid wood range; everything here is built for a modern, heated house.

The first decision is the pattern, and the difference is the cut. Herringbone blocks have square ends and are laid at right angles to each other, staggered, so the floor reads as a broken zigzag. Chevron boards have their ends cut at an angle, so they meet on a continuous line and read as a run of V shapes; the pattern is calmer and points the eye down the room. A Versailles panel is a framed square with a woven or diagonal infill, laid as a unit, and reads as a grid of large squares. The definitions of herringbone and chevron that we could verify are quoted below, and the comparison guide takes the choice further.

The second is scale. The 90 mm by 450 mm Oxford block gives a fine pattern for hallways and rooms of ordinary size; the 125 mm by 600 mm Oxford block a broader one for larger rooms; the 90 mm by 510 mm chevron board sits between; the 800 mm square Versailles panel needs a room large enough to hold several whole panels in each direction. All the blocks and boards are 14 mm thick with a 3 mm wear layer and a 15 year manufacturer's warranty; the panels are 20 mm thick with a 4 mm wear layer and a 20 year warranty, the thickest wear layer in the range.

The third is colour and finish, and the herringbone blocks carry the widest choice: whitewashed, white oiled, light, natural, dark brown, fumed and antique brown, in UV oil, lacquer, white oil and hard wax oil, brushed or smooth. The chevron boards come natural brushed and matt lacquered, or raw oak with an invisible UV oil; the panels come light, natural and smoked, all brushed and matt lacquered. Because a pattern shows the run of pieces as lines, colour variation reads more strongly than in a plank floor, and samples laid in the pattern on the actual floor are worth the wait.

What every patterned floor asks for is a set-out from the centre of the room and a cutting allowance at the walls higher than for planks. There is no standard for that allowance; the manufacturer figures we could verify are quoted below, and the spare blocks are worth keeping for repairs. The boards need to acclimatise in the room at its in-service temperature before laying, and over underfloor heating the surface temperature limit applies as it does to any wood floor; both are quoted. The product standard for multi-layer parquet is the last of the facts below.