Hardwood parquet flooring has long been a popular way to enhance the floors of high end homes. By utilizing their unique ability to lock into one another in countless ways, any home can get a design update with ease.
What is Parquet Flooring?
Parquet flooring came into use when home builders realized that the hardwood coverings used in lower priced homes could be laid in geometric and angular patterns to create designs in high end homes.
Previous to the use of parquet flooring, high end homes would use marble, or stone floors laid over the substrate. Installation methods of the time, did not allow for the stone floors to be sealed properly, allowing moisture to enter the substrate causing the substrate to rot over time. Parquet allowed for a moisture tight floor covering, in patterns and designs that were pleasing to the eye.
The hardwood planks used in parquet floors, are cut to a uniform size, and are pieced together with a tongue and groove edge. This allows the planks to be pieced together in several different patterns and shapes.
Woods Used in Parquet Floors
Solid parquet flooring can be made of nearly any hardwood. Contrasting colors and grains of wood are frequently employed to help highlight the designs. Oak, walnut, cherry and maple are all popularly used hardwoods, many of which can be combined to better effect.
Mahogany flooring is sometimes used to help offset and create medallions and other designs in a hardwood floor. Repeating designs with one hardwood plank in a lighter or deeper color used throughout the pattern is frequently employed technique, which can help add depth to the design.
Veneer parquet flooring, can consist of a lighter backing material, with a thin layer of wood overlaid. Tropical woods and more expensive woods are frequently employed in this manner.
Patterns of Parquet Flooring
While herringbone patterns remain amongst the most popular of parquet floor designs, there are countless ways the planks can be laid. Forming squares of the hardwood planks, and offsetting the squares from one another, so that the planks within each square lay in different directions is another popular use of parquet flooring.
Any entirely geometric or angular design can be made from parquet flooring. This can include squares, triangles, medallions and diamonds laid in single or multi-color designs.
Diamonds of a darker colored hardwood can be inlaid in a lighter color for a strapping effect, while blocks of light and dark hardwood can create a three dimensional floor design.
Areas of Use in Parquet Design
Parquet floors can be used to highlight and accent any room of the home. There are some areas, however, which are better suited to its use. Foyers and entryways are one natural area for using parquet designs, as medallions and other inlaid designs can be used to highlight the space.
Formal dining rooms can also make use of parquet floors, particularly if laid in shapes that mimic and enhance the placement of furniture in the room. Any open home design, such as lofts, or small homes like condominiums, can benefit from having parquet floors laid throughout the home. The continuity of the flooring, along with the detail can help to draw the eye along the floor, thereby visually enlarging the space.
Parquet floors should be installed by a professional with an eye for detail, to help ensure that the pattern moves smoothly across the room. Homeowners, however, can use the loose pieces to come up with new and unique designs to inlay in the floors; simply lock together several loose planks in different ways before having the floor installed.
Consider the use of parquet flooring, in place of random offset hardwood floors, and add detail and interest to any room of the home.
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