Solid, Engineered or Parquet Flooring
Choosing the right type of flooring for your needs is a difficult task with so many flooring products on the market today. Without some background knowledge about the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of flooring it could be very tricky to make the right decision. Also, there are a number of factors that need to be taken into consideration when purchasing your flooring, which will define which option is most suitable. Here we present you some of the key facts about various flooring options, comparing solid wood flooring, engineered wood flooring and parquet flooring.
Real wood flooring is one of the best and most durable floor coverings that exist today. Furthermore, it is an excellent choice, bringing luxury and warmth to any interior, whether it is in your home or office. Real wood flooring comes in variety of flooring options today, including solid wood floorboards, parquet flooring and engineered wood flooring. The common feature between the three is that they all include real wood flooring in their structure, some more than others.
The other common feature between the three types of natural wood flooring is that they are usually classified using the same grading classification system with three main types of grades – prime, natural and rustic. Prime grading is described with no knots and uniform colour appearance, natural has some, but small knots and rustic grade shows many knots and high level of colour variation between the planks.
Solid Wood Flooring
Solid wood flooring is often also called hardwood flooring and it consists entirely and exclusively of natural solid wood. It comes in floorboards available in various lengths and widths, where the longer boards are usually more expensive than shorter ones. Apart from being the strongest and the most durable real wood flooring types, the greatest advantage of solid wood flooring compared is that it can be sanded multiple times as it is exclusively made from natural wood. This means that any investment in solid wood flooring will most definitely be returned as it can stay there for many years and once it is sanded and resealed it will look as amazing as new flooring again. Nevertheless, there are also disadvantages associated with solid wood and one of them is that it is extremely sensitive to humidity and temperature variations. Therefore, ensuring good insulation between the subfloor and the solid wood flooring, such as liquid damp proof membrane above concrete subfloors should be considered. Because solid wood flooring is directly glued down or nailed down to the subfloor, it is not compatible with underfloor heating, unless the flooring is Junckers flooring, which allows for floating wood floor installation.
Engineered Wood Flooring
Engineered wood flooring has been invented to try to minimise some of the disadvantages of solid wood flooring while providing the same fabulous real wood appearance. Engineered flooring is composed of variously constructed layers of timber and ply with a top layer of natural wood. The engineered floor sanding capacity depends on the thickness of the top layer, where those products with 3-4 mm top layer can only be sanded once. Most engineered produts are installed as floating floors, meaning that they are neither glued down nor nailed down. Instead, each floorboard is attached to the other with the use of either click system or tongue and groove installation system, without actually sticking it to the subfloor. This allows for types of insulation fitting, providing efficient moisture, thermo as well as sound insultation. This is one of the reasons why engineered wood flooring is the preferred choice for floor covering in many blocks of flats.
Parquet Flooring
Parquet flooring is a type of solid wood flooring, but instead of coming in long boards, it is designed in small parquet blocks, which allow for various patterns to be composed, including Classic Herringbone, Basket weave, Mosaic, Chevron and others. As such, parquet flooring bears all the advantages and disadvantages that we have already mentioned about solid wood flooring. In addition, its greatest advantage by far is its unique magnificent appearance. Nothing can quite compare to beautifully laid parquet flooring – it as a pleasure to look at and it most definitively becomes the jewel of any home once installed. Because parquet flooring consists of smaller pieces, it is more flexible and hence less sensitive to moisture levels as compared to solid wood floorboards. Furthermore, most parquet floorings come unfinished, which allows for bespoke staining and sealing as per client’s specification once it is laid.
For further guidance on any type of wooden flooring or to request a site visit, just give us a call on 020 38838044 or 0800 0239197 and we will be more than happy to assist you.
