How to choose a good parquet floor: expert recommendations

How to choose a good parquet floor: expert recommendations How to choose a good parquet floor: expert recommendations

When repairing, the following question often appears: "How to choose parquet for an apartment? ", because the current construction market offers an incredibly huge assortment. You will find out below which criteria you should pay attention to.

Parquet is offered in a huge variety of models. For this reason, choosing a floor can be extremely difficult. To make the choice easier, it is imperative to be guided by certain criteria.

General information

In the desire to choose a beautiful, durable and high-quality parquet, you need to consider extremely important factors in order to make a final decision:

A kind of parquet.

Parquet grade.

The material from which it will be made.

Features of the protective layer coating.

Let's look at everything in order.

Details

What is the difference between different types of parquet

So, parquet is a type of floor covering made of natural wood. Its quality will directly depend on the method of sawing logs, which determines the grade of finished products.

Variety "Select" Radial has the highest quality parameters in comparison with other varieties. The appearance represents dies that have a cut (radial), and with it, the plane on the cut passes through the barrel core along the total radius of the end. The wood fibers are located synchronously to each other.
This variety completely eliminates the presence of knots, sapwood, wormholes and color differences. Also, only marble (mineral deposits on the parquet surface) may be present in the composition - its proportion should not be more than 7%.
Sort "Radial". It has the same parameters as the "Select" variety, and the proportion of marble reaches up to 60%. The rest of the wood flaws are unacceptable.
Sort "Standard" Select. This is a mixed type sawn parquet, and no knots, sapwood, wormholes are allowed here. There are also small color differences.
Natural variety. This is a mixed-type parquet cut, and it has large color variations.
Sapwood is also allowed (up to 10%). There are still healthy knots (up to 0.5 cm) and closed-type knots (up to 0.3 cm).
Rustic grade.
Cut type - mixed. It is characterized by a wide range of colors. Sapwood and knots can be in any quantity. There may also be cracks from drying out, which are located on the reverse side of the board. The depth of mechanical damage is not more than 0.
15 cm.

You can learn more about the varieties in the video.

What are the types of parquet

There are several types of parquet flooring. Each of them may differ in certain features and technical parameters.

Block parquet.
It is a uniform type of strips made of wood, which are fastened together by the type of fastening "thorn-groove". On the other hand, quite often you can see unusual grooves that will serve for an even load distribution. They will prevent the parquet from cracking and creaking during operation.
Inlaid parquet. It is made from hardwood planks that create the pattern of artistic parquet.
The installation of this floor covering is best left to professionals who can create a variety of types of compositions. The front strip is covered with special paper, which will be removed after installation. The back side of the board is often equipped with a special backing.
Parquet boards. The option is not the most expensive.
It is made of several layers of wood. The bottom layer is of low quality raw materials, and the top layer is made of hardwood. Parquet boards are sold already in a completely finished form for laying, and it is also equipped with a substrate and opened with a varnish composition. A kind of thorn-groove connection. The covering can be laid in several ways - frieze, herringbone or deck.
The advantages of parquet boards include a wide selection of materials, as well as low cost.
Parquet boards. They differ in their structural properties. Also, the boards are fiberboard ooze boards, which are glued to the upper decorative layer of hard wood. Shields have a square shape, and are also produced in a size of 0.
8 * 0. 8 meters or 0.4 * 0. 4 meters, varnished and immediately ready for use.
Pronto-parquet.
It appeared back in the 2000s, but has already gained incredibly wide popularity. Pronto-parquet has a multi-layer structure, where all the elements are held together by pressing and gluing. Only the front side is made of valuable wood species. With a parquet thickness of 1 to 1. 4 cm, the thickness of the face layer is 0.
4 cm. It is also distinguished by a carefully derived geometry, an ideal and even surface, and the simplicity of installation work using the "thorn-groove" technology. The material is produced with varnish and sometimes without it.

Now let's talk about tree species.

Parquet from various wood species

Which parquet is better to choose for an apartment according to the type of wood? Before choosing a parquet for a home, you need to decide what type of wood its face layer should be made of.

There are several basic options in the market.

Oak parquet. Beautiful and extremely durable flooring. It is distinguished by its resistance, durability to various operating conditions, as well as a variety of textures. Oak parquet, which has been in the water for some time, has an extraordinary color that can vary from brownish green to black.
Beech parquet. It is distinguished by a high degree of strength, resistance to aggressive environments.Also, the building material is easy to process, and golden shades make it possible to create an atmosphere of comfort and warmth in the room.
Ash parquet. This flooring has a multi-stripe wood grain pattern.
It also has a yellowish tint, looks very unusual and beautiful. It is durable, elastic, and can also last a long time. It also lends itself well to mechanical processing.
Maple parquet. It is remembered for its chameleon properties.
At the very beginning, the coating has a white color, but after a period of operation it acquires a honey tint. Also, the material is in perfect harmony with dark-colored pieces of furniture.
Walnut parquet. It has a beautiful embossed pattern, as well as a warm pleasant color. The material is easy to process, but as practice has shown, it is very durable and strong, not prone to mechanical damage, cracking.
Bamboo flooring. It is he who surpasses in strength characteristics even a floor covering made of oak. It will not absorb moisture, is resistant to mechanical damage, and also has a high resistance to wear. Bamboo flooring is demanding in terms of operational conditions. Confusion in this case can only be the high cost of flooring.

In the end, consider what exactly needs to be done with the coating.

How to cover the parquet - with oil or varnish

The need to select a protective coating appears in any case - if you purchase a prepared material for the floor or open it with oil / varnish composition yourself. Each composition will have its own distinctive properties, which will manifest themselves in the operational process of flooring.

Parquet varnish. It is considered the most popular type of coating.

Varnish for parquet boards has a different texture - semi-gloss, matte, glossy. Perfectly protects wood from mechanical damage, moisture, temperature extremes and abrasion. Ideally, it is applied to the surface in an amount of 5 to 7 layers. The lacquered surface is not demanding in maintenance, and also involves only periodic use of polishes and other specialized compounds.

Oil product.

This is a relatively new type of parquet processing. The oil helps to maintain the texture and woody color while maintaining its naturalness. The mixture will not create a continuous covering of the parquet, and it also penetrates into it to a depth of approximately 0.2 cm. Due to this, the proper exchange of air in the floor will be ensured, but its protection is reduced.

To increase the service life of oiled parquet flooring, this procedure must be repeated constantly to provide additional protection against temperature extremes and moisture.