Plank vs Parquet: Which is the right decision for your space?

FITTING PLANK FLOORING

When it comes to fitting, solid plank floors can normally be nail or glue fitted depending on their width and what they are being fitted too. Engineered plank floors can normally be nail fitted, glue fitted or floated (which means glueing the boards to one another over underlay rather than fixing them to the subfloor beneath). Solid wood flooring, and thicker engineered wood flooring such as our Strata boards can normally be nailed directly to joists. Thinner engineered wood flooring such as our Quintessential boards, and plank floors that are glued or floated will need to be fitted over a structural (load bearing) subfloor.

Traditionally, plank floors were laid in a mix of random widths determined by the girth of the trees they were cut from. Modern machining enables us to produce planks in fixed widths and single width floors have become associated with a more modern look, but you can still create a traditional mixed width floor by combining different widths of the same flooring. This can also be a clever way to include wider boards in your floor without blowing your budget. It is also a good way to use wider planks in smaller rooms, where the combination of widths will not only show them off, but tends to make the room look bigger too.

FITTING PARQUET FLOORING

Parquet flooring always needs to be glue fitted to a structural (load bearing) subfloor. This can be concrete or timber, although if you are planning to fit over an existing plank floor we would always advise laying a thin ply or hardwood first to create a level base to fit to. The most common pattern for parquet is herringbone, possibly because it is so versatile. Herringbone works with any dimension of parquet block and adapts easily to interiors in a wide range of shapes and sizes. It somehow has the ability to make smaller rooms feel more expansive, but to add intimacy to larger spaces. If you are looking for a more modern looking parquet design, basketweave or brickwork are well worth considering. Basketweave will require a parquet block whose length is a multiple of its width. Brickwork parquet can be created from any dimension of block in the same way as herringbone.

Adding a border will give parquet flooring a more formal, and arguably more luxurious feel; it can also be a really effective way to make a hallway where there is little other pattern or furniture feel designed and ‘decorated’. Bear in mind though that if the edges of a room are not easily visible the impact of a border might be lost, and it will add a little extra to the installation cost of your parquet floor.

View our beautiful Broadleaf Parquet Collections here and feel free to contact any of our showrooms if you’d like any information or advice on all things parquet.