Pros and cons of parquet flooring

[mobear]

The only negative I’m aware of is the price, but are there any other pros and cons to consider?

[blitzen]

Bumping as I am interested too

[RigaBalsam]

They remind me of my 80s old school hall; cleaning fluid and costernation.

[Starseeking]

I really love the look of them when they are fitted in a diagonal zigzag (not sure what that's called).

A square pattern reminds me of my old school hall too, and I would not fit them that way!

[RigaBalsam]

@Starseeking

I really love the look of them when they are fitted in a diagonal zigzag (not sure what that's called).

A square pattern reminds me of my old school hall too, and I would not fit them that way!

My school hall was in the herringbone way. So I struggle with those too. They are too institutional for me. They actually make me feel sick.

We all have our own likes though. On another thread someone said seeing a Divan bed would put them off.🤷🏼‍♀️

[JaninaDuszejko]

Expensive and take time to fit properly, skirting boards should really be adjusted so the parquet fits below. Assuming you are talking about real parquet and not bloody LVT fake parquet. Real wood will need sanding and varnishing regularly to maintain.

[mobear]

@JaninaDuszejko I am, we’re renovating the whole house so the skirting boards are already earmarked to be replaced anyway.

[TwoLeftSocksWithHoles]

We had parquet flooring and it was sanded and varnished once in twenty years (to remove the original black paint).

We had it sanded professionally and the chap said 50 % of his work comes from rectifying sanding done by 'DIYers' (perhaps he would though wouldn't he!)

[TwoLeftSocksWithHoles]

One thing - it did suffer from dents from the castors of our 'traditional' sofa. I discovered, too late, you can often change the feet to 'glides' which spread the weight better. Those rubber cups for chair legs didn't work and look unsightly.

[Cherubimbum]

We have just installed reclaimed oak parquet so that once sanded and finished it won't be perfect, will look as though there is some history about it and we won't be bothered about sofa dents,etc. We looked at buying the same style new and it was over £100sqm plus extra to distress the wood! We haven't sanded and finished it yet but love it even as it is.

We bought loads as we weren't sure how much would be usable once sorted, we had to throw a lot away as it had been badly taken up but even so it turns out we have 20+ sqm spare so looking to sell as we have nowhere else to put it.

[Cherubimbum]

Forgot to say we laid it ourselves and it was 50sqm. Saved a bit of money.

[BelterDelta]

Slippery (or can be) when wearing just socks.

Very easily damaged - scratched/scraped, etc.

Hard (rock solid and VERY painful) when you fall and land on it unexpectedly.

[Thisusedtobeaniceneighbourhood]

We have parquet that is original to the house, a mix of herringbone and square pattern, and has spent at least half a century under some vile carpet. It’s really beautiful, but I think the parquet look overall is very 2020. I think it is going to date big time. Hopefully ours won’t because it’s clearly very individual to the house. I don’t know that I would install new though.

[Cherubimbum]

Not as slippery or hard (or cold) as ceramic tiles. If you aren't precious about it the dents just add character and it can be sanded and refinished when/if gets too tatty.

[HopeValley]

Hides the dirt incredibly well!

[KaptainKaveman]

I love my parquet. It was expensive to brign it back to life when we moved in but it was money well spent. It is very easy to maintain. People always comment on it!