Guide To Wooden Floors
Derek Both
Wooden floors have long been prized for their beauty. Parquetry is a mosaic
of wooden strips used to create a wooden floor surface. The strips are
fitted with grooves to hold together laterally. There are three basic types
of parquetry. One is solid wood. This is the highest quality, and involves
wooden strips made from unitary pieces of wood. Veneers have a thin layer
of good quality wood laid over a cheaper back, such as plywood. Laminates
are the cheapest, with a fake wooden surface laid over a cheap background
material, such as particleboard.
Wooden floors are uneven in terms of quality. The type of wood and the type
of parquetry chosen has great effects on the lifespan and beauty of the
floor. Even the best will suffer from use and normal wear and tear.
Treatments include sanding and use of oils, but this is not possible with
laminates and can only be done to limited levels on veneers. Solid wood
parquet can be renewed for long periods, however.
A well-crafted parquet floor will have a variety of woods with different but
cohesively chosen colors and grains. Some parquet floors are laid over an
under layer, which is intended to provide insulation but which also leads to
more cracks than floors that are permanently attached to the floor. Usually
the parquet is nailed, screwed or glued to the surface under the parquet
floor. Woods chosen include oak, walnut, cherry, pine, lime, maple and up
to mahogany, and even bamboo, technically not a wood at all. The color
combination can be chosen to match the intended decor of the room or
building, though at times it can also influence said decor.
This combination of normal wear and tear, uneven expansion due to humidity
and water and other factors creates distressed wood. There are companies
that offer services to restore such distressed wood. This includes careful
sanding to remove the top layers of wood such as around a gouge, and use of
oils and other substances to restore the natural shine to the wood.
Varnishes and waxes are used to protect the finish by creating a protective
coating over the wood, which can be stripped and replaced without ever
damaging the actual wood. In severe cases, specific strips of wood are
replaced with new pieces. In this manner a parquet floor can be essentially
immortal.
The parquet floor of the Boston Arena, where the Celtics played, was removed
and replaced in Boston Gardens, used for more decades and then was broken
up, with parts sold and parts used in the Fleetcenter. The Celtics still
play on that parquet floor, which has lasted through several stadiums.
There are others who desire this distressed wood finish, and who use
sandpaper, multitools, bags of bolts and even trucks to create a properly
aged and distressed wood floor. Much like the old fad for acid washed
jeans, or the old companies that would age a family mansion in England to
appear older than it really was, some treasure the appearance of long use in
creating a homey and lived in impression.
http://www.twfg.co.uk/ specialize
in the supply and installation of the
finest hardwood floors from around the world.
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