Ornamental Mosaic Wood Floors: Decorate your home with Parquet Wood Flooring

Parquet wood flooring is a variation of wood-mosaic, which is popularly used for designer flooring in exotic homes. It has a strong French connection as was introduced in 1684 as parquet de menuiserie, which meant woodwork parquet. These were actually large diagonal wood mosaic designs that were introduced to replace marble floors.

Since, parquet wooden floors are ornamental in nature, various types of wood with robust shades and vibrant colors could be used to produce a full-bodied mosaic design. Contrast colors of oak, cherry and maple, pine and mahogany, and lime are used to create artistic mosaic designs. Bamboo is also sometimes used as an eco-friendly substitute of wood. Contemporary homes and holiday homes have ornamental mosaic parquet floors with bamboo.

Parquets are generally fashioned in three popular form- veneers, laminates and solid parquet. These exhibit beautiful geometrical designs to suit the shape of your rooms. The patterns are angular in form - square, diagonal squares, triangles etc. Modern architects and designers also design irregular shapes to fit the design of the room best. These irregular designs are highly contemporary and fresh and are used by selective homeowners.

Parquet floors are common in Italy, Germany, and France. Solid parquet floors are composed of Solid Harwood that has a standard thickness of 1.5-2 cm. This ensures long use and durability. Veneers are several layers of hardwood and plywood glued together. The solid wood has a thickness of 5-6 mm. The plywood or HDF forms the base. These Floors can be re-sanded and refinished many times throughout the lifetime of its use. Laminates consist of faux-wood image, which are combined with a particleboard or plywood base with a shielding layer on the top. This is the cheapest form of parquet design and cannot be repaired once damaged.

Parquet Wooden floors can be installed in floating configuration and then tongued and grooved. Permanent installing requires gluing and nailing. The maintenance is similar to maintaining any hardwood floor. Use wood cleaning products from your nearby home improvement store or make your own recipe at home.

See Also

Old Wood Gets New Life as Reclaimed Antique Flooring Where some might see a crumbling old barn or a dilapidated factory, Don Carlisle sees an opportunity to preserve history and beautify a home at the same time. Carlisle’s Stoddard, N.H. based company has been reclaiming antique wood and turning it into new floors for nearly 40 years.