Nowadays, every person is faced with the problem of choice every day. One of them is choosing a flooring from all the variety on the market. Flooring is one of the key elements of the interior, and you should choose it based on the requirements you have for the future floor, its technical characteristics and properties.
Despite the fact that every day is creating and improving more and more floor coverings such as: carpet, laminate flooring, cork flooring, ceramic tiles, a large part of the population gives their preference for natural wood flooring. These coverings will always remain in top positions, for those who care about their health, the health of their families, who value comfort, naturalness and durability. Here are some of the main advantages of wood flooring.
In today’s article we will pay attention to the parquet, engineered and hardwood flooring as the main representatives of the wooden floor coverings, we will give their basic properties and parameters, as well as their brief comparative characteristic. After all, even those who choose wood as a finishing material for their apartment or house, not always understand the difference between the parquet and hardwood flooring, and, often, the advantage is on the side of the one whose price will be slightly less expensive for the purse. If you have also repeatedly asked yourself the question: Does it make sense to overpay when buying the parquet, if the parquet is also a natural material? Now we will try to understand this, emphasizing the advantages and disadvantages of our “competitors”, which are so similar at first sight and so different in their construction.
So, in order to determine what is still better and whether it is worth overpaying, let’s touch upon the following questions:
- The construction of solid parquet board and plywood parquet
- Laying methods
- Advantages that the materials being compared have
- The price nuance of the question
- Let’s proceed to the disclosure of the first question and begin with the characteristics of our “competitors”.
What exactly is a parquet and a parquet board? As you have probably already guessed, there are several versions of the names of each of these two structures.
Solid wood
Solid (also parquet or solid hardwood flooring) is, in the classic sense, 100% natural wood. The floor of solid wood has never gone out of fashion, has always been highly valued and spoke of the wealth of its owner. The thickness of solid parquet planks can vary from 14 to 25 mm. Each plank is equipped with a tongue-and-groove (or tongue-and-groove) joint around the perimeter. Parquet can be manufactured from different types of wood, both classic and more familiar to our ears: oak, ash, walnut, birch, maple, alder, growing in Europe, and exotic: Tahuari (Brazilian oak), Jatoba (Brazilian cherry), campas, Sucupira, teak, mahogany, merbau, etc., growing in South America, Brazil, Indonesia, Africa, South-East Asia, etc. Naturally, the cost of exotic varieties of wood is order higher than those growing in our climatic zone.
Parquet Board
Parquet (plywood parquet), however, consists only of a third of the precious veneer of wood (lamella), and the rest of its structure is a few layers of plywood, which can be made from different types of wood. Today the market offers parquet boards of thickness from 11 to 17 mm. The veneer can reach a thickness of 5mm. It is worth noting that when forming the cost of the parquet board one of the determining factors is the thickness of the valuable wood species. I.e. the cost of 2-layered engineered boards with lamella thickness up to 4 mm will be higher than the cost of a similar product with a 2.8 mm lamella thickness. 2-layer engineered boards use tongue and groove joints for joining slats, just like solid planks. A more advanced product is a 3-layer engineered planking, which uses a locking system to join the slats.
It is also worth noting that both solid planks and hardwood flooring strips around the perimeter are equipped with a micro bevel. Bevel not only allows to avoid violation of the protective covering of the boards, but also bears some decorative load – a solid array with bevel looks lighter and neater, each board of such a floor looks isolated, and the whole picture of the floor – complete.
Let’s move on to the second part of the reasoning. So, we have already considered the designs of both “competitors”, highlighted the differences between them and now we know, for sure, that the same appearance does not indicate the same internal stuffing!
Different design also leads to different ways of laying.
Let’s turn first to the solid. Since solid wood is all-natural wood, it is more exposed to environmental influences than plywood parquet or is more responsive to changes in the microclimate. In order to minimize seasonal fluctuations, it is recommended to lay solid wood on a substrate. As a substrate can be used plywood or OSB-plate, which are attached (with glue and screws) to the concrete screed.
Engineered and parquet boards have a simpler method of laying. For the installation of 2-layer engineered boards, as a rule, the method of gluing it directly to the screed is used, but do not forget that the screed must be in perfect condition (flat, not porous, should not crumble). The laying of 3-layer parquet boards with a locking joint can be made by floating (glueless) method on the substrate or by gluing it to the screed.
The most important things to know about the parquet and the parquet flooring, we already know.
Highlight the advantages of these types of materials in the knowledge we’ve already received.
- First, solid, as already noted, it is a solid piece of wood, 100% environmentally friendly natural product, whose structure does not contain any artificial materials, in contrast to the board, where the veneer is only a few millimeters.
- Secondly, laying solid parquet allows you to reinforce the structural strength of the floor in the room. As a rule, the parquet is laid on the plywood with the thickness of not less than 10 mm. With the thickness of the parquet 19.05 mm the total floor level will be almost 3 cm. When laying parquet on the screed, the floor level may be about 14 mm (2-layer engineered boards) or about 17 mm (3-layer parquet boards).
- Thirdly, solid wood provides excellent soundproofing. Thanks to its thickness, it more effectively absorbs the sound of footsteps when walking and various extraneous sounds. If your downstairs neighbors like to play guitar and your children like to play ball, a solid board will protect you and your ears from unnecessary noise.
- Fourthly, wood is known to have excellent thermal insulation properties, so it is very pleasant to walk on the parquet barefoot even in the cold season. It should also be noted that it does not make sense to lay a warm floor under the parquet, because of the great thickness of all the heat will absorb the material itself. By choosing parquet, you are getting a warm floor from nature, thereby saving a great deal of money that is spent on water or electric floor heating. If you do decide to lay a warm floor, we recommend that you look at 2-layer engineered or 3-layer engineered parquet.
- Fifth, solid hardwood flooring is more durable than planks. This is evidenced by the different layer of wear: for the parquet, it is 7 mm, which allows it to resurface 6-7 times, for engineering and parquet board – 4 mm, and it is, respectively, 3-4 sanding. Therefore, the service life of solid flooring is much longer than that of the board.
- Sixth, let’s turn to the method of laying. Parquet, of course, and the complexity and duration of installation inferior to the parquet flooring. However, after laying the floor once, properly, you will never remember to replace it. While the board after a certain period of time you will have to re-lay.
- Seventh, we would like to mention the undeniable advantage of solid wood flooring from exotic wood species. It consists in its unique color, because the solid exotic wood is not tinted, that is its natural color. When the parquet retreatment retains its original appearance and it is enough to cover it with oil or varnish. While with the reshining of tinted parquet, you will first have to achieve the desired shade by applying beiz (a dyeing substance used in tinting parquet, in order to imitate more expensive wood – walnut, teak, mahogany, merbau, etc.) and only after that proceed to coverage with oil or lacquer. Agree that the difficulties with the second version of the sanding is more.
- Eighth, speaking of the solid parquet, it is impossible not to pay attention to such a variety as the radial solid parquet. This parquet is made from wood, located in the core of the trunk, which is characterized by increased density and hardness. Such a parquet belongs to the highest quality category, the wood fibers on the upper surface of the parquet slat are practically parallel along the whole length of the slat, and the radial rays are clearly visible. Radial parquet is more stable to the change of geometric dimensions under the fluctuations of the humidity of the environment, it is less subject to warping and deformation.
- Ninth, it is necessary to note such advantages of engineered and parquet boards in comparison with parquet, as greater stability.