Laying prefinished parquet flooring

[bjhmilla]

I have a bit of a new project and I'm hoping I could gather some expert tips while I'm still in the planning stages as I've seen some contradictory advice.

I am moving to a new build and want to install parquet on most of the ground floor using
https://www.flooringsupplies.co.uk/..._solid_oak_rustic_parquet_smoked_oil_flooring

It's a prefinished product, any experience of this? I think it will need a sealing layer at end but no staining or sanding.

A couple of initial items, I've had various other flooring suppliers warning off parquet in a large living kitchen. Their reason is moisture and temp changes, maybe I'm naive but it's not a commercial kitchen, it's not going to be any hotter or wetter than any other room. Any thoughts on this?

The house isnt finished yet, and the first thing I needed to do is moisture test the concrete floor, I'm hoping this will be ok as it's been down for months and the house has been watertight for quite a few months as well.

I'm assuming that the concrete will be ok but not great so banking on having to put down a sheet of dpm followed by 6mm ply to level it off.

Is this ok and should I install the ply tight or leave expansion gaps between boards, I plan to nail direct to concrete.

I'm then gluing the flooring to the ply in a herringbone pattern, planning on double block border following the plunge saw border technique that seems popular here with skirts refitted on top.

My main issue is that I have to workaround a fitted kitchen that can't come out. I can obvs take out the baseboards and recut these so that the flooring goes under the kitchen units (but I won't be going right to the wall. The tricky bit is the end panels. Should I just block up to and around these then cover the edges with sealer as I'm not sure if I can get them out or how neat it would be to try and cut with a multicutter or similar and block under?

I also wanted to incorporate a brass strip between the herringbone and the double block edging, I found this, but not quite sure how to install it.

http://kirk.co.za/product/brass-flat-bar-25x3mm-mill-finish-brass-2-5m-length/

Any thoughts on any of the above would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Tigercubrider]

Not a pro but have installed some kitchens and have fixed my 70 year old parquet

The entire ground floor of my house is parquet apart from the kitchen. It's traditionally laid on bitumen

So, can you nail through the floor? No pipes/cables/ DPC issues? I would have thought that tongue and groove boards would stay together as one, and not need fixing. When we did a floating floor over rockwool we glued each sheet to the next, ending up with one massive sheet that is ok 25 years later. We kept a gap at the edges more for acoustics

End panels ( in my experience) unscrew. But you could use a tracksaw or flooring saw to slice the bottom off in situ?

I would have thought that kitchen floors need to be fully waterproof- even just for cleaning

 

[bjhmilla]

I think the world has moved on a bit from bitumen!! I know that's common on old reclaimed parquet but I won't be using it here it's not appropriate for a new installation nowadays. As for nailing into the concrete, fixing 6mm ply onto a slabif my builder has run pipes through my slab or my doc is so shallow that i puncture it with a nail I have bigger issues to worry about!!

I'm not using t and g boards, using sheet ply as a subfloor for t and g parquet blocks. This absolutely must be fixed and cannot float, parquet can never float as far as I'm aware it must be glued or nailed otherwise the gaps will be awful.

Re the end panels, i have a few that are tight against a wall. I don't think those ones will slide out easily but maybe

 

[Tigercubrider]

My point was that you could use a biscuit joiner or t&g ply then fit the parquet with a modern fixative
You could gluethe ply down but I wouldn't

 

[crazydaze]

You have selected just about the most difficult style of Wood flooring possible to fit, many Pro Wood fitters would draw a deep breath before undertaking herringbone block floors.

The floor you have selected is an open grain finish and will be very susceptable to marking from liquid spills.

You are very much in the hands of the manufacturer as to how well the product has been manufactured and as to the tolerance of the sizes of each block, any small variation in block size will aty best result in some gapping, at worst, push the design out across the floor. There is a reason that quality Herringbone Block from companies like V4 and Parador are twice the price.

Prep wise, a liquid DPM followed by a high quality screed such as Arditex Ardit NA would be advisable, this has to go down billiard table smooth with no imperfections, there is no margin for error as any uneven/ness to levels will result in the design wandering out.

You don't need to ply, you should be glueing direct to the screed.

Genuinely, by your questioning and aparant understanding of the product in your post, I would at the very least have a reputable local flooring specialist look at he area and advise you.

As I say, Herringbone block is as difficult as it comes to install properly.