Can We Install Parquet Over Laminate Flooring?

There are several ways to spell “parquet flooring”. Many people call it parkett flooring, parqet flooring, parqu flooring, or parquet flooring. Parquet flooring is mostly installed over marble, concrete slab or wooden flooring. It’s difficult to install it over thin floorings, such as laminate or vinyl flooring.

Parquet flooring literally means a patterned floor. It’s a mosaic of wood used for decorating any room, mostly with geometric designs. Parquet flooring is basically of two types: parquet panels and solid parquet. Parquet panels are hardwood veneers (similar to prefinished flooring) that are glued in various geometric patterns to the base of plywood or some other cheaper wood. These panels lock together using special tongue and groove joints. On the other hand solid parquet is made using wooden blocks that are firmly glued in various geometric patterns.

You can also get parquet in the engineered flooring variety. This floor simulates a solid wood parquet floor and uses face veneers made from wide range of wood species. They are firmly laminated to supporting piles.

Installing Parquet Flooring
There are several ways in which you can install a parquet flooring. This flooring can be laid to suit particular surrounding or lifestyle. With numerous materials and styles, if you decide to go with parquet flooring, there’s a lot to choose from. The biggest benefit of this flooring is that it’s easy to maintain.

There are many important things you need to know before you decide to install parquet flooring. This will ensure you do your floors properly in a way that you’ll be happy with the results. The relative humidity and climatic conditions need serious condition. During installation of this flooring, the room temperature should be between 64F and 72F. The relative humidity should be in the range of 43-60 percent. The relative humidity of subfloor cannot be above 14 percent.

The biggest mistake that many people make when installing a parquet floor is choosing a flooring that’s thinner than the parquet itself. For instance, laminate flooring won’t do well if it’s too thin. The subfloor should always be thicker than parquet. Many people use inch plywood, as this thickness ensures a solid floor. Avoid using chip board, OSB or particle board, yes’ it’s somewhat cheap, but ultimately you get what you pay for.

When you’re laying a parquet floor, it’s important to leave a gap of between 14 to 20 millimeters in width along the entire perimeter of the walls and around all pillars in the room. This gap will easily compensate for any expansion of floorboards. If you’re installing parquet floor directly onto concrete slab, then concrete foundation should have humidity around 3 percent. If you’re doing this, make sure your slab is perfectly flat and solid. Professional installers use special glues with minimal water for installing parquet flooring on concrete slabs.

Like other hardwood floorings, parquet also needs to acclimatize before it’s installed. Therefore, it should sit in its packaging for about 4 days. This will also allow floorboards to reach the temperature of the room. When this flooring is unpacked, it should be done in order that it will be laid. Within 48 hours, the parquet should be affixed and it will easily resist strain and tensions. The polishing and varnishing is done after 12-14 days. This time frame would depend on the environmental conditions of the room and the parquet type.

Lastly, like other hardwood floors, it’s important that parquet floors are also vacuumed on a regular basis to remove dirt. If you’re planning to use area rugs, it’s good if you rotate them on a regular basis so that the floor color stays even. Otherwise over time, your parquet flooring outside the rug or carpet area will fade and you’ll have big carpet marks forever. You can also use felt protectors under the legs of chairs and tables so that you won’t have to worry about scratching its surfaces.

If maintained in a proper way, parquet flooring is very long-lasting and durable. It’s very common choice for ballrooms, and apartment buildings. Many commercial establishments also opt for this flooring and you’ll be really surprise at their longevity. Many think that due to their competitive price, these floors may be of low quality, but this is not the case. If you’re considering a hardwood floor, you should really think about parquet flooring. Besides, it’s arguably a more attractive floor style and with proper care it would continue to look like new for years.