Interior Design and Decorating Timber Floor Finishes
Different Types of Timber Flooring
Timber Blocks
These are usually made of a hardwood species laid on a screed of concrete. They are laid in a herringbone or brick bond and basket pattern. They require a dry and stable atmosphere. The blocks are jointed with tongue and grove edges and fixed with an adhesive.
Floor Boards
These make up part of the construction of some houses; timber tongue and groove floorboards are fixed with nails to the floor joists. With the increased use of concrete substrate floors, a timber floorboard finish can be achieved by fixing battens into a concrete screed. Uplifting carpet and finding timber floorboards is a great coup as sanded and polished they provide a simple form of redecoration.
Parquet
This is used mainly for high quality domestic projects. It is available in square panels that hold all the timber pieces together. It is fixed by gluing to the base substrate, which is required to be level and free of lumps. The style of parquet is usually three fingers of timber facing vertical with three adjacent facing horizontal and so on. They are available with a prefinished coated surface or raw and require a polyurethane coating finish.
Chipboard
This is made of chips of timber combined with urea formaldehyde resins bonded to form a board. It is fixed by nailing to timber joists. It is a cheap product with a moderate wearability. Its surface looks like cork when it is sealed.
Plywood
Plywood is made up of thin layers or plies of timber that get bonded together. Layers are laid face to face but each adjacent layer the grain runs in the opposite direction, which provides strength to the board making it stiffer and stronger than solid timber of the same thickness. It has a moderate wear factor as a floor product. It is nailed or glued to timber floor joists. A finishing coat would be required to seal the floor and protect it from spills, damage and wear.
Hardboard
Hardboard is made from soft wood pulp and is a cheap product. Generally used as a base for other flooring. It can be painted and sealed but it is not very durable long term.
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