What we thought
We understood that it was more complicated to lay and would take ages. What we weren’t aware of was how different entrances could have different requirements and it took some investigating to determine what would be most suitable on each occassion.
Lessons learned
- Often the house or the room isn’t completely straight based on factors outside your control e.g. the houses are on a slight bend as ours was. This meant we had to decide whether to line up the middle point with the front of the house or the extension. In the end we went with the view as you entered the room.
- The measurements for ours based on calculations from the website fell short and we had to order extra glue and extra panels of flooring.
- Know or be aware that the counters make a big difference, we didn’t expect to go undernearth ours as seemed a waste as they’d never be seen but we needed to behind the washing machine for it to look right and be high enough.
- There’s a lot of wastage from cut offs even when you’re trying to reuse any sections you can.
- Including any step down to the kitchen from e.g. the corridor or a gap by the bi-fold doors can be tricky.
Watch the gap
Step up to corridor
- Here there was quite a change in levels as you step down into the kitchen.
- We solved this using a flat panel we could get from the supplier AND
- a metal 90 degree bar from a DIY shop, which had to be long enough to easily cover the edges both sides to prevent slippage and ensure it stuck well.
Edge with bifold doors
- Here you can see the tiny strip of metal to help transition from the edged wood of the parquet to the metal strip from the main door.
- This had to be very subtle to be almost invisible whilst managing to hold all of the parquet strips together.
- The strip had to slot carefully into the small gap to ensure the flooring remained flush throughout.
Edge with side door
- Here we used something different again
- This was an edging piece that came directly from the supplier
- It has a small lip that rises up to meet the door given you have to step over the threshold anyway
- Ordered in the same colour as the wooden parquet to look more invisible
The floor itself turned out to be the easiest part to get sorted, it was very much the edging and the quantities which took the most time and research to get right.