3. Types of Parquetry, Use of Materials and Hints on Design

The types of parquetry are categorized as follows:

Parquet floor

It consists of parquetry-fillets. The parquetry-fillets are pieces of wood made from raw slats, rectangular, with key and slot and with plane-parallel top and bottom surfaces.

The minimum thickness is 16 mm.

It is distinguished between:

Parquetry-fillet with fixed key

Parquetry-fillet having a key at two of its narrow surfaces and a slot in the other two narrow surfaces.

Figure 2

Parquetry-fillet with fixed tongue

1 wear layer, 2 groove, 3 tongue

Parquetry-fillet with loose key

Parquetry-fillet in which a slot is cut in all its narrow surfaces to receive loose keys.

Figure 3

Parquetry-fillet with loose tongue

1 wear layer, 2 groove

Parquetry elements

Premanufactured wood element, large and mostly self-supporting, consisting of several layers which are glued to one another, and showing profiled narrow surfaces.

It is distinguished between:

Parquet board

Element of parquetry of a rectangular shape the third layer of which mostly consists of mosaic parquetry.

Figure 4

Parquet deal

1 wear layer from mosaic fillets, 2 groove

Parquet panel

Element of parquetry of a square shape, the third layer of which mostly consists of mosaic parquetry.

Figure 5

Parquet panel

1 wear layer from mosaic fillets, 2 groove

Mosaic parquetry

A part of parquetry made from mosaic parquetry-fillets of one or several kinds of wood and laid according to a pattern. Mosaic parquetry is mostly premanufactured in the form of parquetry elements but it may also be composed of single pieces.

Figure 6

Mosaic fillet parquetry

1 mosaic fillet, 2 adhesive, 3 precoating, 4 solid subfloor

What types of parquetry are there?

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The kinds of wood used for the above mentioned parts of parquetry must be hard, must have no knots or off-colours, no ‘bark bags’, no infestation, only very few capillary cracks and absolutely no working faults.

Parquetry is the aesthetically most effective flooring. Therefore, great importance has to be attached to its design.

This depends mainly on the size of the room as well as on its future use.

This holds good for the size of the individual parts of parquetry as well as for its design.

Kinds of parquetry patterns in use are:

Herring-bone pattern

The laying is very complicated and time-consuming. A frieze strip must be laid along the edges for calming.

Figure 7

Parquetry - herring-bone pattern

1 parquetry-fillet, 2 planed boarding, 3 frieze strip, 4 skirting board

Belt or ship’s bottom pattern

Laying is easier. The pattern can be continued right to under the skirting board.

Figure 8

Parquetry - belt or ship’s bottom pattern

1 solid subfloor, 2 precoating/adhesive, 3 bituminous felt/adhesive, 4 parquets-fillets, 5 skirting board

For the top layers of parquetry elements mainly mosaic pattern and combined forms - mosaic fillets and wood panels - are used.

The following should be considered with the organization of a parquet-covered surface:

- The entire surface must keep its uniform appearance.

- Accentuations in one direction may cause optical illusions.
They should therefore be applied carefully.

- Illusory spatial effects as caused by certain arrangements of shapes and distribution of brightness have to be avoided.

- Individual forms organizing the surface must be in harmonic correspondence with the size of the total surface.

Belt or ship’s bottom pattern appears as balanced due to its uniform surface, though it is animated by the structure of the wood.

With the herring-bone pattern the direction and counter-direction of the individual pieces almost neutralize each other. The frieze strip running along the border creates a harmonious transition to the skirting board and the wall surface.