After working for many years, primarily in the production of parquet flooring, I can freely conclude that the installers, fitters, or simply put, parquet workers, represent the most important factor in the entire segment called parquet in the interior.
Considering the rapid development of the parquet industry, which is primarily driven by increasingly complicated architectural requirements to make the best possible, high-quality and interesting parquet on the one hand, and on the other hand parquet with sometimes unrealistic or difficult technological requirements, it contributes to the fact that the work of parquet flooring is very demanding, complicated and requires a lot of knowledge.
What am I really talking about? There are many different types of parquet on the market. Classic parquet, two-layer, three-layer, hardwood parquet or matchboarding, massive parquet of large dimensions, lam parquet, and parquet for outdoor use.
Each of these parquets requires a different approach and method of installation.
Different types of wood.
The most important thing about the type of wood is that each behaves differently in the process of heat treatment, finishing, exploitation and use.
There are different types of finish and thermal treatments.
Lacquer, oil, oil with wax, different combinations and repairs, lacquers and oils with combinations that simply have no limits. Smoked, steamed, thermotreated…
Necessary conditions for high-quality installation of parquet. Lining.
In general, the production of the screed, its composition, strength and flexibility cannot be done according to the same system and in the same way when installing different types of parquet.
Hardwood strip parquets require much greater strength and flexibility, i.e. the flexibility of the lining than, for example, multi-layered parquets. They require a perfectly flat lining in the level and, of course, moisture below 2%.
The most correct way to check the quality of the underlaying.
– Visual inspection for cracks, unevenness and porosity.
– Check with a long ruler for unevenness or flatness.
– Checking the moisture of the underlaying.
– Checking the strength of the underlaying in 2 ways, resistance to scratching and taking a sample that tells us about the compactness of the material and its flexibility.
A quality underlaying should resemble a gummy candy, not a wafer. It should be elastic and flexible, not porous and prone to cracking.
Other conditions, temperature and air humidity.
The general experience is that the majority of buildings where parquet is installed do not have any system for quality measurement and control of the conditions in the exploitation of parquet, first of all I mean air humidity, which can be a big problem. My experience is also that 90% of parquet installers have never read the technical instructions, both about the parquet and about the material with which the parquet is installed. In most cases, there is no documentation in the form of a construction log or any other documentation from the building, about the parquet or conditions in the building, data on temperature, humidity of the underlying, or humidity of the air in the period before installation and during exploitation.
The situation is dramatic, we don’t know what we are mounting and we don’t know how it behaves in exploitation. We evaluate materials on the basis of personal feeling, not on the basis of training at the manufacturer or personal experience.
My advice is: Talk to your parquet installer about these topics, ask him a few questions. The answers will guide you in who you are talking to and what you can expect from whom. What seems quite simple on paper is not at all simple in practice. Problems often occur and mistakes cost a lot. The price of parquet is not small, compared to other floor coverings, to neglect these very important positions.
