Solid Wood Or Supported Parquet-Which One To Choose?

The real wood floor is warm to the touch and is an excellent thermal and acoustic insulator. You can choose between two types of parquet: solid wood or supported.

Solid wood parquet is the most valuable because it is made entirely of noble wood. It is robust and practically eternal, but it costs much more than supported.

The supported parquet is made up of several layers of wood essences, but only the one on the surface is of noble wood. It represents excellent value for money.

Parquet is divided into two types:

Solid wood parquet

It is the most valuable parquet because it is made entirely with noble wood. The differences in quality and price depend on the essence, i.e., the plant from which the wood was obtained and on the thickness. Solid wood parquet usually has a thickness of about 10-20 mm. The choice is wide between different formats: small and medium-sized strips, large planks, or squares similar to tiles.

Solid parquet can be purchased raw or prefinished. The raw parquet is smoothed and finished with varnishes and oils after installation. The prefinished parquet has been previously oiled or varnished with an industrial process, making it very resistant to scratches and wear.

Its main features:

• It can only be laid glued.
• Hardwood Floors Los Angels has a very long duration over time because, when damaged, it can be sanded again to make it look new again. It is practically eternal because this operation is done every 10-20 years, and less than 1 mm of the surface is removed.
• Thanks to the thickness of the wood, it is an excellent thermal and acoustic insulator.
• It is a natural and ecological choice.
• If you opt for unfinished parquet, remember that you will have to wait 1 to 3 weeks before you can walk on it.

 Supported parquet

The planks of a supported parquet are made up of several layers of superimposed wood, and only the visible one is in noble wood. There may be two or three underlying layers that serve to give stability, a central body, and a counterbalance, usually in poplar, larch, or birch.

The type of noble wood and its thickness determine the difference in quality and price between one support and another: it generally ranges from 2.5 to 6 mm with respect to a total thickness of the plank ranging from 10 to 21 mm approx.

Supported parquet can also be unfinished, to be sanded and finished, or prefinished, oiled or varnished at the factory.

Its main features:

• It can be laid floating or glued down. Floating installation is the easiest and is the ideal solution for maintaining and not damaging the existing floor.
• The layer of noble wood on the surface makes it similar to solid parquet.
• It can be sanded when necessary to bring it back to new condition (1 or 2 times depending on the thickness of the noble wood).

 The parquet contains all the naturalness, materiality, and warmth that only real wood can give, whether solid or prefinished.