Herringbone Floors - Classic And Timeless

Today Herringbone floors are a popular choice if you are looking for something timeless and stylish Plus it’s something a little different to the more obvious straight lay block or plank. Oakwill Flooring have lots of experience in laying herringbone floors for homes and businesses across North Wales and the North West of England. There are lots of materials to choose from when considering a herringbone floor with a vast array of colours and finishes. Today we will take a look in depth and try to help you decide if a herringbone floor would be a good choice for you!

Karndean in Storm Oak

A Bit Of History

The distinctive herringbone zigzag pattern comes from the resemblance of the skeleton of a herring fish. As well as being great to look at the structure is also very strong.

For those that are curios let’s delve back into history to see where this style and technique originated. The herringbone pattern was originally used for roads by the Ancient Romans. Then in the middle ages used in the gothic period mainly bricks and tiles. It wasn’t until the renaissance era the herringbone pattern became popular for wooded parquet floors, but at this period it was mainly seen in big palaces and manor houses. In modern times the herringbone pattern is used in residential and commercial buildings across the world, for its great looks and ability to make spaces appear larger than they actually are!

What Types of Herringbone floor do Oakwill install?

Oakwill Flooring install solid wood, engineered wood and LVT (Luxury Vinyl Tile ) herringbone floors .

Solid and engineered come finished in a variety of colours and finishes. We tend to fit mostly oak but blocks can come in maple, walnut, ash to name a few.

LVT ( Luxury Vinyl Tile) is also a very popular and affordable option. Very hardwearing and great for spill prone areas such as kitchens and bathrooms. LVT can emulate wood and stone finishes extremely realistically and give your home a classic look for an affordable price. The vinyl tile can also come in a much larger size, like the floor shown in the photos below which can be very effective. These are a Karndean LVT in ‘Studio Oak’ laid in herringbone at a customers house in Glan Conwy, North Wales.

Preparation needed before fitting a herringbone floor

To install a herringbone floor the subfloor needs to be smooth, flat, dry and structurally sound. Dependent on the subfloor and its condition - if needed we would either apply a smoothing compound latex or fix down plywood which would then be feather finished.

Installing herringbone floors

Wood herringbone floors tend to be T&G  blocks which are fixed down using a flexible wood glue. Our skilled team then carefully lay the first 2 rows down the centre of the room making sure that the line is perfectly straight. This is then the base to work outwards either side across the room. Herringbone wood floors do tend to take longer to fit than straight lay due to the blocks generally being smaller, resulting in more cuts (which are all on angels) around the edges of the rooms. Like any wood floor a 10mm gap is needed around the perimeter which is covered by either skirting or beading for a neat finish. We undercut all door architraves so the flooring disappears underneath nicely.

A similar process is used when installing LVT - But with LVT there is a click system where the board lock together at the sides or a glue down version. The glue down version requires trowling down a vinyl glue and when tacky the vinyl planks are butted up to one another and pressed down into the glue.

Do you have a flooring project in mind?

All our products and processes have excellent finished results that will transform your home or business property. The quality flooring products that we supply along with our skilled fitters will leave you feeling over the moon with your new floor.

If you would like more advice about having a herringbone floor fitted, please contact our professional and friendly team today!