Herringbone hardwood floors ordinarily are types that
are installed one piece at a time forming several
distinct patterns depending on what you desire. Projects
are not considered to be do it yourself friendly because
of the precision required to keep the floor tight and
square at all times. If one board falls out of alignment
and not corrected, the balance of the installation will
become gapped.
How Are
They Installed?
Most
herringbone floors are installed by gluing to a wood or
concrete subfloor, but doesn't rule out solid 3/4"
herringbone nailed or stapled to sound and flat
subfloors. Herringbone floors typically take three to
four times longer than standard 2 1/4" strip floors to
install, due to the detailed need to insure proper and
constant alignment at all times.
Who
Manufacturers Herringbone?
Several
prefinished manufacturers offer a prefinished engineered
herringbone, but not solid in our latest research. Kahrs
Wood Floors has their Strip Studio line offered in eight
different natural hardwoods including several exotic
hardwoods in the likes of Brazilian Cherry, Doussie and
Iroko (both African hardwoods) Walnut, Merbau, Maple,
and Red Oak. The Strip Studio line product is 2 3/4 inch
in width and 18 1/2" long only.
Mirage
Hardwood Floors, a Canadian manufacturer offers Red Oak,
Cherry, Maple and eight distinct stain colors. Also
engineered, width measures at 2 9/16" with lengths at 13
3/4" or 17 7/8" All prefinished herringbone products
generally are packaged with right and lefts for this
type of installation.
Unfinished Herringbone
Any
specialty mill can arrange virtually any hardwood
species, width, or length desired for an individual
board
herringbone installation. Costs will be higher than
traditional solid hardwoods because of the time involved
in manufacturing.
Others
that dabble in herringbone provide paper faced
herringbone patterns (photo right) with smaller designs.
Paper faced are smaller patterns (narrower finger
jointing) that can be glued direct to subfloors in
smaller sheets or blocks. Once the adhesives cures it
then gets sanded and finished on site, while paying
strict attention in how to properly sand this type of
floor. |
