American Black Walnut Herringbone Parquet in a Central London Home

160 m² of American black walnut herringbone in central London

For this high-end residential project in central London, Hoff Parquet supplied and installed more than 160 m² of American black walnut herringbone parquet. The engineered blocks measure 16 × 100 × 600 mm, with a solid walnut top layer on a stable plywood base, and are finished with an eco-friendly, extremely durable hardwax oil that brings out walnut's deep chocolate tones, lighter sapwood streaks and swirling figure.

Preparing the subfloor over underfloor heating

The whole house has underfloor heating, so the subfloor had to be right before a single block went down. We deep-cleaned the screed to remove dust and residues, primed it, and set out the herringbone from laser lines so the pattern runs straight through every doorway and between rooms.

Fully bonded with a flexible wood-flooring adhesive

Every block was fully bonded with a flexible Stauf wood-flooring adhesive, which grips the engineered blocks firmly while allowing for the small movements caused by underfloor heating. Work started on the second floor and moved down through the house, room by room, with the pattern carried continuously across landings, hallways and doorways.

Clean edges, landings and tile transitions

At the stair landings the herringbone was finished with a straight border along the balustrade, and where the walnut meets porcelain tiles in the bathrooms the two floors sit flush with a fine, straight joint, with no bulky threshold strips.

The finished floors

Because walnut varies so much from board to board, the floor was laid to mix the lighter and darker blocks naturally across each room. Once each floor was finished it was protected with heavy-duty boards while other trades completed their work, and we cleaned up after ourselves so every space was left tidy.