Berti advises: how to choose the essence of parquet flooring.
The range of wood species offered by Berti Pavimenti Legno for your parquet flooring is really wide. But as is often the case, the wider the choice, the more confusion increases. That’s why we want to take a short trip through the different options for choosing parquet in its different essences: to orient you and make the best choice taking into account your needs.
Choosing a wooden floor is an option that reflects a definite will. It is a product that has an extraordinary durability, it goes well beyond a hundred years. Parquet is a natural material, communicating feelings of warmth and well-being, as well as being a completely renewable raw material. The same floor can be restored and recovered, as a totally eco-friendly product.
The world of parquet flooring is very broad: first-time buyers know this, the choices are potentially endless, and at first glance can be confusing. The first choice to make concerns the wood species, which depends not only on personal taste or compatibility with the style and decor of one’s home.
The choice comes in different tones, starting from the very light Maple to Bleached Oak to the very dark Wenge, which together with American Walnut represents one of the trends that have become established in recent months. Not to mention all the finishes made by Berti exclusively for the BertiStudio collection, which play on color contrasts and processing to enhance the grain, with a sawn or moth-eaten effect.
But what are the most popular and the most current choices?
The starring role has long been given to Oak, thanks to its natural coloring: over time it tends to darken in the parts that are directly exposed to sunlight, however evenly with the tones it has at the time of installation. The Bleached Oak variant is also in high demand, thanks to the white and grayish streaks that match the color choices for tiles and furniture.
Wenge has also had a special reception in recent times from architects and designers, thanks to its almost black coloring it becomes a protagonist in furniture choices and is easily matched with any other color. Wenge wood is characterized by high quality, since it is a solid and sturdy wood that does not alter its color over time.
Another parquet that is very successful is Teak, a wood of Asian origin that is characterized by a color with a hint of yellow, with a delicate and tender texture despite its massive appearance. One of Teak’s strengths is its resistance to salt spray.
If the need in terms of interior design is to give a note of warmth to one’s home Berti recommends Doussiè and Cherry: these are all wood species with a reddish connotation.
In case you prefer brown tones, in addition to Oak, you can choose Iroko or Afrormosia, which are suitable for classic and rustic houses.Afrormosia has a much more even surface due to its parallel grain.
Of paramount importance is the function of the room where you decide to lay parquet flooring: for bathrooms and kitchens, the woods that are most suitable are Doussiè Africa, Oak, Teak and Iroko because they have better resistance to heat and humidity.
In addition to “natural” woods, or at any rate woods that in principle respect the coloring of the essence, Berti offers the entire BertiStudio range: oak planks, so for all there is the same basic noble wood, in which the varnish applied changes to give a unique and original chromatic effect. With Avantgarde, with more modern lines, and Vintage, in which the references to the past are clear, BertiStudio is able to respond to all needs: thanks to high-level techniques that allow the creation of collections designed to suit different tastes and atmospheres, with an exceptional variety of styles and colors.
As a rule, the most popular taste opts not to change the type of laying and essence between living and sleeping areas. But again, it is a personal choice in the end.
Before laying parquet, it is good to remember that wood flooring once in contact with light has a natural tendency to change color: as a general rule, wood flooring with exposure to light tends to change its coloring, typically becoming darker and with more homogeneous grain. But as for Teak, on the other hand, it is one of the few woods that with the passage of time has a tendency to lighten. Of course, in the first period after laying, the change will be more noticeable, and then it will go into uniformity as time passes. Generally, the oxidation process takes between 6/12 months, but it depends of course on the intensity of the light to which the parquet is exposed and on the finish applied: today there are different types of varnishes available that can both emphasize the color and oxidation, and vice versa limit it very much.
If the room is small, it will be preferable to use small formats since the small footprint would not allow the full appreciation of larger planks and boards.
Here concludes the first installment of what will become a regular feature. Berti Consiglia will continue in the coming weeks, to give you a complete picture of the options and orient you in the vast and fascinating world of parquet flooring.