
Hardwood — Parquet
Parquet is the most beautiful — and most demanding — hardwood floor to restore. We sand, repair and pattern-match herringbone and block parquet with the gentle, 99.5% dust-free Bona planetary system.
The Floor
Parquet — small hardwood blocks laid in herringbone, chevron or basket-weave patterns — was a hallmark of better Victorian, Edwardian and mid-century homes and public buildings across Edinburgh and the Lothians. Usually laid in oak, with walnut and other hardwoods in finer examples, it brings a geometric beauty no strip floor can match.
That beauty is precisely why it demands expertise. Done well, restored parquet is a showpiece. Done carelessly, the crisp lines blur and blocks lift. We treat every parquet floor as the heritage feature it is.
The Expertise
Unlike strip flooring, parquet blocks alternate direction. Sanding has to account for this or it tears the grain and leaves rough patches. The planetary system handles multi-direction grain cleanly.
Individual blocks loosen over decades. Each is checked and re-secured before sanding — a loose block caught by a sander damages both the floor and the machine.
The beauty of parquet is the clean line between blocks. Aggressive or careless sanding rounds the edges and softens the definition that makes it special.
Original parquet often sits on bitumen, and many floors have history with damp. We assess and prepare properly before any restoration begins.
Repair
Old parquet rarely arrives intact. Decades of movement, damp and old bitumen adhesive leave blocks loose, missing or cupped. Before we sand, we re-secure loose blocks, replace missing ones with matched, reclaimed or new hardwood, and rebuild the pattern so the repair disappears into the floor.
Only once the floor is sound and the pattern is whole do we bring in the gentle planetary sand — flat and even across the whole floor, keeping the crisp definition between every block.
Questions
A free, no-obligation quote and an honest assessment of your parquet.