Herringbone Flooring in Brighton

A converted Regency house in Kemptown gives a herringbone floor a long, narrow hall and a tall front room, and the pattern is chosen for the hall first: the finer Oxford block laid from the front door towards the stairs, set out from the centre line so the cuts land evenly at both skirtings. In a Preston Park or Hove villa the broader block fills the front room with the bay.

In a flat the block goes on a plywood deck over levelled boards with the lease’s acoustic layer beneath, and the total depth is agreed at the door before the blocks are ordered. Over a basement the void is ventilated and the moisture read before any block is glued; sea air along BN2 keeps the humidity up, and the blocks acclimatise in the room. At the Sackville Road scheme the screed is heated and the engineered block is the construction to use.

Flats are 50% of homes in the Brighton and Hove district, and a flat is where the two herringbones in the range part company: the engineered blocks are glued to the slab and, where the lease asks for impact-sound performance, need an acoustic layer the adhesive is approved for; the rigid-vinyl herringbone floats on its own underlay and answers the clause more simply. The lease decides, so read it first.

Private renting is 33% of households in Brighton and Hove, and a herringbone in a rented home is chosen where the floor is part of the rent. The engineered blocks are refinished in place between tenancies; the rigid-vinyl herringbone is the version that takes a change of tenant without needing to be. In Brighton both are specified, for different ends of the market.