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Darlington · County Durham

Herringbone Flooring in Darlington

Herringbone is laid from rectangular blocks with square-cut ends, set at right angles and staggered so the end of one block meets the side of the next; in this range it comes in engineered oak, which is glued, and in rigid vinyl, which clicks. In Darlington 87% of homes are houses, most of them semi-detached houses (39%), so the questions are the subfloor and the underlay rather than impact sound.

Herringbone in Darlington

Herringbone flooring in Darlington: what the housing says

The Darlington district counts 48,920 households in the 2021 census, and the mix of houses and flats in that count is what decides how a herringbone floor is specified here.

Semi-detached houses are 39% of the homes in Darlington, and in a semi the herringbone usually goes into the living room, often a knocked-through one. A pattern gives a long room a centre; set it out from the middle, and where the timber front floor meets the concrete extension the two are levelled to each other before the first block, because a glued pattern records every step in the base.

With terraced houses at 29% of the Darlington stock, the Darlington hallway is a narrow one, and that is the room herringbone was made for: the diagonal pattern draws the eye along the length and the hall reads wider than it is. The smaller 90 x 450 mm block keeps the pattern in proportion. Over a suspended timber floor the blocks are glued to a ply overlay; the rigid-vinyl herringbone clicks together over an underlay and needs no glue.

of households rent privately (18.2% in 2011)
20.6%
live in a flat or maisonette
13.1%
postcode districts we deliver to
DL1 to DL3
herringbone floors in our range
18

Source: ONS, Census 2021, Darlington (E06000005) · Postcode districts: postcodes.io (ONS geography) · Range: our product catalogue

Compare the herringbone range

In oak, the Oxford Herringbone blocks in 90 x 450 mm and 125 x 600 mm, in natural, light, dark brown, fumed and whitewashed faces: Oxford Herringbone Dark Brown Oak and Oxford Herringbone Light Oak are the two most often set against each other. In rigid vinyl, the BML Herringbone European Oak SPC and BML Herringbone Grey Oak SPC click floors, listed as waterproof, with a 0.55 mm wear layer.

ProductFormatWear layer / thicknessFittingUnderfloor heating
Oxford Herringbone Oak Brushed UV Oiled Wood Flooring 14 x 90 x 45014mm x 90mm x 450mm3mmTongue & GrooveCompatible
Oxford Herringbone Light Oak Wood Flooring 14 x 90 x 45014mm x 90mm x 450mm3mmTongue & GrooveCompatible
Oxford Herringbone Fumed Oak Wood Flooring 14 x 90 x 45014mm x 90mm x 450mm3mmTongue & GrooveCompatible
Oxford Herringbone Natural Brushed Oak 14 x 125 x 60014mm x 125mm x 600mm3mmTongue & GrooveCompatible
Oxford Herringbone Light Brushed Oak 14 x 125 x 60014mm x 125mm x 600mm3mmTongue & GrooveCompatible
BML Herringbone American White Oak SPC Luxury Vinyl Flooring6.5mm x 126mm x 630mm0.55mmClick · listed as waterproofCompatible
BML Herringbone Vintage Fumed Oak SPC Luxury Vinyl Flooring6.5mm x 126mm x 630mm0.55mmClick · listed as waterproofCompatible
BML Herringbone Smoked Limed Oak SPC Luxury Vinyl Flooring6.5mm x 126mm x 630mm0.55mmClick · listed as waterproofCompatible

Local fact sheet

Darlington's homes, by the numbers

Darlington in the 2021 census: 48,920 households, 87% houses, 13% flats.

“Check the joists before committing to a plank thickness.”

Darlington covers DL1, DL2 and DL3 — Bank Top and Lascelles, Cockerton, College, Eastbourne, Harrowgate Hill, Brinkburn and Faverdale. It is a unitary authority. Private renting reached 20.6% at the 2021 census against ownership of 62.8%, so one home in five here is a private let. Darlington is also a railway town, and the terraced housing built for that industry is the stock most often being refitted: narrow rooms, suspended timber over a void, and joists that have usually been notched for pipework at some point. Check the joists before committing to a plank thickness. Where the floor is going into a let, the wear layer and the joint matter more than the species.

Not every address this page reaches is a railway terrace. DL2 runs out to village stock at Hurworth, Heighington & Coniscliffe, Evenwood and Lower Teesdale, where rooms run wider and the stock is older, and the narrow-terrace assumptions the rest of the page is built on should not be carried out there unchecked.

Under the ground floors at Cockerton and Bank Top air moves all year, so boards take their moisture from below and the room runs coldest at its edges. Build for that ventilation rather than blocking it: airbricks clear, and a floor specified to move a little.

Delivery times and options depend on the delivery postcode. See Delivery & Returns for the applicable estimate.

Guides

Before you choose

Before you order in Darlington

  • Oak or rigid vinyl Oak is glued, sandable and for dry rooms; rigid vinyl clicks, floats and is listed as waterproof. The room decides.
  • The setting-out drawing A herringbone is laid from a centre line with a planned border. The drawing decides the quantity, so it comes before the order.
  • 15 to 20 percent over The waste allowance for a pattern floor, on the manufacturers' guidance. Order it in one batch.
  • Both bases to one level A pattern crossing from the semi's timber front room to the concrete kitchen wants one flat plane. A ply overlay and a levelling compound bring the two together before the first block.
  • Ply first in a terrace A glued herringbone goes onto a screwed-down ply overlay, not onto loose old boards.

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Questions

Herringbone flooring in Darlington: questions, answered

Which rooms in a Darlington home suit herringbone?

The hallway and the living room above all: the pattern reads best along a length. In a kitchen the rigid-vinyl herringbone is the version to use, because it is listed as waterproof and the oak blocks are not.

Does herringbone cost more to fit than a plank?

A glued pattern floor takes longer to lay than a floating plank and uses more material, 15 to 20 percent waste against 8 to 12. The cost guide linked below cites the published fitting figures rather than guessing them.

Can I lay herringbone over underfloor heating?

The engineered Oxford blocks and the rigid-vinyl herringbone are both listed for underfloor heating. The screed has to be dry and the system commissioned before either goes down.

Can I order flooring samples to my Darlington address?

Samples go to any DL1, DL2 or DL3 address, as many as the choice needs. Send your room sizes with the request and we can say what the board width does to the waste, which in a narrow terraced room matters more than the floor area.

Do you deliver herringbone flooring to Darlington?

Yes. We deliver across Darlington and County Durham from our UK warehouse, including the DL1, DL2 and DL3 postcode districts. Delivery cost and timing depend on the delivery postcode and are shown at checkout, and samples come by post first so the floor can be seen in the room before the full order.

Can I see a herringbone sample before ordering in Darlington?

Yes: cut samples are £1.99 each, up to two per product, posted to your Darlington address. Two or three side by side on the floor, in the room's own light morning and evening, settle the colour faster than any photograph.

The same range nearby

Herringbone flooring nearby

Distances are straight-line miles from Darlington. Each link opens the herringbone page for that town.

MiddlesbroughDurhamChester-le-StreetSunderlandGatesheadNewcastleSouth ShieldsDarlington

United KingdomCounty DurhamDarlingtonHerringbone

151 towns and cities, 24 county guides, one map.

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