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Durham · County Durham

Herringbone Flooring in Durham

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 Durham 95% of homes are houses, most of them semi-detached houses (38%), so the questions are the subfloor and the underlay rather than impact sound.

Herringbone in Durham

Herringbone flooring in Durham: what the housing says

The County Durham district counts 234,761 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 38% of the homes in County Durham, 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 35% of the County Durham stock, the Durham 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 (12.6% in 2011)
17.1%
live in a flat or maisonette
5.4%
postcode districts we deliver to
DH1, DH99
herringbone floors in our range
18

Source: ONS, Census 2021, County Durham (E06000047) · Postcode districts: postcodes.io (ONS geography) · Range: our product catalogue

Delivery to Durham

We deliver across Durham and the wider County Durham area. Most in-stock orders arrive within a timeframe that depends on the delivery postcode. We also cover Chester-le-Street, Spennymoor, Bishop Auckland, Stanley, Consett, Sedgefield and surrounding County Durham.

Delivery details

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

Room by room

Herringbone in Durham, room by room

  • Room

    Townhouse Reception Rooms

    Durham’s Cathedral-area Georgian and Victorian townhouses suit solid oak in hand-scraped finishes, in wide planks (200mm+). Herringbone parquet echoes original patterns found in many premium properties.
    Living Room flooring in Durham
  • Room

    Hallways

    Herringbone parquet is the defining first impression for Durham’s premium townhouses, creating an immediate sense of quality befitting the city’s heritage. For family homes, engineered oak carries one tone through the ground floor.
    Hallway flooring in Durham

Our County Durham delivery covers: Durham city centre, Gilesgate, Crossgate, Neville’s Cross, Sherburn, Bowburn, Pity Me, Belmont, Framwellgate Moor, Newton Hall, Brandon, Langley Moor, Meadowfield, Ushaw Moor, Coxhoe, Bearpark, Witton Gilbert, Chester-le-Street, Spennymoor, Bishop Auckland, Stanley, Consett, Sedgefield and surrounding County Durham

See it on the map

Local fact sheet

Durham's homes, by the numbers

County Durham in the 2021 census: 234,761 households, 94% houses, 5% flats.

These census figures are reported for County Durham as a whole, the unitary authority the area sits in, and they show a housing profile with almost no flats in it: 5.4%, against 38.2% semi-detached and 35.4% terraced. DH1 and DH99 reach Belmont, Elvet, Gilesgate & Shincliffe, Framwellgate & Newton Hall, Neville's Cross and Sacriston & Witton Gilbert. Long terraced rows generally sit on suspended timber ground floors, where airbricks left unblocked and a proper level survey decide the result: three millimetres of dip across a room is enough to open joints in a floating system. Social renting stands at 20.0% and ownership at 62.5%, down from 65.8% ten years earlier, and rented stock tends towards formats that can be replaced quickly.

More of Durham is terraced than most of the north east, better than a third of households, with Gilesgate, Elvet, Framwellgate and Neville's Cross close in and the former pit villages at Sacriston, Brandon, Deerness and Shotton around them. In houses of that age, what is already on the floor is often not the first thing to have been laid there.

Lifting the old covering, the adhesive under it, the disposal and a look at what lies beneath all belong in the quotation rather than in the surprise afterwards. What is there now is rarely the first thing to have been laid in these houses.

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

Guides

Before you choose

Before you order in Durham

  • 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 Durham: questions, answered

Which rooms in a Durham 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.

Which flooring is best for Durham University student rentals?

Student lets are refitted in one short summer window, and what is found under the old floor is what sets the timetable. Book the survey before the tenancy ends rather than after, so the removal and any levelling are priced and planned before the keys come back.

Do you deliver herringbone flooring to Durham?

Yes. We deliver across Durham and County Durham from our UK warehouse, including the DH1 and DH99 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 Durham?

Yes: cut samples are £1.99 each, up to two per product, posted to your Durham 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 Durham. Each link opens the herringbone page for that town.

Chester-le-StreetSunderlandGatesheadNewcastleDarlingtonMiddlesbroughLeedsDurham

United KingdomCounty DurhamDurhamHerringbone

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

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