Herringbone Flooring in Leeds

A Chapel Allerton hall laid in herringbone from the front door to the foot of the stairs is the floor most Leeds orders in this category are for, and it is set out from the centre line of the hall so the cut blocks land evenly against both skirtings. The Oxford blocks in the engineered range come in a finer and a broader size; the finer suits a terrace hall, the broader a Roundhay reception room.

Over the levelled boards of a Victorian terrace the blocks are glued to a plywood deck; over the heated screed of the South Bank flats the engineered block is the only construction to use. The pattern needs a run long enough to repeat, which the back-to-backs of Harehills and Beeston do not offer; there a straight plank reads better. A brushed, oiled block hides the grit of a Yorkshire winter better than a smooth lacquer.

Semi-detached houses are 38% of the homes in Leeds, 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.

Social renting is 20% of households in Leeds, and a pattern floor appears in that stock through the rigid-vinyl herringbone rather than the glued oak: it clicks, it floats, it is listed as waterproof, and it can be laid across a refurbishment programme at the pace a programme needs.