Parquet Flooring in Glasgow

Bonded blocks above a neighbour's ceiling

No town of the 151 has a larger share of households in flats than Glasgow's 68.7% (Scotland: 34.4%); 66.7% are in purpose-built blocks or tenements. Parquet is stuck to its base with nothing soft beneath, which lets each footstep travel into the building itself. That is why the flats guide prefers a floor floated over an acoustic underlay whose impact figure is stated.

So parquet in a Glasgow flat needs a decision about sound before it needs a decision about pattern. Check what your lease or building rules say about hard floors, and think about the flat below before the adhesive goes down.

Flats in part of a converted or shared house, home to 1.7% of Glasgow households (Scotland: 1.6%), may rest on timber joists rather than concrete. Parquet bonded to joists does not behave like parquet bonded to a slab, so find out which one your flat has, converted or not.

A listed school floor and the conservation areas

In a 2012 publication on Glasgow's post-war listed buildings, Historic Scotland and the council described the dance studios at Knightswood Secondary School, listed in Category B, as floored with wooden herringbone parquet. When a listed interior includes a floor like that, the council's conservation officer is consulted before the old floor is disturbed, not once it is gone.

The council puts the number of conservation areas in Glasgow at 25. Some are almost purely residential, the council notes, naming Newlands, Dumbreck and Pollokshields West. Their protection covers what the street sees; a parquet floor laid indoors in one of their houses falls outside it.

Winter joints and a finish for rented flats

With a mean January temperature of 4.6 degrees in the town centre (median town: 4.8), winter is heating season, and heated air is dry air. Oak blocks lose a little moisture over the winter and hairline gaps show between them; by summer they have taken it back and closed. Treat it as the seasonal movement of wood, not a defect.

Private renters make up 16.9% of households (Scotland: 12.9%). For a let, the rentals guide favours an oiled oak finish over lacquer: worn patches can be touched in between tenancies, where lacquer would mean sanding the whole room.