Kitchen flooring that matches parquet?
We’re clueless about what kind of flooring we should use for our kitchen and hallway that will match our parquet floors that it will abut. Anyone have suggestions for type, color, etc? [IMG_2644](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:eKqy:img_2644.heic.jpg)
luther924
in General Discussion 2 years and 11 months ago
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andriywww1990 | 2 years and 11 months ago
Cate: yes or no, is carlos one of those experts?
cate | 2 years and 11 months ago
If you’re trying to lay down a wood floor that looks like it has always been there, you will need a floor person (installer, refinisher) who has expertise in historic floors in Brooklyn townhouses and either has the antique/vintage matching wood on hand or knows where to get it. I can’t make recs because I work for Brownstoner, but such floor experts do exist in Brooklyn and are frequently mentioned on this site.
andriywww1990 | 2 years and 11 months ago
If the current floors are red oak, it is possible to use white oak near it so long as you stain say with light golden oak and tint the top coats. I would not mix red and white oak unless one is not available.
The folks on here seem to like a wood floor person named carlos who is based in glendale. He has a website.
andriywww1990 | 2 years and 11 months ago
The wood is oak. It may be white oak or red. To determine which, cut the end of a piece of wood off, across the grain. Look at the end. If you see open capularies, the wood is red oak. Closed capularies, it is white oak.
The floor has NO stain on it. The color it has is from the aging of the oil base poly. If you do the floors in the other parts of the house with water base polyurethane you will wish to either tint the water poly with some orange universal tint or perhaps stain the floor with light golden oak and then top coat with water poly , clear first and add tint as needed on later coats.
It is generally a “given” that these floors look this way with oil poly. If you do not want to use oil poly but prefer using water, you will be safe with what i say above but dont over tint. Yes, a flooring professional should be able to get through tinting.
Also,screening will not lighten that old floor. Too much aged poly will remain. It might be nice to clean it up with a screen and a recoating, but you will still be matching any new wood to old with t int. And, btw, it is not neccessary to tint the oil poly.
The trick with staining to match is to always aim a little light and tone with tinted top coat later.
brokelin | 2 years and 11 months ago
Do you mean “match” – as in match in both color and material (wood) to your floors? Or do you mean “goes with” or “looks OK next to” existing wood floor?
I think you have your answer to the first – try to match the wood species, and experiment with various stains to get a shade that approximates what you have there. Though your floors generally look to be in good shape, I would fix and clean them a a bit, perhaps screen and apply a new topcoat of something clear, if you are laying new wood next to them – better chance of looking cohesive with new wood that way. Expert brownstone floor professionals should be able to help you with all that.
If you just want something that looks good next to the parquet, your options are far more open. While people like ceramic tile in kitchens, I find it too hard to stand on for long periods of time, so I avoid it.
(And it isn’t traditional in hallways, as Cate says, though some people put it in hallways, especially those that lead to doors to the outside, for ease of clean up.) I prefer wood in both kitchens and hallways. You could choose a completely different wood, and even wood of a different color, so long as it looks good next to what you have. You could use wood and paint a stencil on it to make it look more aged like your existing floors, or use old wood salvaged from some other renovation. You could consider using cork, which is easy underfoot, and a wood product, and comes in various wood colors, and can be beautiful if you pick a good one.
I do like real linoleum, but it wouldn’t be my first choice here – I’d only use it if for some reason I wanted to avoid using wood somewhere for other reasons. (I like black and white check generally, but think it looks best next to newer wood planks – it just seems to be mixing eras too much when I see it next to late 1800’s oak parquet. )
I’ve always really liked my kitchens with wood floors the best of all I’ve had, whether they were old original brownstone oak parquet or diagonal strips of old original oak wood, refinished pine subfloors in light colors, even the newer wood replacement floorboards I’ve had in some places – I’ve liked them way better than everything else I’ve stood on in my kitchens.
RobertGMarvin
in General Discussion 2 years and 11 months ago
It never occurred to me that the OP wanted to match the pattern of the parquet on the hallway. If that’s the case my answer didn’t make sense. My own kitchen never had a hardwood floor originally. I had the pine subfloor sanded and finished and used that for many years before covering it with oak strips that matched the color of the hallway, if not the pattern.
andriywww1990 | 2 years and 11 months ago
Cate, i am not saying this will work in all situations but in this house we had a layer on layer of old lino or whatever and after peeling many layers off, i could not remove the last (original) layer. I laid the face nailed wood right over it using some construction adhesive and 16 ga finish nails. That was 15 years ago and the floor is still down. Part of the reason this worked is the old floor itself was secure and was a flexible sheet (it did not crack as i shot nails through it) as opposed to say 9×9 tiles that may come loose. This is in a kitchen and i suppose if we spill a lot of water here, that water may have no where to go and might buckle the floor.
If op is going to try to match the darker wood strips in the border, those are mahogany. They are unstained and when these are sanded off in old floors, the color blends almost with the oak. When the clear finish goes on, it darkens the narrow strips of mahogany. I am not sure where to get those strips. Anytime i have patched these floors, i have made those strips myself and i suspect i used african mohagany which itself is lighter than honduran but it all worked fine.
Doubtful that op will find pre glued parquet squares in this thin strip flooring. I think i had tried to find it years ago. It would have to be paper backed. Yes, t&g can be had this way. The way to recreate that pattern is by cutting it to fit on the floor as you work. If you try to precut it, you will end up with pieces too loose or too tight. Because of the tediousness of this, when i used to patch a room, i cut the exact pattern but when i did the kitchen and landing in my own house, i ran long strips in a straight pattern like any old floor.
cate | 2 years and 11 months ago
In both spaces, try to use the original wood flooring that may be under layers. In our kitchen, we have installed Marmoleum on top of the wood floor. Ceramic tile in the hallway is not traditional in a historic Brooklyn townhouse and will reduce the value and appeal of your property. (Entry vestibules and bathrooms sometimes have tile.) If you need to put something on top of whatever is in the hall now (perhaps you have rigid asbestos tile you don’t want to remove), black and white Marmoleum can be fun. If it’s feasible, a wood saddle covering the edge can look better than a metal strip.
andriywww1990 | 2 years and 11 months ago
Ny flooring.
andriywww1990 | 2 years and 11 months ago
I think that is 2″ face nailed strip flooring. Call my flooring outside lowes gate and ask for just that. Also, eastside on like 123 street.
To finish it, no stain. Oil base poly will tint to that color.
No t&g, no prefinished.
I would check and see if that is red or white oak. On their own, it does not matter. Next to each other it does.
RobertGMarvin
in General Discussion 2 years and 11 months ago
The pre-finished “Gunstock Oak” flooring in my kitchen is a pretty clii I se color match with the parquet in the adjoining hallway. [Image](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:JkzX:image.jpg.jpg)