WOOD FLOORING

Wood floors are available in square edges or oak planks, fir and chestnut obtained from old beams, spruce or oak veneer; in this case they are truly antique floors restored.

Wood characteristics

Wood has a high-insulating capacity and houses with wooden floors show higher energy efficiency while maintaining, in many cases, lower costs.

Take advantage of the high insulation capacity and energy of wood for your home, choosing a hard wood floor. This option is a great investment, both aesthetically and the quality. Besides being beautiful to the eyes and the touch, hardwood flooring is highly durable and long lasting.

History of wood flooring

The word "parquet" derives from "parc", a diminutive form of "park" in French.

Parquet was the name of one of Luigi XIV’s halls, whose floor was made of wood. From that room, the word extended to indicate any floors paved with wooden slabs.

Historically, the first wood floor was built in 1534 by Jules Menard, an architect at the court of Francis I of France.

In the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, France, which dictated the rules and canons of style at that time, made this type of flooring popular all over Europe. Obviously, aristocrats were the first to decorate their mansions and homes with parquetry, although it then gradually enjoyed popularity even among the bourgeoisie.

Wood flooring has been widely used in the Far East too. In Japan, for instance, wooden floors have long been built through the use of refined techniques and precious woods.

In Italy, wood floors became popular in the nineteenth century, first in Piedmont, due to the French influence, and then in Lombardy and the North East. Later on, in the twentieth century, parquetry became popular in all social strata, thanks to the manufacturing of cheaper parquet floors in block patterns, affordable by many.

In the twentieth century, wood flooring became popular worldwide. Now precious and exotic woods are widely imported into Europe from Africa, South America and Asia.

In short, the history of parquetry is long and prestigious and everything suggests it will last a long time.