ᐅ Is wood parquet flooring recommended for the ground floor and also in the kitchen?

I did not equate industrial parquet with the intended use “industrial.” I simply adopted your wording.

I don’t find the appearance high-quality. High-quality looks come from large planks with a consistent pattern. Any visit to a flooring store will confirm this, as these looks are usually the most expensive, aside from the wood species used. This is understandable since busy or varied patterns are always cheaper.
With vertical grain strips, this issue doesn’t apply; the price is probably the lowest.

So the strips hold together with air and care?
But alright, I wasn’t assuming hand-laid strips, rather a prefinished system. That’s how it is typically used in industry (oops).
Here, inexpensive material is naturally compensated by a lot of manual labor, which is good for the craftsman if he knows each strip individually by name.

How is it going with your underfloor heating? But I’m sure the flooring installer is chuckling too, as it’s no problem at all (at least for him, as long as he can keep up the myth that solid wood is no problem on underfloor heating).

I asked myself the same question: parquet or tiles? I have now decided on tiles because parquet with underfloor heating is not a long-lasting solution, please don’t forget that! Every reasonable professional would agree with this. I spoke with a carpenter myself, and even though people often say "no problem," there are actually many factors to consider. It’s logical, after all: wood and heating don’t always mix well—when heating, the moisture evaporates, and humidification doesn’t really help. So, I am very skeptical about wood flooring combined with underfloor heating, even though I find it attractive as well.

Wood naturally insulates, and that can’t be changed. Some types of wood insulate more than others. Engineered hardwood with thin wear layers can work, although not as well as tiles, but still acceptable. With solid hardwood, however, that’s where the limit is.
For the installer, it doesn’t matter—you can just turn up the heating. However, solid hardwood on underfloor heating is a different matter; someone should really take notice of that. What does the heating engineer say? They set the flow temperature based on the planned flooring, after all.

@ruppsn
Always trust your professional more than forums or general information sites online (half of them seem to me to be sponsored). There are many ways to achieve the same goal.
But the experience of others can help avoid small mistakes or reveal outdated practices.

I still remember the discussion about heating and/or plumbing where I was critical of the trade, which you disagreed with. That argument started just like this one here (and like your recent exchange with escroda about cut-outs).
But I think I recently read that you are now critical of plumbing as well. That made me smile a bit.

Alex85 schrieb:
I didn’t equate industrial parquet with the use case “industrial.” I just repeated your wording.

Okay, then I misunderstood. My mistake.

I don’t find the look high-quality. High-quality means large planks with a uniform appearance.

See, that’s what I meant by personal taste. We can hardly appreciate plank flooring. For me, quality is not only about appearance but also about feel and material. And since it’s the same wood...

That should be understandable as well; a less uniform appearance is always cheaper.

Bold claim... [emoji6] So herringbone parquet is cheaper? Or mosaic tiles?
I’d rather say that labor intensity and material determine the price, not the appearance (which of course results from certain materials).

With vertical lamellae, that issue doesn’t arise; the price is probably the lowest.

What’s your point now? That plank flooring is more expensive than industrial parquet? True, so what?
Plank parquet is also cheaper than Italian marble. Does that make plank flooring inferior?! What exactly are you trying to say?

So the strips are held together by air and love?

And that’s different with planks? If you assume floating installation, okay. But then we can forget talking about quality... because high-end plank flooring is usually glued down because of plank size and transitions/connections to (terrace) doors and stoves.

But okay, I didn’t think of hand-laid strips, but a prefabricated system. That’s usually how it’s used in industry (oops).

No, not necessarily. Our parquet installer here in Nuremberg has done many commercial spaces, e.g., premium stores in pedestrian zones, some hotels. No prefabricated systems there...

Of course, inexpensive material is compensated by a lot of manual labor—good for the craftsman if he knows the little strips by name.

Okay, when you run out of arguments, you probably respond like that... [emoji6]

How is it with your underfloor heating then? But the parquet installer is probably chuckling too, because it’s no problem (at least for him it isn’t, as long as he can keep up the myth that solid wood is no problem on underfloor heating).

Underfloor heating: very relaxed, just like the eight years in the apartment with the same floor. And just as relaxed as in all the different houses built here by various architects...

Solid wood itself is not inherently a problem, at least generally. Of course, with the type of wood, you should consider its expansion and contraction behavior due to heat and take the material into account when designing the heating system. That’s quite normal—you act like it’s a “new” material that has never been used in houses with underfloor heating. But that’s definitely not the case.

But since you bring up problems with solid wood and underfloor heating, the same question applies to your high-end plank flooring. So, how is it going with your planks and the underfloor heating?

I also associate quality with the price of the material, naturally. Taste is another matter.
Large-format, calm designs are more expensive, which makes sense because the material is rarer. At the other end of the scale is industrial parquet.
This has nothing to do with installation patterns or even tiles.
I wouldn’t install DIY store laminate in a new build, that’s my point.

Do you have comparison quotes for parquet installation? If they set each individual board by hand, I can hardly believe that—then I would definitely get a second opinion.

Run the U-value calculator to see how oak performs, just to take a classic parquet example. Nothing more needs to be said.
The people building new homes here who talk about parquet mean 95% click parquet with a few millimeters of wear layer. That’s a completely different matter regarding underfloor heating compared to solid wood. Are you planning a heat pump? You can, of course, easily compensate with gas heating.

I’m not installing “your high-quality plank parquet.” Nor do I buy into that argument. You fundamentally misunderstand here—I’m not trying to convert you or claim my solution is better than yours. I couldn’t care less.

Alex85 schrieb:
Wood is an insulator, and that can’t be changed. Some types of wood more than others. Click laminate with thin wear layers can work, although not as well as tiles, but they do work. With solid wood floors, however, that’s where the limit is reached.
For the installer, though, it doesn’t really matter—you can just turn up the heating. But with solid wood on underfloor heating, someone should reconsider. What does the heating engineer say? They set the supply temperature based on the planned floor covering, right?


@ruppsn
Always trust your professional more than forums or information sites on the internet in general (half of which seem sponsored to me). There are many ways to achieve a goal.
But the experience of others can help avoid mistakes or uncover outdated practices.

I remember a discussion about heating and/or plumbing, where I was critical of the trade, which you disagreed with. That argument started exactly the way this one does here (and the way your discussion with escroda about cut-outs just started).
But I think I read recently that you’re now critical of plumbing too. That made me smile.

Look, Alex, I have no problem with pointing out things to consider or suggesting to double-check with the tradespeople. That’s perfectly fine.

What really annoys me, however, is the sometimes know-it-all attitude of some here. Someone asks for opinions about wooden floors (in the kitchen). People share their experience. Eight years of solid wood flooring, vertical grain, with underfloor heating, no problems in kitchen or living area — or someone asks about the difference between building permit and permit exemption.
The reflex of some here seems to be that they have to comment everywhere, know better than everyone else, disregard others’ experiences as “unusual,” or even portray the asker as a complete fool who installs and writes nonsense without reflection or knowledge.

For example, your comments about vertical grain (tons of glue and wood waste) come off as dismissive toward choices made by some forum members, implying they are settling for inferior material and casting them implicitly as uninformed “idiots.” What’s the point? What makes you so sure these people haven’t carefully researched and thought through their choices?
Please share your experiences or reasons for your wood floor choice WITHOUT making others feel they are complete idiots who made foolish decisions.
We started with vertical grain and appearance. Now suddenly it’s about heating... my impression is that new topics keep getting brought up because some folks can’t accept that others have different opinions and evaluate things differently.

The same applies to building permits. I shared my experience to help the original poster. Then comes a know-it-all comment, speculating wildly without detailed knowledge of the actual case, and presenting things completely differently because “it can’t be true if it’s not what they believe.” That doesn’t help the original poster much, so I asked that the author explain the differences themselves. Then the original poster can decide what matters most to them or which approach to follow.

Regarding wood as an insulator: yes, it is. I also mentioned that the wood species and thickness should be considered when designing the heating system. And that is done. This is not a fundamental problem with solid wood floors, but rather a matter of proper handling. Saying that solid wood with underfloor heating is problematic is simply wrong, because when installed correctly, it is not. Solid wood flooring is installed together with underfloor heating thousands of times without problems. That there can be issues, I don’t deny.

However, the advice to consult the heating engineer (HLB—“Heizungs-Lüftungsbauer” or heating ventilation technician) about solid wood floors is correct and important, but it can be stated neutrally as “For solid wood floors, include the heating specialist to ensure compatibility.”

What I don’t understand about the current argument: we started talking about engineered parquet, with the claim that it is inferior since solid wood planks are supposedly higher quality. Okay, solid wood planks may be more expensive just due to the material cost. We ended up at personal taste, which is a fair point to leave as is. Then comes the glue, which is usually used for solid wood planks as well because of the large plank size (the bigger, the more premium). Then we come to heating with the claim that solid wood (board or top layer) and underfloor heating cause problems. Suddenly we switch to click systems on a substrate, a totally different quality and price category, and only argue about compatibility with underfloor heating. But we started talking about parquet floors and quality... and now mention click parquet, that is a thin wood veneer on a substrate (probably particleboard, i.e., glued wood chips or wood waste)? Strange...