Repair Design Furniture

Laying long parquet boards. How to lay a parquet board with your own hands: installation technology. Installation of parquet boards on logs

The range of floor coverings is regularly updated with new products. Often these are modern materials created using the achievements of the chemical industry, but there are also solutions that can be described as "well forgotten old". A striking example is parquet board. In terms of its aesthetic appeal, durability and reliability, it is comparable to parquet, but laying a parquet board is simple and does not require high qualifications of the worker.

Parquet board, what is it

Parquet board as a type of flooring appeared in the early 40s of the last century. It was created as a cheap and practical replacement for expensive and demanding parquet flooring. Today she is experiencing a rebirth. The main reason for this is absolute environmental safety, because the coating is made exclusively from natural wood.

Externally, a parquet board looks like a familiar laminate, but differs from it in its internal structure. If you look at it in section, you can see three layers of boards of different thicknesses, the direction of the fibers of each of which is perpendicular to the previous one. This design ensures the strength and reliability of the material.

Upper layer

The top (front) layer primarily creates the floor pattern. The lamellas from which it is assembled are selected according to the pattern, shade and texture, the boards are selected without defects and damage. Some types of boards are covered with veneer of valuable species. It is, in a sense, a piece product that allows you to create a luxurious and unique floor without much investment.

In addition to its purely decorative function, the surface is abrasion resistant and resistant to constant pressure. That is why the top ball is made of hardwood, the layer thickness reaches 4 mm or more.

An additional advantage of the material is that it is completely ready for installation and operation. The front side is sanded from the factory, impregnated with protective compounds and varnished. All that is required from the consumer is to prepare the subfloor and properly lay the covering.

Middle layer

The job of the middle layer is to evenly distribute the load. The best material for this is coniferous wood. Longitudinal fibers impart flexural strength to the material, which ensures the durability and reliability of the coating as a whole.

The middle layer is assembled from planks with a thickness of about 7 mm. The width of each of them is up to 30 mm, the bag is assembled with glue. Among other things, connection elements are formed in the middle layer, thanks to which the installation of the parquet board will be carried out.

bottom layer

The entire puff cake rests on a substrate. These are one or two solid boards up to 4 mm thick, laid along the long side, which provide stability and prevent the floor from sagging under pressure.

Advantages and disadvantages

There is no perfect material, parquet board is no exception. When planning to lay this coating, you should familiarize yourself with its main advantages and disadvantages.

You need to start with the obvious advantages:

  • absolute ecological cleanliness;
  • a skillfully laid board is comparable to parquet in appearance and characteristics;
  • the board is much cheaper than parquet;
  • just fits, no experience and knowledge required;
  • allows the possibility of replacing a section of the floor without completely dismantling it;
  • does not require subsequent surface treatment, scraping, varnishing;
  • on sale a wide range of textures and colors.

With good care, the service life of the coating is 20-30 years. This can be attributed to the disadvantages, because the same parquet will last much longer. True, the obvious advantages outweigh this conventional disadvantage. And besides everything, the parquet board can be laid with your own hands, but for the parquet you will definitely have to invite specialists.

Preparing the subfloor

Parquet board is not too picky about the base material. It can be installed with equal success on a leveled screed, on a wood or plywood base, moreover, it can be used to renovate an old ceramic tile floor. The only condition is that the base must be reliable and always even.

In any case, before laying the tiles, you need to perform a number of preparatory work. First, you should visually and using a simple building level to assess the quality of the floor. Identify problem areas, take measures to level the surface. The hills are smoothed out, the cracks are expanded and sealed with concrete, and the depressions are poured with it.

Note! Such "patching" repair is possible only if the surface is close to ideal, and the height difference does not exceed 2–2.5 mm per square meter. Otherwise, you will have to think about creating a new sub-floor.

The easiest way is to prepare a base for a parquet board using self-leveling compounds. It is easy to work with them, it is enough to dissolve the mixture in water, following the instructions, and pour the solution in an even layer, of course, not forgetting about waterproofing.

You can also consider using wood-based sheet material. Multi-layer plywood, chipboard or OSB sheets are excellent for this. With the help of such a material, you can create a new floor on the logs or patch up an old one, strong enough, but with a large difference in height.

The concrete floor must be primed and allowed to dry. A backing must be laid between the base and the board. Cork seems to be the best material for these purposes. It will smooth out possible unevenness of the base, help keep warm in the house and protect from noisy neighbors.

Preparation for laying the coating

The technology of laying parquet boards is not particularly difficult, even a novice master can cope with this matter, but in any case, it is easier to work with an assistant. And yet, before getting down to business, it is worth preparing the tool. You will need:

  • hand or electric saw;
  • a hammer with a rubber head;
  • level and plastic rule;
  • spatulas (even and notched);
  • tape measure, square, pencil;
  • screwdriver;
  • bracket for pulling up the rows.

In addition to the tool, you need to prepare the room itself. It will not be superfluous to once again walk on the floor with a vacuum cleaner, pay special attention to the corners, an accidental pebble can ruin the whole work.

Ways of installing a parquet board

As soon as the tool is assembled, and the scope of work is prepared, you can proceed directly to the installation. It is worth mentioning here that there are three main styling methods:

  • floating;
  • fastening with glue;
  • using additional fasteners.

According to the method of laying, a longitudinal and diagonal method are distinguished. When laying longitudinally, the boards are placed parallel to the wall, moving in the direction of the door, in the second case, diagonally from one of the corners. The longitudinal method is simpler, in the process of work there is not much waste left, but the diagonal one looks more impressive.

Floating styling

The peculiarity of the floating installation is that the boards are not attached to the floor. The rigidity and immobility of the coating is achieved only thanks to reliable locking joints. It is from this that all the pros and cons of such a configuration emerge:

  • easy to lay;
  • it is easy to correct mistakes made in the course of work;
  • it is easy to replace several damaged boards;
  • it is possible to dismantle the floor and literally move it to another room;
  • the coating is immune to changes in humidity and temperature;
  • saving on adhesive composition.

As disadvantages, it is worth noting the need for careful leveling of the subfloor, limitation on surface area, you should not use this method if the room is more than 50 square meters. Also, you cannot lay the board in a similar way in a room where a high load on the floor is expected.

Step-by-step instructions for carrying out the work are as follows.

  1. First, the board is laid along the longest wall of the room, from left to right. A part of the castle is cut off from the board, which will face the wall. Collect a full row, cut the edge board in place.
  2. The covering should retreat from the walls by 10-15 mm, in order to achieve this, spacer wedges are used. Many recommend completely collecting three rows before installing them, after putting the wedges and using a bracket to pull the finished canvas, setting it in the desired position. Boards of each subsequent row are laid with a shift, if necessary, selecting a pattern.
  3. The following rows are sequentially collected, if necessary, the canvas is knocked out with light blows of a rubber hammer. The most difficult thing is to lay the outer row. Each plank must be precisely adjusted in width, while it is important not to forget to leave a gap at the edge to compensate for thermal expansion.

As soon as the covering is completely laid, the wedges are removed, the skirting boards and door sills are installed. It is advisable to turn on underfloor heating or any heating device to raise the temperature in the room and the board sat down.

Glue mounting

The essence of this method is reflected in its name - the parquet board is glued to the base using special adhesives. This method is more laborious, but it also has a number of significant advantages:

  • there are no restrictions on the area and purpose of the premises;
  • can be used in conjunction with a water-heated floor.

But this is a laborious installation, and in the future it will be problematic to correct the mistakes made, to replace the damaged area. The floor will be more expensive due to the need to purchase glue. Before starting operation, you will have to wait for the glue to harden.

It is worth noting that you need to buy the right glue, the composition of which is suitable for the specific board chosen. In addition, you need to work extremely carefully to prevent glue from getting on the front side of the coating.

As in the first case, the installation is carried out along the longest wall. Before applying the glue, the board is laid out, the extreme one is cut off to get a full-fledged row.

A layer of glue 80–100 mm wide is applied to the prepared surface, which exceeds the width of the board. The adhesive is evenly spread over the area using a notched trowel.

Spacer wedges are placed between the first row and the wall. Planks are laid, they must be joined immediately using lock joints. Each laid plank is pressed down for a better grip. After laying the entire row, it must be additionally fixed with self-tapping screws. They are screwed at an angle into the grooves of the lock.

The operation is repeated. Apply glue, lay the next row with a shift of half or a third of the length. First, the ends of adjacent boards are connected, then they are attached to the previous row. If a gap has formed, you need to get rid of it immediately, move the row using a wooden block and a hammer.

The finished coating is left for several days until the glue is completely dry. After that, the plinth and thresholds are mounted. It will not be superfluous to treat the floor with a special compound that will fill the joints and create a perfectly flat surface.

Mounting using additional hardware

The third option is ideal for creating a floor on a wooden base. These can be logs, plywood or OSB base, old floorboards. A feature of the method is that each board is attached to the base using self-tapping screws or staples.

The optimal floor, created using this method, seems to be a structure on the logs. The advantages of this approach are obvious - heat-insulating or sound-insulating materials can be laid in the space between the beams.

The parquet board can be laid directly on the joists; in this case, you need to choose a thick (at least 22 mm) material. Logs should lie at a short distance from each other (less than 0.5 m). The board is fastened across the log, the joints should be located in the middle of the log.

There is another way to create a floor on logs, it will take more time, but it will help save on material. An additional plus can be considered the fact that the owners are not limited to simple longitudinal installation, you can lay the board diagonally, creating complex patterns, for example, a "herringbone". In this case, plywood sheets with a total thickness of about 20 mm are attached directly to the logs, and a parquet board is already on it. This greatly simplifies the installation work and removes the restriction on the thickness of the board.

Parquet board is a good choice for a beautiful and practical flooring. The board is perfect for a stylish apartment and a country house. It is easy to work with it, its installation does not require special equipment and skills, even a beginner can handle it. The parquet board is not so expensive, and the trowels are laid out, it will in no way yield to the noble parquet.

Parquet flooring, despite its many years of use and the ever-growing variety of flooring materials, is not losing ground and is still popular and in demand. After all, it is extremely pleasant to independently lay out an unusual pattern on a natural wood covering. For this reason, the question does not lose its relevance: how to properly lay the parquet board with your own hands - then we will consider the step-by-step instructions.

The main types of parquet for laying with your own hands

The most common types of parquet are:

  • piece;
  • parquet board;
  • laminated (laminate);
  • modular.

Popularity block parquet pretty big. It consists of small dies. A parquet strip is a multi-layer structure consisting of one or more lower auxiliary layers and an upper facing layer, which has a decorative appearance of a characteristic wood structure. Along the perimeter, each plank is equipped with locking elements in the form of a spike and a groove for connecting the planks to each other.

The length of the dice, as a rule, is a multiple of its width, which allows you to create a variety of geometric patterns when decorating a parquet floor.

Standard sizes of parquet flooring:

  • width - from 5 to 7.5 centimeters;
  • length - from 21 to 49 centimeters;
  • thickness - in the range: 14-22 millimeters.

Optimal thickness of parquet flooring for floor decoration in a living room: 15-18 mm. With a smaller thickness, the number of scrapes of such a parquet floor is limited, only one treatment can be allowed. Thicker planks allow repeated cycling, but do not have elasticity.

Parquet board differs from block parquet only in size. Its average dimensions are as follows:

  • width - from 12 to 20 cm;
  • length - from 1.1 m to 2.5 m;
  • thickness - in the range: 1-2.2 cm.

Parquet boards or modules- on a coniferous basis, a composition of parquet elements fastened together is assembled and glued to it. Such a module has a thickness of 22 to 40 mm. Usually they are square in shape with side dimensions: 400, 500, 600, 800 mm. The installation of modular parquet is much faster than the installation of block parquet. It is difficult to determine on the laid surface whether it is block parquet or modular.

Modular parquet allows you to make the simplest floor luxurious, in the style of a royal palace. Compositions are made from modules, ornaments are much more complicated and interesting than "herringbones" or "braids".

The process of laying a parquet floor contains several stages:

  1. Preparing an old concrete or wood base.
  2. Laying waterproofing.
  3. Making a screed to level the surface of the base.
  4. The screed can be replaced by laying the lag.
  5. Screed priming.
  6. Sheets of moisture-resistant plywood are glued to the screed or attached to the logs.
  7. Laying parquet on plywood.
  8. Grinding parquet flooring.
  9. Parquet putty.
  10. Priming the surface of the parquet floor under varnish.
  11. Parquet covering with varnish layers (from 3 to 9).

All these points must be performed with high quality, otherwise there is no guarantee of long-term operation of the parquet flooring.

Preparation for the installation of parquet

Parquet material is laid on a rough base, usually these are:

  • concrete floor with or without screed;
  • logs specially installed for laying the covering;
  • plywood sheets or plank floor, repaired, sanded.

Before laying the parquet, it is necessary to prepare the rough base, if necessary, to repair it. After the repair of the concrete base, a layer of waterproofing should be laid on its surface. It can be a polyethylene film (200 microns), laid with overlapping parts of about 15 cm, fastened with adhesive tape.

This is followed by the stage of performing the leveling screed, its thickness is about 5 cm. Before the start of the next stages of work, the screed needs time (1-2 months) for complete drying. Haste is unacceptable, since the wood material of the parquet, laid on a poorly dried screed, will absorb moisture from it, which will subsequently cause deformation of the parquet elements.

After drying, the surface of the screed should be primed. The surface of the screed must be flat. Permissible differences in its height: no more than 2 mm per 2 meters of the floor. This is checked with a two-meter flat rail, when it is positioned on the base in any direction, the maximum allowable clearance between it and the screed surface is 2 millimeters, it is better if it is smaller. A slope is allowed with a limitation of its size: no more than 0.2%, in fact, an excess of 5 cm is unacceptable.

There is another option: with the help of a self-leveling floor, the preparation time for the concrete base will be reduced to one day.

Laying plywood under parquet on a screed

Moisture-resistant plywood sheets with a thickness of at least 12 mm should be cut into 4 equal parts.

The functions of moisture-resistant plywood under parquet are quite serious:

  1. The surface is almost perfectly leveled.
  2. Thermal insulation and soundproofing function.
  3. Adds strength.
  4. It is a solid foundation for installing parquet strips. If they are attached directly to the screed, then when its surface layer is destroyed, the parquet floors will fall out. Fastening to plywood sheets firmly, holds them tightly.

Possible laying parquet without plywood directly on the screed only by the glue method:

Plywood sheets should be 5 mm thinner than the thickness of the parquet. But a thickness of less than 12 mm does not make sense to use as a base, since it is too small. In such a situation, it is possible to lay plywood sheets in two layers, but with a gap in the seams.

Then a layer of glue is applied to the surface of the screed, plywood squares are laid using the brickwork method, with displacement of the joints, and then fastened with self-tapping screws. The hats are recessed 3 mm deep into the plywood to avoid further damage to the sander disc.

Be sure to leave a 3 mm gap between the plywood pieces to avoid deformation of the parquet flooring from the plywood expansion.
Also leave a gap of about 1 cm between each wall and plywood sheets, this is the technological gap. It can be fitted with spacer wedges for stability.

The wedges are not removed until after the installation of the parquet flooring. After pulling out the wedges, the existing gap should be foamed so that the sidewalls of the parquet do not suffer from moisture during further use of the floor. The foam gap will be hidden under the skirting board.

Next, it is necessary to withstand the drying time of the glue - it is indicated on the packaging by the manufacturer. After the glue dries, the plywood surface is sanded along the seams, removing the difference in levels of adjacent squares.

It is not necessary to pour the leveling screed onto the concrete base, you can use the old proven method: lay the floor on the logs. This eliminates the need to level the concrete base, but waterproofing will need to be performed, for this purpose a dense plastic film is suitable.

Then the lag is laid every 40 cm. In this capacity, bars with a section of 50 by 50 mm or 50 by 80 mm are suitable. Lags are attached to the base with corners and dowels. To ensure a constant level of the lag in a place where the level is not observed (above or below), you can put backing wedges or, conversely, cut off a little with a planer.

The thickness of the plywood sheets should be 5 mm less than the thickness of the parquet boards. But, since the plywood thickness is less than 12 mm is not enough for flooring as a basis for parquet, therefore the plywood substrate is laid on the logs in two layers, their total thickness is about 30 mm.

Plywood sheets cut into 4 equal rectangles are attached to the logs using self-tapping screws. It is imperative to observe the displacement of the seams between the sheets, as in the case of brickwork. Gaps between sheets of 2-3 mm and a technological gap near the walls of 1 cm are also required.

In a similar way, another row of pieces of plywood is laid on top. When laying the second floor, pay attention to the displacement of the seams: it is unacceptable that the seams of the first and second rows coincide. The bottom row of plywood sheets is processed with a primer, then with glue.

Then they are fixed with self-tapping screws, their size is determined by the thickness of two layers of plywood sheets. The hats are recessed 3 mm deep into the plywood to avoid further damage to the sander disc. When the glue is dry, sand the plywood.

Preparing the old plank floor

To lay parquet on an old plank floor, be sure to carefully examine it. Squeaks, dips, rotted floorboards are unacceptable. In the presence of one of these defects, it is necessary to repair the floor and repair or replace the joists.

The repaired plank base must be sanded. You can lay the parquet material directly on the leveled plank base, without laying sheet plywood.

Parquet flooring methods

The technological process of laying parquet material can be performed in various ways:

  • floating method;
  • glue method;
  • flooring with nail fixing;
  • laying on parquet glue with nail fixing.

At floating method for laying the parquet floors, they are fastened to each other by inserting a spike into the groove. In this case, no fasteners are made to the base. Laying of laminated flooring is carried out according to the same floating scheme.
To prevent the "floating" parquet floor from creaking in the future, a sound-insulating layer, for example, cork, is placed under it.

Parquetins connected by this method will be able to change sizes up or down with changes in temperature or humidity - without consequences. Such a "floating" parquet floor is easy to repair - it is quite possible to disassemble and assemble it. In terms of strength, such a floor is not in the first positions: when at least one lock connection is weakened, the entire coating loses its stability and can deform.

Laying parquet with glue- more durable, but it is very difficult to repair it if necessary. A sufficiently thick adhesive layer is applied to the base, parquet boards are placed on it, the spike is inserted into the groove. This method requires an increase in labor and financial costs due to the high consumption of glue.

Laying on a layer of glue with fixing with hardware- the most durable and demanded. The floor laid in this way does not deform, because the parquet floors are fastened in all directions. But this parquet flooring cannot be repaired.

Laying block parquet boards: step by step instructions

To create a beautiful and even pattern on the parquet, we will develop its scheme on a sheet of paper in advance. We will take the correct size of the room and parquet flooring - to scale. If on paper any row does not fit with whole strips, then we redo the scheme in such a way that the edged rows are located along the perimeter of the room, and only whole ones in the center. The beginning of the parquet flooring is also determined by the pattern.

Consider laying using the herringbone method.


The continuation of the work can be carried out no earlier than after 7 days, the glue must be allowed to dry. Sometimes experts advise to wait six months so that the parquet is well laid down.

The next stage of work will be polishing the parquet surface in two passes or even more. For each run, a different type of sanding paper is used with a decrease in the size of the grain. Grinding is carried out until all defects that appear have been removed. Then the floor is covered with wood stain (if you want to change the shade of the floor), then varnished in several layers.

Do-it-yourself options for laying block parquet

Block parquet lends itself very well to laying with a variety of patterns, for this the dies should be placed in different directions and change the sequence.

The most common are the following types of block parquet laying:


In addition to the examples given, there are a lot of their combinations with various shapes and patterns.

Video about the installation of block parquet:

Laying parquet with your own hands

Ways of laying parquet boards:

  • floating- the boards are interconnected by locking elements: a spike and a groove, not fixed to the base;
  • glutinous: the board is laid on a layer of glue applied to the base;
  • using fasteners.

The technology of laying parquet boards is similar to the technology of laying block parquet. Consider one of the installation methods - floating... In our case, the preparation of the base has already been completed (see the description of the preparatory work above), we proceed to laying the parquet board with our own hands.

  1. The first plank should be positioned from the corner along the longest wall, but this is not a wall with a door. From the board to the wall, it is necessary to create a technological gap of about 1 cm; for this, wedges with the same thickness can be inserted into the gap. This should be done around the entire perimeter of the room. This will allow the coating to vary in size without consequences - with changes in temperature and humidity.
  2. Lay the following planks along the wall to the end of the row. The last board in the row will need to be cut to the correct size to fit into the remaining space. Remember to leave a gap.
  3. Start the second row with the remaining trim of the last board from the first row. attach each board to the adjacent one, inserting a spike into the corresponding groove. To do this, first hold the board to be laid at an angle of 30º. Press forward and downward so that the locking elements are connected. Next, with a rubber hammer, you need to tap on the sidewall of the edge board so that the connection is strengthened.
  4. Subsequent rows are laid by analogy, to the last. Usually, the boards of the last row need to be cut to the width, to the size of the remaining space. Do not forget to insert wedges in the gap between the wall and the extreme row of boards, providing a gap.
  5. Once the parquet has been laid, you can remove all the spacer wedges.
  6. The last step is to install skirting boards that will also cover the technological gaps along the walls.

Video of laying a parquet board with the glue method on plywood:

Laying a parquet board on a screed without plywood flooring is carried out in the same way, but with an adhesive layer applied to the surface of the base. Let us remind you once again that the base must be carefully prepared, leveled, the screed must be primed. Only then proceed with the installation of the parquet board with glue.

A video on this topic will help you:

Laying panel (modular) parquet

Modular parquet is much easier and faster to install than block parquet. The modules are assembled and firmly glued on a rigid base, they are not subject to deformation, like block parquet.

But when stacking the modules, even the smallest mistake will be noticeable. For this reason, such material is very demanding on the preparation and leveling of the base, the impeccability of the execution of the laying process and the professionalism of the master.

The modular material is unpacked before laying. First, the elements are laid out on the floor without fixing to the base for the correct placement of the pattern, this will eliminate errors during installation on glue.

Start from the corner farthest from the door and the longest wall. The glue is applied with a special notched trowel only on the part of the surface on which the coating will be installed in the next 10 minutes.

The accuracy of the layout of the initial row affects the correct geometry of the pattern, because the next rows adjust to the first. Spacer wedges are inserted from the side of the wall, providing an even gap of 1 cm.

So the entire first row is laid on the glue surface, with padding for a good connection. You constantly need to control the evenness of the row and adjust if necessary. At the end of the row, adjusting to it, the subsequent rows are laid out in the same way.

When installing, make sure that the glue does not get into the spike-groove system and on the front surface of the parquet, and if it gets into it, quickly clean it using a parquet floor cleaner.

After the installation of the entire modules, after a short time for the glue to set, the laying of the trimmed modules along the perimeter, called the border, begins. It starts from the corner farthest from the door. Cut the joints in the corners of the room carefully, without damaging the front side of the module.

The trimmed elements should be laid in the same way as for ordinary parquet. Do not forget about the technological gap at the walls, keep it even by inserting wedges or adjustable spacers (special spacers).

In the place of passage of the pipe, etc., in the parquet modules, a cut is made with a small margin in order to provide a gap of 1 cm.

At the end of the installation, you need to clean the floor of dust and debris with a vacuum cleaner and clean the floor with a cleaner. Temporarily suspend the visit to the premises, remove the wedges a day after installation and you can install the plinth around the entire perimeter. The skirting boards are attached to the wall, not to the parquet material.

The final stage


The technological process of installing parquet floors has enough peculiarities. But if you want to: study the materials for the preparatory work and ask how to lay parquet, you can start. It is clear that things will not be so easy the first time. not so fast, but how pleasant the result, made by hand!

We hope that our step-by-step instructions have helped to understand how to lay a parquet board with your own hands, how to lay block parquet, how to install herringbone parquet and much more. Good luck!

Laying parquet on plywood:

When choosing a multi-layer wood flooring, buyers often pay attention to its operational life. At the same time, all manufacturers, without exception, indicate that the finishing material will really last this period only if the rules for laying parquet boards are observed.

The developers of such well-known factories as Chers, Barlinek, Tarket and others are trying to improve their product, working in many respects not only on the appearance, but also on the stacking system. In order to significantly speed up and facilitate the installation process, new locking kits are being developed. Today the following types can be distinguished:

  1. Classic tongue-and-groove or Lock tongue-and-groove connection.
  2. Click hitch - joining the planks at an angle of 10-30 °, followed by pressing to fasten the slats together.
  3. 5G system - volumetric fixation. Its names and basic characteristics may vary, but in general the principle is the same - an additional insert or "tongue" made of dense PVC, aluminum is built into the end lock. This component gives the hitch rigidity and strength, prevents seasonal divergence of the planks, and increases the service life of the coating.

How the parquet board is laid correctly depends on the type of locking system. Each package of high-quality flooring material always has detailed installation instructions that answer all the questions of a novice or experienced craftsman.

Let us dwell on the methods of assembling a multilayer wooden coating. Includes:

  1. "Floating" (independent). The floor is assembled exclusively with its own locks, without fastening to the base. This is the best option if you plan to lay the parquet board with your own hands.
  2. Kleeva. One-component elastic compounds based on polymer (polyurethane, MS and others) are used. The adhesive can be applied to any type of screed, including cement and dry prefabricated chipboard, OSB, plywood, etc.
  3. For fasteners. It is used to rigidly fix each plank to the base. In this case, you need special "parquet" (finishing) hardware, pneumatic pins (complete with a pneumatic gun) or classic dowel-nails.

The parquet board laying scheme is standard - with an offset of 1/3. That is, each subsequent row is shifted relative to the previous one by a third of the bar length. This will form a strong, reliable and durable circular "strapping" of all lamellas.

How to lay a parquet board: starting with the basics

The quality of installation of parquet flooring directly depends on how carefully the base is prepared. Criteria:


  • Floors formed over the ground;
  • Logs, if there are too damp or warm rooms under the base base (boiler room, boiler room, laundry room, basement, etc.);
  • Water, soft electric or infrared heating systems;
  • Aerated concrete beams.

The features of laying parquet boards are not limited to this list. It is imperative to take into account that:


Advice! Remember that beech or maple floors are subject to active deformation, so they should not be placed on a warm floor system.

You will need the following materials and tools for laying your parquet board:


Laying parquet boards with your own hands: step by step instructions

Let's describe the installation process in stages.

Preparation of the base

First of all, all old coatings are completely removed, without exception. If, according to the results of measurements, leveling of the floor is required, then for mineral bases you can use:

  • Self-leveling self-leveling floors on a cement-gypsum or gypsum base;
  • Dry prefabricated screed made of sheet materials (plywood, chipboard and others).

The finished base is checked for evenness with a control rod more than 2 m long, with a hygrometer for moisture. If the base defects are small, then they are filled with quick-drying repair compounds or a cement-sand mixture.

The screed must be primed before work:

  • Adhesives, if the parquet board is supposed to be glued;
  • Reinforcing compositions, if the coating is laid in a "floating" way.

For a wooden base, the scheme of work is slightly different. Irregularities (drops, "humps") should be cut or eliminated with a parquet grinder. Pits, chips must be leveled with elastic fillers, and in the presence of squeaks - "pull" the subfloor to the base with screws or nails. In case of multiple defects, it is better to form a new prefabricated screed from chipboard or plywood sheets with a thickness of 16 mm or more. The top is treated with a fungicidal primer.

Preparation for work

After the end of the "wet" work, a waterproofing and backing material is placed on the prepared surface under the parquet board. That is, the film is spread on the floor with an overlap of 15-25 cm, neatly, without creases, and fixed with adhesive tape. Then a sheet or roll backing is already laid end-to-end. This step is skipped for adhesive installation.

Since the parquet board must "acclimatize", the packed material must be kept indoors for 24 to 36 hours. Experts recommend before starting installation work to warm up the floor heating system for 2 weeks, then turn it off 3-4 hours before installation. This will create the correct indoor climate and avoid thermal damage to the finish.

Advice! Wood is a natural product, therefore variations in shade and texture are possible. Do not be afraid of this, it is better to wrap it up to your advantage - to open several packages in advance, lay out the lamellas on the base and form a picture that is beautiful in your opinion.

The next step is to take careful floor measurements and plan the work. To lay the parquet board as evenly as possible, draw a scaled layout on a piece of paper. The width of the last row should not be less than 5 cm. In this case, it is necessary to displace the first in proportion.

Installation of flooring

Floating installation starts from the longest wall from left to right. Expansion wedges are placed around the perimeter. Some experts recommend doing this after assembling the first three rows: the finished coating is shifted with a bracket and spacers are inserted into the resulting gaps.

The assembly itself begins with the protruding part of the lock cut off at the strips of the first row, then the first is installed in the corner and installation along the end edge begins. The edge plate is trimmed if necessary. The next row is formed from the remainder of the previous lamella. For a parquet board of a classic Click-lock, the end couplings are first connected, then the docking is performed along the length with the obligatory tamping with an impact block.

Note that it is much more convenient to work with Lock and 5G connections. They can be joined as needed both longitudinally and across, which is demonstrated in the video below.

For some types of volumetric locks, it is not required to additionally adjust the plastic insert. It is enough to correctly snap the plates.

The last row of boards must be carefully sized (cut), then assembled at the end locks and inserted into the gap between the wall and the extreme row. The laid parquet must be pressed with a metal bracket or a squeeze.

If the edge of the strip rests against a pipe or other similar obstacle, then a cut line is marked with a pencil, a piece is sawn off, a hole is drilled with a compensation margin of at least 10-16 mm. The lamella is put in place, an adhesive is applied to the cut and the cut element is glued.

After the assembly is completed, the wedges must be removed, the floor heating system must be turned on, gradually increasing the temperature, and the decorative plinth and thresholds in the doors must be mounted. The formation of gaps in the openings between rooms is not a whim, but a requirement of manufacturers.

When installing a parquet board with the glue method, the order of work will be slightly different:

  1. Apply adhesive to the prepared substrate and spread evenly with a notched trowel.
  2. Cut off the edge of the boards of the first row.
  3. Assemble the coating in a standard manner, tapping with a bar and loading it with a load for better adhesion, or fixing with hardware that "drives" into the locking groove at an angle of 45 °. In the same way, the parquet is fastened to the base with nails or pins of a pneumatic gun without an adhesive compound.

After completing all the work, many manufacturers recommend rinsing the floor with special products for parquet and parquet boards, so that the wax contained in them reliably seals all the joints.

Advice! If you need repairmen, there is a very convenient service for their selection. Just send in the form below a detailed description of the work that needs to be performed and you will receive offers with prices from construction teams and firms by mail. You can see reviews of each of them and photos with examples of work. It is FREE and non-binding.

Installation of flooring is a very responsible process and not always easy, especially when it comes to parquet boards. The correct laying of parquet has many nuances, and an inexperienced person may seem an overwhelming task. But if you study the instructions in detail and choose the material correctly, do-it-yourself laying of the parquet board will turn out no worse than that of specialists.

Parquet board is a popular and demanded material, therefore it is produced by many enterprises. Not all of them can boast of the high quality of their product, which means that you should choose very carefully.

A standard parquet board consists of three layers:

  • the front layer is made of expensive wood, varnished or impregnated with a special oil. Top coat thickness from 1 to 6 mm;
  • for the middle layer, short spruce and pine slats are used, and sometimes moisture-resistant plywood. All elements of the castle system are also located here;
  • the third layer is a 2 mm thick spruce veneer.

: length 2-2.5 m, width up to 20 cm, thickness from 7 to 26 mm.

For rooms with a small load on the floor, a board with a thickness of 10 mm or more is suitable. For a living room, it is better to choose a coating with a thickness of 13-15 mm, which is more resistant to mechanical stress. If the floor will be laid on logs, and not on a concrete screed, you should choose a parquet board of the maximum thickness.

Another criterion for selection is the number of lamellas in the top layer. If the face layer consists of a solid piece of wood, it is called a single strip. If the flooring consists of two or three tightly fitted parallel lamellas, this is already a multi-strip parquet board. Planks of planks visually expand the room, look great in classic interiors. There are options for such a coating with bevelled corners, which gives the impression of a solid board made of expensive wood.

The most traditional option is a three-strip board with a pattern for natural parquet. Each of the three lamellas is divided into several segments that differ in tone. The segments can be arranged in the form of a braid, a parquet herringbone or in parallel, in the form of a deck pattern. Such a coating is very decorative, looks great in both small and spacious rooms.

Lay the parquet board on a solid, level and clean surface. Any defects, cracks, delamination of the base lead to deformation of the boards and reduce their strength. When installing this coating, a height difference of only 1-3 mm per square meter is allowed. So, for a start, the base is cleaned of debris and dust, and its integrity is checked. Deep cracks should be repaired with cement mortar, small ones are simply rubbed over. With the help of the rule, the plane of the floor is checked, if necessary, the screed is poured.

A polyethylene film or a special waterproofing membrane is laid on a dry base. Its edges should overlap the walls by about 5 cm.

A layer of thermal insulation should be laid on the film; most often, foamed polyethylene in rolls is used for these purposes. The insulation is cut into pieces along the length of the floor, tightly laid against the walls, glued together with tape. Instead of polyethylene, polystyrene foam plates and sheet cork are also used. The insulation layer has good shock absorption, does not allow cement dust to seep, and evens out minor defects in the base.

During the installation process, you will need:


There are two styling methods: floating and adhesive.

The fastest and most convenient option is the first option. In this case, the boards can be fastened with locks or glued together with their ends. The locking system allows you to lay the coating in a high-quality manner in the shortest possible time, besides, it greatly facilitates the replacement of damaged areas.

Step 1. Installation of the first row

First, measure the width of the room and calculate the number of rows of panels. It is very important to know the width of the last row: if it is less than 4 cm, all boards of the first row should be cut to the width. Start from the corner of the longest wall from left to right. The board is turned with a lock against the wall and laid on the floor.

Several mounting wedges are inserted between the wall surface and the edge of the board to provide a gap of 6-7 mm. The end of the next board is placed close to the first one and the grooves are connected. This is how the entire first row is mounted, cutting the last board to the size of the room and not forgetting about the gap between the wall and the coating.

Step 2. Laying subsequent rows

For high-quality adhesion, the rows must be displaced parallel to each other by at least 30 cm. The first panel of the second row is cut in half and laid from the wall. To connect to the first row, take the board with both hands, apply it at an angle to the edge of the fixed panel, align and press the lock into place. The rest of the panels are mounted in the same way. To speed up this process, use a rubber or wooden mallet to gently tap the boards along the joint line.

Step 3. Cutting the cover under the door frame

When installing the coating near the doorway, take a piece of board and apply it to the lower edge of the box. A part of the rack is cut out so that the board fits snugly under the box, and sawdust and dust are immediately removed. A thin line of the substrate is cut along the threshold, an aluminum profile with holes for fastening is applied, marking them on the floor with a pencil.

Drill holes for dowels and fix the profile. Next, cut the parquet board, insert it under the door frame, click the locks. At the end, a metal sill is mounted at the opening, screwing it to the profile and closing the ends of the boards.

Step 4. The final stage of installation

When laying a parquet board around communication pipes, a paper template is used: a template is applied to the panel, the boundaries of the hole are marked with a pencil, the desired fragment is cut out with a jigsaw. Between the last row and the wall of the room, it is necessary to leave at least 1 cm, otherwise deformations of the floor are possible. When all the boards are laid, the wedges are removed, the baseboards are mounted, the floor surface is wiped with a clean rag.

Glue way of laying

With the glue method of installation, the parquet board is laid directly on the concrete screed. In order for the floor covering to serve for a long time, the base is well prepared: it is carefully leveled, cleaned of dust, covered with a dense layer of synthetic-based primer.


It should take no more than 10 minutes to fix each panel so that the glue does not dry out. Instead of a sealant, you can use cork chips - it easily penetrates the seams, insulates heat well, does not allow cement dust to pass through.

Installation of parquet boards on a warm floor and logs

Parquet board is very demanding on temperature conditions and does not tolerate overheating. The maximum allowable value is 26 ° C above zero, and even then not for every type of wood. If the material is suitable for laying on a warm floor, this is necessarily indicated on the packaging by the manufacturer. If there is no such information, you should not risk it, because replacing cracked floors will be very expensive. Install the parquet board directly on the underfloor heating system in a floating way.

It is not recommended to lay such a coating on a water-heated floor, since if the pipes break or burst, the parquet board will be severely damaged. It is best if an electric or infrared heated floor is installed - their design is more reliable.

Many people prefer to lay the flooring on logs. In this case, you will need sheets of waterproof plywood and self-tapping screws to secure it. Lags should be strong and level, located in the same horizontal plane. The space between the lags is closed with a waterproofing film, filled with insulation, and then plywood sheets pretreated with an antiseptic compound are stuffed on top.

When using the glue method of installation, the boards are glued directly to the plywood, but if the floating method is used, it is recommended to lay a cork backing on the plywood. The laying process takes place according to the technology described above. In some cases, the parquet board is mounted directly on the joists. In this case, the distance between the lags is made no more than 60 cm, and the parquet board is chosen with the maximum thickness.

Video - Do-it-yourself parquet flooring

In order for your floor to serve for many years and to please with its appearance, it is necessary to correctly install the parquet board. To do this, you should be well aware of all the subtleties of the process: from preparing the base to laying the coating.

Subfloor preparation

Before installing the parquet board, it is necessary to carry out work on the preparation of the sub-floor. It must be strong, even, free of grooves, cracks and other defects. The maximum allowable height difference is 2 mm per linear meter. It is also important to pay attention to the humidity level in the room.

To protect wooden planks from moisture and temperature differences between the base and the coating, it is necessary to organize a substrate of hydro- and heat-insulating material with a thickness of at least 2 mm. Laying a parquet board on a substrate will smooth out irregularities, muffle the sounds of footsteps, and preserve the integrity of the floor for many years.

There are many types of substrates. The most accessible is from expanded propylene. Such material provides excellent vapor barrier, increases sound and heat insulation, but is not durable: complete decomposition occurs after 7-10 years.

A cork backing is often used for underfloor heating and parquet in a nursery. It has high strength characteristics and elasticity, good shock-absorbing properties, while it can swell from water.

Coniferous backing is one of the most expensive varieties. It has high strength and durability, environmental friendliness, moisture resistance. You can install it yourself without any professional skills.

Substrate "Tuplex" is a practical solution if the screed is not dry enough or condensation periodically forms on it due to irregular heating of the room. It consists of several layers: a porous and polyethylene film, as well as a ventilated air layer filled with balls to maintain a constant height.

It is important to remember that over time, wood floors expand and contract, depending on climatic changes. Expansion space is required - a gap of about 10 mm between the edge of the flooring and the wall. For areas with linear dimensions over 6 m, the distance should be 1.5 mm per meter of length. It is also recommended to leave gaps around pipes, poles, columns and other elements that come into contact with the floor covering.

Modern methods and features of laying wooden parquet boards

Installation work on the floor is quite simple, you can do it yourself, observing a step-by-step order. Laying of parquet boards is carried out according to a previously selected technology, for example, on a concrete floor with a screed and fastening with locks on the edge or on nafaner using glue.

The dimensions of the panels allow using various methods and options for laying parquet boards:

  • floating way;
  • diagonally;
  • thresholdless;
  • deck (straight);
  • Herringbone;
  • squares;
  • etc.

Particularly popular is the floating installation of parquet boards. This method is based on the use of a glueless locking joint. It is distinguished by simplicity, high structural stability and speed of operation, the ability to easily correct errors, replace damaged panels. Suitable for rooms up to 60 sq. m.

The diagonal method is used to visually expand the space. It is great for small spaces. With this method, the panels are laid at an angle of 30-45 degrees towards the wall. The consumption of material in the diagonal method increases significantly.

With the non-threshold method, the panels are laid without joints on the doors of the rooms. This requires professional skills, since the slightest mistake can lead to the fact that you have to start over.

The most affordable way of laying parquet boards is straight. Planks are laid along one of the walls parallel to each other. With this method, the floor pattern resembles the deck of a ship.

If you want to get not only a durable floor, but also an independent decorative element, the coating should be laid:

  • Herringbone;
  • "Checker";
  • "Braid";
  • square;
  • and etc.

The most common is the herringbone pattern, which gives the impression that the coating has a different texture. Installation with this method is carried out along the walls or diagonally.

Another simple pattern is the checker. It represents squares assembled from parquet rivets. They are stacked with a rotation of 90 degrees in relation to each other.

The braided pattern is based on the interweaving of pairs and triplets of parquet flooring. For the implementation of the method, covering of 2-3 rocks is required.

Rules for laying parquet boards step by step:

Open one or two packs of floor covering to get a general idea of ​​the floor's appearance. Wood is a natural material that may have variations in texture and color.

Prepare the base. It is necessary to check it for evenness and absence of drops, dust it off and treat it with a synthetic primer.

Measure the length of the planks and calculate the total number of rows of flooring. If the last row turns out to be narrow, it is necessary to trim the boards, leaving a minimum width of 5 cm.

Lay the underlay on the base with an overlap, and fasten the joints with tape. It is better to start mounting the planks from the corner located on the left hand, moving to the right. It is preferable to install the boards along the length of the room.

The first board is placed with a gap from the wall, installing the clamps. Insert a thick piece of paper to avoid damaging the wall.

The boards are mounted with their ends to each other, having previously cut off the spike. For a tighter fit, they are adjusted using a bar and a hammer.

Connect the panels of the first row to each other into a lock. Check the connections.

Mark the cutting line with the required indent with a pencil. It must be at least 4 mm from the edge of the penultimate board to create an expansion gap.

To create a solid floor, the panels are laid "at random". In this case, the length of the first panel of the second row should be 2/3 of the standard one.

The planks of the second row are fixed to each other and moved to the first row. Then the ridge-to-groove is tightly connected.

For laying the third row, the bar is cut. Its length should be 1/3 of the standard.

Measure the length of the first plank of the fourth row. It should be standard. Connect the planks of the fourth row together.

The remaining rows should be laid in the same order as the first four. Lapping the planks to the desired place is carried out with a hammer through a wide block of wood, the last panel is finished off through a clamp.

The assembly of the floor is carried out sequentially in the selected direction, with the covering laid from the longest wall and from left to right. The distance between the ends of the strips of adjacent rows must be at least 50 cm.

If the last plank does not fit due to lack of space, you can trim its ridge with a chisel. This removes the part that rises above the upper side surface of the board.

To secure the top side surface of the plank, apply a thin strip of adhesive and adjust the plank with a traction block. Insert spacers into the gap between the wall and floor. After that, you can proceed with the installation of skirting boards and overlays on the joints.

If the cover strip abuts against the pipe, drill a hole 16 mm larger than its diameter to create an expansion gap. Adjust the board until it snaps into place, then glue in the sawn-off piece. Cover the cut holes with decorative elements.