Chevron flooring patters can be seen on paintings that were made many centuries ago. Some resources claim it originated in France between 16th and 18th century, but it is actually when it became very popular for luxurious residencies and got its French name “chevron”.
Just like Kings and other history figures wanted to live in luxury, chevron flooring was underlining their wealth and importance by complexity and very detailed work that requires perfection. Only certain people could afford it, but those who did were fortunate to enjoy unique design of their chevron hardwood floor.
In those days there were no prebuilt boards of wood chevron pattern and manufacturing of hardwood planks was not done with exact same sizes. Everything was falling down to ideally preparing the floor and carefully installing it.
Maintenance Requirements for This Specific Floor Style
When you spend tons of money on installation of chevron floors in your home we recommend maintain the looks that you wanted to achieve from the beginning.
To protect your floors from spills and casual small damages there are oils that can be put on top surface. They cover floors with tiny coat that repeals liquids and organics that can ruin the color. Manufacturers and suppliers usually have recommended oils with direct instructions of how often to apply and other details.
Just like other hardwood material it can be damaged with sharp objects, furniture and even scratched by animals’ claws. Chevron style is Bentley of flooring and it would make sense to be extra careful to it.
Popularity and complexity of this floor is because of tight connections with no gaps in between all planks. To keep it tight all the time interior temperature and humidity level has to be continuously as per recommendation of supplier. Otherwise floor may shrink or expand creating small gaps on connections.
What You Should Budget For Wood Chevron Pattern Floors?
Not every flooring contractor is able to install laminate or wood chevron pattern. It requires years of experience and practice working with specific product. Professionals will charge you at least $5 per square foot and it easily go up to $10 depending on how big the area of installation is and how complex are corners and other details.
Materials prices are definitely one of the highest you will come across to on the market. Chevron pattern floors average at $10 per square foot, but there are so many types that can cost much more. The best way is to work directly with suppliers and ask them for reputable installers or see if they have in-house team.
There are underlayment mats and protection oils that you can purchase as well that averages all materials and installation of chevron hardwood floors at $18 per square foot.
Installation Steps for Wood Chevron Floor Setup
Preparation of subfloor
Before installing the floor, contractors have to prepare the floor and make it perfectly level. In older homes center of the room sometimes sags down and you have to even it out with shimming or layer of materials (pads, concrete, and mats).
In renovation or new construction there may be nails that you have to remove and make sure not to miss anything or it will push the floor up during installation. Some manufacturers recommend layer of underlayment for their floors to be spread on subfloor prior to hardwood being installed.
Layout Design
This is not your regular floor pattern where you just start from one wall and follow each row. Exact layout is very important to see if the room has leveled walls, if corners are as you expect them to be and where the material will point.
The simplest way is to start on paper and with measurements of room and flooring boards you can draw the layout. If everything checks out installers will put marks on the floor of each row to follow the drawing.
Installation oh hardwood
Every material should have instructions for wood chevron pattern. Some manufacturers simply pre-cut the planks in 45 degrees and have exactly the same sizes for each plank. Others may have connection or click mechanism at the end of each plank to avoid nails and glue.
These days with technology chevron floor is made even easier with full boards/sheets of planks already compacted together without any gaps in between. In any way you follow the line of your upper point on both sides of floor and stick to the plan on paper. Use both glue and side nails for attaching to subfloor.
Slightly tap with rubber hammer to minimize the distance between each plank and leave no gap. After completing each row, see if you went off course and if any correction is needed. During remodeling this floor must be protected and we recommend covering them up with ram boards or similar material till the end of construction.
Pros and Cons of Chevron Pattern Hardwood
Pros –
- Chevron Floor has amazing looks. Everyone has their own taste but there are not that many people that can say negative things about how this floor looks.
- Materials used in installation process are very durable and will last a long time. Especially if you take care of it with suggested oils from manufacturer.
- The way these floors are installed we can create a way of direction or importance of room side. For example in main living room it will point to centerpiece such as fireplace with TV.
- Chevron has been around for many centuries and was always considered one of top luxury options for the floors. You can be sure that it will not go out of style anytime soon.
Cons –
- Let’s start with one of the first home owners look at and that is cost. Materials and installation costs are very high for chevron flooring and that is definitely a con.
- It does take a long time for preparation and putting these floors down. What normally takes several days, with chevron can take a week or even more.
- To keep original sleek looks you will need to protect it with oils regularly. Wood chevron pattern floors require constant maintenance.
- It is not easy to find good installation contractors for this pattern and in some regions even materials are not available.
Finding Professional for Complicated Floor Pattern
If you are from small city or town, it will be next to impossible finding contractors that have knowledge and experience working with chevron pattern hardwood flooring. Companies that do provide installation of floor in this pattern are often booked for weeks and sometimes even months ahead.
The best way to find someone in this type of business is through a referral. If you know the industry or homeowners that have done chevron floors at home, ask them for contacts and check out what they have been doing on latest projects.
With complex product one of the ways to guarantee proper installation is for the company to do both: supply and install. Ask manufacturer’s recommendation or maybe they have installers within their company that can help you out.
Online or local contractors can be approached for chevron pattern as well. On Point Remodeling wants to remind you that these company has to specialize in this type of work specifically.
Recommended Manufacturers and Suppliers for Luxury Floor
Chevron became popular in Europe and most of the manufacturers are located in Europe as well. They sell to almost all countries and local reseller can order the material for you.
We wanted to share our research on chevron floor and list some of the top manufacturers:
Coswic – Manufacturing facility in Belarus with main office in Toronto, Canada. They use top quality wood mostly from US for their product. Ship worldwide and can be transported to your city in America within 6-8 weeks.
Granorte – flooring manufacturer that was found in Portugal almost 50 years ago, and till this day they make top quality hardwood and cork floors. Shipping 90% of their product to 50 countries. Main offices are located in Germany and United Kingdom.
Mardegan Legno – Italian Floor Manufacturer established by Hungarian born. They have twelve wood finishes to select from with almost 120 color shades. Their timber comes from nearby counties in Europe like Slovenia and Hungary.
Tilo – Family owned business that operates for 70 years now and has over 250 employees. They are based and established in Austria. Their elegant floors stand out from many competitors in Europe and even the world.
Parchetifficio Toscano Srl – Another Italian manufacturer that was created by carpenter in 1950s and carried on by family members till this day. They specialize in chevron production and another high end wood.
Havwoods – European established and now partially American supplier of hardwood and engineer boards with chevron layout for home owners and contractors.
Types of Material Used for Chevron Style
Hardwood – As the original method, cutting each wood plank on the job and laying it perfectly into shape of chevron is how the hardwood installed. Also hardwood may be precut into exact sizes just for the wood chevron pattern floor.
Engineered Wood – This is the most popular and preferred materials for chevron floors. Engineered hardwood does not react to temperature change or humidity like real wood and will not expand or contract to create gaps. Also engineered wood is used to create large boards of chevron pattern for easy installation.
Laminate – The cheaper version of wood that can be as beautiful is laminate. They also produce sheets of planks already tightened together. The boards are on average 1 foot in width (1 section) and 4 feet in length (6-8 planks).
Calculating Waste Materials for This Pattern
Buying materials and calculation how much you actually need for the work is not as easy as you may think. Professionals will know as soon as they walk in the room what the process will be like and how many cuts they need to make.
On Point Remodeling suggests to start and measuring the room and rounding up to the full foot. If length is 9’ 10” and width is 13’7” we would want to round it up to 10 and 14 feet, making it 140 square feet.
For rectangular room like this professionals need 8% – 10% extras for cuts and damages, but doing it DIY will require a bit more.
Tying DIY Laminate or Wood Chevron Projects?
For those of you who are reading this post and want to try DIY installation at home, we highly encourage you to think twice before costly mistake is made.
This is not regular floor installation and even contractors who have been installing floor for who life, but never dealt with chevron or herringbone patter will not want to attempt your installation. It just needs tons of practice.
It may be easier with prebuilt boards, but if nothing will convince you from hiring contractors, ask suppliers for full instructions, how to measure and what tools you require.
Time for Installation Required
Schedule time for installation of hardwood floors in chevron pattern is at least doubled from regular straight plank installation.
Prebuilt sheets or boards will speed up the process, but planning and preparing is still time consuming.
A team of 2 people can install up to 1000 square feet straight style hardwood in a house within 3 days. Pieced hardwood chevron style should take close to 8 days and prebuilt boards probably 5-6 days.
