Checking your wood floor before you lay it
What to inspect on delivery, which characteristics are normal on a natural material, and how to react if something is wrong with an order.
Read the guide →Wood flooring advice
Practical guides to choosing, buying and laying wood flooring well: prices, grades, finishes, patterns — written by people who buy parquet at the factory all week long.
Calculator: how many m² should you order? →
Mosaic and chequerboard parquet: classic patterns
Mosaic, chequerboard, panels: the traditional parquet patterns, how they are laid, what they really cost and where they belong.
Read the guide →
Water damage on a wood floor: what to do
The first hours decide everything. Emergency steps, what can be saved, what must be replaced, and how to handle the insurance claim.
Read the guide →
How long does a wood floor last?
30 years, 50, a century? What really determines the lifespan of a wood floor: the wear layer, the finish and the upkeep — long before the price.
Read the guide →
Wood flooring or tiles: how to choose
Comfort, upkeep, price, lifespan and resale value: an honest comparison between wood and tiles, room by room.
Read the guide →
Scandinavian wood flooring: the Nordic look
Very pale oak, wide boards, matt oiled finish: the concrete rules of the Scandinavian floor, and how to apply them without cliché.
Read the guide →
Which wood floor tone should you choose?
Pale, natural, smoked or whitewashed: how the light in the room, the furniture and the upkeep should drive your choice of tone.
Read the guide →
Expansion gaps: where and why?
Perimeter gap, expansion breaks, doorways: where the wood must be free to move, and what happens when you stop it.
Read the guide →
Levelling and flatness: preparing the subfloor
The flatness tolerances to meet before laying a wood floor, how to measure them with a 2 m rule, and when a levelling compound becomes unavoidable.
Read the guide →
Laying a new floor over old floorboards
Creaks, loose boards, uncertain flatness: how to assess an old timber floor and lay a new one over it without surprises.
Read the guide →
Can you lay wood flooring over tiles?
Yes, in most cases — provided the tiles are soundly bonded, flat enough and the height works. The full method, glued or floating.
Read the guide →
Which wood floor for a living room?
Format, pattern, tone and durability: how to choose the floor of the most visible room in the house without misplacing the budget.
Read the guide →
Which wood floor for a bedroom?
Comfort underfoot, acoustics, indoor air quality and budget: what actually matters in a bedroom, and what you can safely ignore.
Read the guide →
What thickness of wood flooring to choose?
10, 14, 15 or 20 mm: how overall thickness and wear layer decide the installation method, the lifespan and underfloor heating compatibility.
Read the guide →
Which floor for a hallway or a small room?
Direction, board width, tone and continuity: the choices that make a narrow space look bigger, and the ones that shrink it.
Read the guide →
Bevelled or square edge: which to choose?
What the edge profile really changes: the look, how forgiving the installation is, and how the floor ages through the seasons.
Read the guide →
Raw and rustic oak flooring: choosing the right grade
Prime, Classic, Rustic, Heavy Rustic: what a grade really changes — knots, sapwood, budget — and why raw or brushed aged oak is often the smart choice.
Read the guide →
Wood flooring in an office, shop or hotel
Use class, reaction to fire, accessibility: the constraints that do not exist in a home and that decide the choice.
Read the guide →
Sustainable wood flooring: FSC, PEFC, VOCs, adhesives
What a forest label actually guarantees, what the emissions rating measures, and the three questions to ask before you buy.
Read the guide →
Humidity: the invisible factor in a wood floor
The gaps that open in January are not a defect in the floor, it is your air that is too dry. Understanding it, and fixing it.
Read the guide →
Wood flooring in a period apartment
Chevron, herringbone, wide planks: what is genuinely period, what is not, and the constraints of a century-old floor on joists.
Read the guide →
Ash, maple, birch: the pale timbers
When oak is too yellow or too expected. Three pale species, what they are worth in hardness, and what light does to them.
Read the guide →
Fitting wood flooring on a staircase
A tread is not a floor: it carries the load on its nosing and needs a specific part. What that changes in thickness, fitting and budget.
Read the guide →
Repairing a scratch or replacing a board
Three levels of damage, three different repairs. What can be sorted in ten minutes, and when the board really has to come out.
Read the guide →
Sanding and lacquering your floor yourself
Doable, provided you know the three passes, the belt-sander trap and the real curing time before the furniture goes back.
Read the guide →
How much does fitting a wood floor cost per m²?
The ranges by installation method and pattern, what makes a quote explode, and the items fitters charge on top.
Read the guide →
Wood, laminate or vinyl: the honest comparison
Three products sold in the same aisle that have nothing in common. What each really is, what it costs, and what it becomes in ten years.
Read the guide →
Brushed, hand-scraped, aged: floor textures
These are not finishes but surface treatments. What each changes to the touch, to upkeep, and to the way the floor ages.
Read the guide →
Wood flooring in a flat: noise and building rules
What the building's rules can impose, what acoustic regulation says, and how to lay a floor without falling out with the neighbour below.
Read the guide →
Skirtings, thresholds and edge details
The expansion gap must stay free: that is the whole logic of perimeter details. Which skirting, which threshold, and the classic mistakes.
Read the guide →
Which direction should you lay the boards?
Light, room shape, subfloor: three rules that sometimes contradict each other. How to decide, and when you have no choice at all.
Read the guide →
Caring for a lacquered wood floor
The lacquer protects the wood, but it wears. The cleaning that preserves it, the products that destroy it, and when it needs redoing.
Read the guide →
Renovate your old floor or replace it?
Three checks decide. How to know whether an old floor can still be sanded, and when replacement becomes the more rational option.
Read the guide →
Wood floors, scratches and pets: what holds up
What actually scratches a floor is neither the dog nor the heels. The real mechanisms of wear, and the choices that limit marks.
Read the guide →
Versailles panels: history, installation and budget
The most prestigious pattern in French flooring: what it really costs, the floor area it demands, and why installation changes everything.
Read the guide →
Fumed oak: where does that deep colour come from?
An ammonia process that colours the wood through its thickness, not on the surface. What that changes for wear, scratches and renovation.
Read the guide →
Taking delivery of a pallet of flooring: the checklist
What to check before signing the delivery note, and the reservations to write if a pack is damaged. Five minutes that protect the order.
Read the guide →
Wood flooring use classes: reading the numbers
21, 23, 31, 33: what these codes actually mean, and why they matter less than you think for a wooden floor.
Read the guide →
Acclimatising your floor before laying: how to do it
The number-one cause of floors that cup or open up. How long, under what conditions, and how to check it is ready.
Read the guide →
Underlay for a floating floor: how to choose
Thickness, acoustic insulation, vapour barrier: what the printed figures really mean, and what matters in your situation.
Read the guide →
Glued, floating or nailed: which installation to choose?
Sound, comfort, reversibility, underfloor heating compatibility: the criteria that separate the three methods, without the received wisdom.
Read the guide →
How many square metres of flooring to order?
Floor area is never enough. The waste factor to allow for each laying pattern, and how to avoid a top-up batch that no longer matches.
Read the guide →
Wood flooring in the kitchen: good or bad idea?
Stains, impacts, leaks: the real risks, the finish that changes everything and the precautions that genuinely matter.
Read the guide →
Can you put wood flooring in a bathroom?
Yes, under five precise conditions. The board type, the finish, the ventilation and the installation that separate a beautiful floor from a claim.
Read the guide →
Walnut flooring: what to know before you buy
A deep brown that lightens over time and a hardness below oak: the real characteristics of walnut, and the rooms where it excels.
Read the guide →
European oak or American oak: what really differs
Grain, colour, stability, price: what genuinely separates the two oaks, and which one suits your room and the look you are after.
Read the guide →
What board width should you choose?
Narrow, wide or extra-wide: the effect on how the room reads, on stability and on price. Simple rules by surface area and style.
Read the guide →
White wood flooring: oiled, limed or lacquered
Three ways to reach white, three very different results. How each ages, what it hides, and which suits your room.
Read the guide →
How to maintain an oiled wood floor
Routine cleaning, how often to re-oil, products to avoid, and how to mend a marked patch without redoing the whole room.
Read the guide →
Wear layer: how many millimetres do you need?
2, 3 or 6 mm decides how many times a floor can be sanded and how long it lasts. The simple rule for not overpaying — or underbuying.
Read the guide →
Wood flooring over underfloor heating
Suitable species, thicknesses and fitting methods, temperature limits, and the mistakes that make boards cup.
Read the guide →
Laying a click floor yourself: step by step
Substrate preparation, laying direction, expansion gaps, cuts: the full method and the mistakes that cost the most.
Read the guide →
Buying wood flooring direct from the mill
Who takes a margin between the mill and your home, what direct buying actually changes, and the trade-offs nobody mentions.
Read the guide →
Oiled, lacquered or raw: which finish?
Look, resistance, upkeep, repairability: the criteria that actually decide, and the real cost of each finish over time.
Read the guide →
Oak grades: Prime, Select, Natur, Rustic
Grade describes appearance, not quality. What knots, sapwood and colour variation each grade allows, and which one suits your room.
Read the guide →
Herringbone vs chevron: the differences
Two patterns constantly confused, and a third often lumped in with them. How to tell them apart, and what each one costs to lay.
Read the guide →
What oak flooring really costs per m²
Where the money actually goes, why the same board sells for double elsewhere, and the costs quoted prices leave out.
Read the guide →
Engineered or solid wood flooring?
Stability, thickness, number of sandings, underfloor heating, budget: the criteria that genuinely separate the two families.
Read the guide →Inspiration & styles
Patterns, tones, moods: wood floors on the design side — choose with your eyes before the specs.
Wood floor trends 2026-2027: what is rising, what will stay
Invisible blond, very wide planks, the return of patterns, total matteness: what we see in projects — and what will last.
Read the article
Which wood floor in which room: living room, bedroom, kitchen
One house, three moods: the floor that suits the living room is not necessarily the bedroom's. A room-by-room tour.
Read the article
A wood floor for every style: Scandinavian, japandi, industrial, classic
The floor is a third of what the eye sees in a room. It had better play on the same team as the rest — the style-by-style guide.
Read the article
Take care of your entrance: the first five square metres set the tone
It is the most trodden and least considered room in the house. A few good decisions and the entrance becomes a real room.
Read the article
Raw or aged wood floors: the charm of the authentic
Frank knots, hand-planed surfaces, total matteness: why the sharpest interiors are returning to wood that looks like wood.
Read the article
Dark or smoked floors: getting the hushed mood right
Dark floors scare people — wrongly. Well dosed, they are the surest tool for an enveloping, warm, slightly hotel-bar room.
Read the article
XXL planks in small rooms: the counter-intuitive trick that enlarges
People think a small living room calls for small boards. It is the opposite: fewer joints, more calm — the room breathes.
Read the article
Versailles panels: from the château to the loft
Four centuries after the Hall of Mirrors, the French panel finds its place again — in interiors that look nothing like a château.
Read the article
Herringbone: the pattern that warms a modern interior
Less solemn than chevron, more alive than a straight plank: herringbone is the perfect compromise for today's interiors.
Read the article
Chevron parquet: the Haussmann heritage, softened
The floor of Parisian apartments moves into contemporary interiors — why it fascinates, how to choose it, what to pair it with.
Read the articleRenovation: the site guides
Drywall, insulation, electrics, plumbing, floor preparation: everything that comes before the wood floor.
Walls & partitions
Tiling a bathroom wall: the method and the rules
Double-buttering by format, spacers, cuts, grout: a straight wall of tiles — and what the rules require.
Read the guide
Insulating a loft: blown wool, thicknesses, R ≥ 7
30 % of heat losses go through the roof: blown wool, minimum R for subsidies, vapour barrier and detail points, summarised.
Read the guide
Skimming old walls: filler and finishing compound
Fill, skim, smooth, sand: the method to turn a tired wall into a new substrate without lining it with plasterboard.
Read the guide
Painting new plasterboard: primer, coats and traps
Mandatory primer, matt/eggshell/satin finishes, drying conditions: the method for a flawless paint job on new boards.
Read the guide
Fixing heavy loads on plasterboard: anchors and limits
Hollow-wall metal anchor, toggle, through-reinforcement: real capacities per fixing type and the thresholds not to exceed.
Read the guide
Plasterboard in wet rooms: bathroom and kitchen rules
Green moisture-resistant board, waterproofing under tiles, exposure classes: what the rules require around a shower or bathtub.
Read the guide
Bonded insulation boards: the adhesive-dab technique
Insulated panel + board bonded with adhesive mortar: the method, dabs every 30 cm, and the cases where bonding is forbidden.
Read the guide
Plasterboard suspended ceiling: channels, hangers and spacings
Hangers every 1.20 m, channels every 60 cm, boards screwed across: the rules of a suspended ceiling that never cracks.
Read the guide
Which plasterboard to choose? Standard, moisture-resistant, acoustic…
Standard grey, green moisture-resistant, blue acoustic, high-impact: the table to pick the right board for each room and use.
Read the guide
Soundproofing a flat: stop hearing the neighbours
Airborne or impact noise? Mass-spring-mass walls, floating floors, suspended ceilings: what really works to get silence back.
Read the guide
Insulating a wall from the inside: bonded or frame system?
Bonded insulated board or metal-frame lining: both techniques compared, the thicknesses that matter and the moisture traps.
Read the guide
Drywall joint tape: achieving invisible joints
Paper or metal-reinforced tape, compound in 3 passes, sanding: the plasterers' technique for perfectly flat walls before painting.
Read the guide
Building a plasterboard partition wall: the step-by-step guide
Tracks, studs, screw spacing, board layout: the complete method for building a straight, solid plasterboard partition, even for a first-timer.
Read the guideElectrics & plumbing
Lighting: how many lumens per room?
Lumens per m², colour temperature, CRI, spots and dimmers: designing a renovation lighting plan, with figures.
Read the guide
Sizing hot-water radiators: the method
Watts per m³ by insulation level, delta T, position under the window, bleeding and balancing: sizing radiators right in renovation.
Read the guide
Single-flow or heat-recovery ventilation: choosing and sizing
Humidity-controlled systems, heat-recovery units: regulatory airflows, vents, ducts and the mistakes that make ventilation noisy or useless.
Read the guide
Installing an electric water heater: the rules
Safety valve group, dedicated 20 A circuit, off-peak contactor, fixing: the summary for a compliant cylinder installation.
Read the guide
Wall chases and electrical conduits: the rules
Maximum depths, forbidden zones, flexible conduits, refilling: how to bury the electrics without weakening the walls.
Read the guide
How many sockets per room? The standard's minimums
Living room, bedroom, kitchen, outdoors: the number of sockets and lighting points required by the French standard, and mounting heights.
Read the guide
The consumer unit: composition rule by rule
30 mA RCDs, rows, busbars, 20 % spare capacity: how a compliant electrical board is composed.
Read the guide
Renovating the plumbing: PEX, multilayer or copper?
Three materials, three philosophies: costs, durability, ease of installation and use cases for redoing supply and waste without mistakes.
Read the guide
Electrical renovation: what the French standard requires
Consumer unit, sockets per room, dedicated circuits, bathroom zones: the essentials of the NF C 15-100 standard for planning a compliant renovation.
Read the guidePreparing the floors
Timber decking: joists, spacings and ventilation
Pedestals, joists every 40-50 cm, stainless screws, 1-2 % fall, air gap: building a deck that lasts.
Read the guide
Laying floor tiles: formats, adhesive and joints
Double-buttering from 1,100 cm², movement joints, levelling clips: glued floor tiling by the book.
Read the guide
Walk-in shower: waterproofing, fall and tileable tray
Tile-ready tray, liquid membrane, 1-2 % fall, linear drain: the rules for a level-access shower that never leaks.
Read the guide
Levelling an old timber floor before a new covering
Fibre-reinforced compound, primer, refixing screws, decoupling mat: fixing an old moving floor without ripping it out.
Read the guide
Measuring screed moisture before laying the floor
Carbide meter, 3 % and 0.5 % thresholds, where to sample: the protocol that saves a wood floor from a damp substrate.
Read the guide
Hydronic underfloor heating: installation, screed and first heat-up
Insulation, PEX pipes at 10-20 cm spacing, embedding screed, gradual first heat-up: the steps before laying the floor covering.
Read the guide
Screed or self-levelling compound: fixing an uneven floor
Under 2 cm: self-levelling compound. Beyond: screed. How to measure, choose the right product and prepare a truly flat floor before wood or tile.
Read the guideRunning the project
Renovating a wooden staircase: creaks, steps, finishes
Blondel formula, creaks, sanding, sealing or cladding the steps: making a staircase new again without replacing it.
Read the guide
Replacing windows: full removal or retrofit?
Uw, Sw, full-frame removal vs retrofit installation, PVC/alu/wood: choosing joinery and avoiding the shrinking-glass trap.
Read the guide
Project handover: defects, retention and guarantees
Handover report, reserved defects, 5 % retention, 1-, 2- and 10-year guarantees: your rights after the works, summarised.
Read the guide
Renovating a flat in a co-owned building: the rules
What you can do freely, what needs the managing agent or the general meeting, working hours and floor rules: renovating without conflict.
Read the guide
Renovation budget per m²: realistic ranges
Refresh, full renovation, heavy renovation: prices per m² by level and the typical budget split by trade.
Read the guide
In what order should you renovate?
Demolition, services, plasterboard, screed, painting, floors: the standard schedule of a full renovation — and why the wood floor comes last.
Read the guide