A man's best friend is considered to be a dog or, sometimes, a book. However, we tend to forget about our most faithfully serving best friends – the trees. Trees provide for existence of our civilization by letting us breathe. Besides, wood as a material has been an integral element of human lives since prehistoric times. Grown naturally, the trees apply nature's wisdom to take care of our comfort and needs. It is no coincidence that many people feel more comfortable in homes made of mostly wooden materials instead of concrete walls or glass and steel constructions. No matter what material is your home built of, the good news is that you can always improve significantly upon it to revert back to a natural and healthy microclimate that can only be provided by wood.

Breathable

A pleasant indoor microclimate is one of the main advantages of wooden flooring. Optimal air humidity of a room is characterised by a physical property 'equilibrium moisture content of wood' – if the humidity is too high, the wooden floor absorbs the excessive moisture, however, if the air becomes too dry, the floor returns the moisture back into the room.

Warming

Besides regulating air humidity correctly laid wooden floors function well as a thermal insulator material. Wood is possibly the warmest covering of a floor, and you don't need scientific proof for that – just step barefoot on wooden floor and, for example, concrete floor. Wood provides good thermal insulation because of low thermal conductivity.

Low flammability

Although parquet floor is made of wood and you might think that its flammability is a disadvantage, it is not so. According to the classification of building materials in the standard DIN 4102 the parquet floor is categorized as B2 among materials of average combustibility. It is smouldering and charring, thus delaying the oxidation and preventing the self-propagation of flames. Oak and beech tree floors are especially fire-resistant, and in most cases can be easily reconstructed after fire.

Long lasting

Correctly laid wooden floors are characterised as enduring and lasting, they may serve several generations. Such durability was achieved after 25 years of research and experiments by the Ukrainian scientist Anatoli Efros who invented almost indestructible parquet construction that allows for laying floors of more than 100 years of longevity without replacement (however, correct service is necessary).

In addition, there are other valuable characteristics of parquet floors such as elasticity (important for leg comfort), low conductivity of electricity (important for electric safety), and environmental origin (health-friendly).

History of parquet

Initially, parquet floors were the privilege of wealthy upper class citizens. At first, they appeared only in palaces, the most prominent and finest buildings. The term 'parquet' was coined in France at the beginning of 17th century. And it was right there in France where demand for parquet floors started to gain momentum. The parquet of the Palace of Versailles became the standard for any residence of French aristocracy throughout the 17th and 18th century while the ever conservative British on the other side of the English Channel were not so keen to adopt this 'marvel.' Instead of a decorative parquet floor they relied on more conventional plain oak-plank flooring.