Laying parquet, in which direction?

I was always told that you lay it across the window.

Hello "werschtl". The direction of installation remains fundamentally up to you. The "spatial effect", depending on whether one wants/needs to visually elongate a room or not, has already been pointed out. However, variant 1 would be the better choice given the specified light incidence. Floating (or on a substrate) installed multi-layer parquet elements have the property that the unavoidable deformations caused by moisture absorption from the air, which are positively hindered by the bonding on the back side in floating installation, can now take effect unhindered. How parquet can look if certain installation rules are not followed, I have shown you once on the enclosed photo from my own expert practice. The question of whether baseboard or liquid cork at the window element has also been correctly answered elsewhere (in favor of the liquid cork strip). A strip along the window front would undoubtedly contradict the desired optical impression! ------------------- Regards: KlaRa

I would probably lay it in the same direction as on the terrace/balcony. That would be option 1, if I'm not mistaken. I imagine it looks nicer if everything is laid in one direction. To enhance the effect, I would probably also choose a flooring similar to the one on the terrace/balcony.

But that can't have been high-quality parquet. Are those "sanding marks" that can be seen there?
I would be personally interested in more details about this, if it’s not too much trouble for you.

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I want to elaborate on something regarding the laying direction because I am very interested in your opinion as an expert. Could it be that one reason for laying the floor in the direction of the main light incidence is to possibly retouch errors in the renovation of the floor? I once made a fatal mistake. The floor was laid perpendicular to the light incidence and was supposed to be refinished because of damage. I apparently sanded in some waves that became visible after the new sealing. To be honest, seeing that under the light incidence was a complete disaster. It really annoyed me terribly. After sanding again with painstaking precision, everything was fine.

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Sanding marks on parquet surfaces look different; however, the possibilities to "sand a parquet floor to ruin" are almost limitless....
The attached photo is only meant to illustrate that side or grazing light can appear very unfavorable along the long edges of the elements as soon as the element is even slightly deformed.
Deformations themselves are not a defect but - of course, within a reasonable scope - should be regarded as typical material characteristics of wood and wood-based materials!
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Best regards: KlaRa