Prefinished parquet experiences - Who knows the parquet?

I have decided to lay parquet instead of tiles in the main room after all. Many houses here also have parquet flooring. Now I am interested in your previous experiences with it. What would you buy again, and what rather not? Is oiled better than lacquered?

The price differences are quite large. For example, I have seen parquet from Kährs that I like, but that costs around 100 EUR per square meter. However, my budget is about 50 EUR per square meter. I had been considering parquet from Hori all along, but yesterday I read many negative reviews that somewhat discourage me.

So, go ahead and tell me what I should definitely check out that has a good price-performance ratio.

By the way, I want oak parquet, in case that is relevant.

We have painted Tilo on the ground floor (Mahogany) and a cheap painted NoName brand (Beech) on the upper floor.

The difference is huge after 6 years.

Of course, the parquet has suffered everywhere, but on the ground floor it looks from the picture as if it was freshly laid (apart from dents and scratches); on the upper floor, there are also now visible gaps between the planks and discolorations caused by the sun, etc.

Thank you Mycraft. I conclude from that, if you had to do it again, you would also lay the good parquet upstairs, wouldn't you?

Yes, I would definitely choose the same parquet, meaning tilo again (even though it is quite soft), and then lay it over the entire area.

But at the end of a house construction, money is always tight, so you end up saving somewhere.

I have parquet in the living room for €70 per m² and in the other rooms one for €50. There is a noticeable difference. I should have had the €70 parquet installed everywhere... although it is less important how high-quality it is in the hallway. It's just so pleasant to walk barefoot on the more expensive parquet.

If parquet, then only oiled; everything else, in my opinion, largely negates what makes a parquet floor special.

If oiling is not an option, I would look for other types of floors.

I looked at many; the well-known brands almost always win. Tried and tested is a good benchmark here. I would only use hardwood; I have oak everywhere. Softwoods didn’t appeal to me at the specialty store. There were woods where you could leave marks with your fingernail. For me, that simply would not be robust enough.

I would say from €70 you get good floors. Below that, unless on sale, they are mostly “entry-level” floors. Above €100, the quality is even higher, but for me as an “ordinary” person, that was no longer a suitable price-performance ratio. However, there are some very, very nice floors at that price.

Wear layer and similar aspects—I think it is absolutely sufficient for a floor if it can be sanded twice. Two sandings usually mean 30 to 40 years of service life; that should be enough, and more doesn’t seem sensible to me.

Oiling is absolutely simple, even for laypeople. At the specialty store, you can rent the equipment; it only costs a few euros. The only downside is that you shouldn’t walk on the floor for 24-48 hours afterward. It requires one weekend away from home once a year or every two years.

My two floors come from a Swedish manufacturer.

Hi guys,
Where do you buy your parquet?? Do you have a specific store, or do you buy it online?

All the best!