Georgian
floorboards would have been made from oak or a soft wood that would
have been stained to look like a hardwood. They would of been hand cut
and nailed down at right angles to the underneath joists. In the grander
rooms, boards of 5 - 8 inches were used and the larger 8 - 10 were used
in the less noble rooms and houses.
Most
Victorian houses used wooden floorboards. They
were laid onto joists and nailed down. The floor boards created a suspended
floor, where the air-gap helped to prevent damp.
Edwardian
floorboards were narrower than the Victorians. They were butted up against
each other or tongue and grooved. Boards were made from pine or deal
and stained or waxed to look like hardwood. Bedroom wooden floors would
of been parquet or boards painted white with a rug in the centre.
Parquet
flooring was popular between the Edwardian and Thirties period. Parquet
flooring is most suitable for solid floors i.e. concrete, which would
most likely to be on the ground floor of the house like the hall and
living space. Parquetry is small blocks of hardwood glued down onto
a subfloor providing a hardwearing surface to cater with daily life.
The block would be laid down in a geometrical pattern to create a decorative
effect; the herringbone pattern was most popular.
Pine
and Oak Floor Boards
Parquet
Flooring
Wooden
Flooring Products
Woodline
Flooring
Hardwood
Floor Store
Reclaimed
Timber
SalvoWeb
Reclaimed
Wooden Flooring: Eat Sleep Live
English
Oak Parquet Flooring: LASSCO
Parquet
Flooring
RVH
Flooring
Useful
Links to Articles
History
of Parquet Flooring: Parquet House
History
of Russian Parquet Flooring
Caring
for your Parquet Floor: Parquet House
Youtube:
Sanding and varnishing a herringbone wooden floor
Forum
Debates
Channel
4 Homes Forum
Useful
Research Websites
BBC
Homes 1920's:
BBC
Homes 1930's
Hidden
House History
Francis
Frith Photo Archive
The
Geffrye Museum
English
Architecture: Britain Express
Looking
at Buildings: Pevsner Architectural Guides