Herringbone and chevron
Herringbone & Chevron Parquet Flooring
Herringbone and chevron are the two patterns clients most often mix up, and the difference is in the end cut. Both live or die on layout, which is why herringbone and chevron floor installation begins with a centerline drawn on the subfloor.
The difference
Square ends or angled ends
Cost follows the cutting. Chevron and French herringbone need every board mitered and every miter to close, so they carry more shop hours per square foot than a square-end herringbone parquet floor.
- Herringbone
- Boards with square ends. Each one meets the side of the next at 90 degrees, so the pattern breaks into a stepped zigzag and every joint is offset. The look is busier and older, and it reads as texture from standing height.
- Chevron
- Boards mitered on the ends, usually at 45 or 30 degrees, so the two sides meet point to point in a continuous V. The result is a set of unbroken lines running the length of the room, and the room stretches along the direction of the V, which is worth knowing before you choose the run.
- French herringbone
- Sits between the two: the boards are angle-cut like chevron but laid in a herringbone block, giving a sharper point at the top of each row.
Layout
Where the pattern is centered
The single decision that makes or breaks the floor: what the pattern is centered on. A herringbone run centered on the room can arrive at a fireplace or a door casing off-axis; centered on the fireplace, it may land unevenly at the far wall. In a long hall, the run is usually set to the length so the V draws you down the space.
We mark the centerline on the subfloor, dry-lay the first courses, and look at it with you before anything is fastened. Rooms that are out of square get the discrepancy pushed into the border, where it disappears, rather than into the field, where it is visible for the life of the floor.
Borders and edges
How the field ends
A herringbone field ends in sawtooth points at the wall, so it wants a border to close it. That border can be a plain double strip, a mitered frame, or a full decorative band. It also gives the installer a place to absorb an out-of-square wall.
Species choice changes the character more than the pattern does. Oak keeps the look traditional. Walnut turns it dark and quiet. A two-species herringbone alternates tone board by board, which is loud in a small room and handsome in a large one.
The commission
What a herringbone or chevron floor includes
- Layout drawing with the centerline set against the room's fixed features
- Dry lay of the first courses for approval before fastening
- Square-end herringbone, angled chevron or French herringbone, cut to the chosen angle
- Border design to close the field and absorb out-of-square walls
- Integration with adjoining floors, stone or tile at thresholds
- Sanding and finishing across field and border as one surface
Questions
Herringbone, chevron and parquetry
What is the difference between parquetry and a herringbone floor?
Herringbone is one pattern. Parquetry is the whole discipline of building a floor out of individually cut pieces arranged to a geometric design, and herringbone is the most familiar member of that family. Parquetry also covers medallions, borders, inlays and full-room fields of squares, diamonds and stars, and those are typically cut to a drawing made for one specific room rather than laid from a repeating stock unit.
What is the difference between herringbone and chevron?
The end cut. Herringbone boards have square ends, so each board meets the side of the next at 90 degrees and the pattern steps into a broken zigzag. Chevron boards are mitered on the ends, usually at 45 or 30 degrees, so they meet point to point and form continuous unbroken V lines down the room. Chevron requires every board to be angle cut and every miter to close, which makes it the more expensive of the two to install.
Layout
Lay out the pattern
Tell us the room, its length and the features the pattern has to answer to, such as a fireplace or a hall opening. The layout drawing comes back first.