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Herringbone Flooring

Herringbone is rectangular blocks of wood set at right angles to each other, stepped so the ends run past one another in a zigzag. It is the most common form of parquet and the pattern most people picture when they think of a period London floor.

We supply and fit herringbone across South East and South London from our showroom in Forest Hill. 41 herringbone floors below, from £25.99 per m² excluding VAT.

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Should I choose herringbone or chevron?

These two get confused constantly, and the difference is simple once you have seen it. In herringbone the blocks are plain rectangles: the end of one meets the side of the next, so the pattern steps. In chevron the blocks are cut at an angle and meet point to point, forming an unbroken V that runs down the room.

HerringboneChevron
Block shapePlain rectangle, cut squareCut at an angle at both ends
How it meetsEnd to side, steppedPoint to point, continuous V
FeelTraditional, informal, forgivingFormal, directional, more modern
Waste10–15%More — the angled cuts throw away more
CostHigher than plankHighest of the three
Best inAlmost any room; the safe choiceLong rooms and hallways, where the V has somewhere to go

If you are unsure, herringbone is the one that ages better. Chevron reads as a decision; herringbone reads as a floor.

Block Size and Direction Matter More Than Colour

The same oak in two block sizes makes two different floors. A narrow block gives a fine, busy pattern that can make a small sitting room feel restless; a wider block reads calm and lets the grain show. In a room under about 15 m² we would almost always go wider.

Smoked oak herringbone floor in a Norwood living room
Smoked oak herringbone in a Norwood living room. Wide blocks, run down the length of the room.

Direction is the other decision, and it is made once. Herringbone can run down the length of a room or across it, and the zigzag draws the eye the way it points. In a hallway, running it down the hall makes the hall look longer; running it across makes a narrow hall feel wider but chops it visually. We set out a few rows loose on site before committing, because it is obvious in the room and impossible to judge from a drawing.

Engineered Herringbone, and Why It Is Glued Down

Nearly all the herringbone we sell is engineered: a real oak wear layer on a cross-grained core. That is not a cheaper substitute for solid blocks — in herringbone it is the technically better material. Half the blocks in the pattern have their grain running across the other half, so a solid floor works against itself every time the humidity changes. An engineered core barely moves, which also makes it the only sensible choice over underfloor heating.

A herringbone floor is always bonded to the subfloor, never floated on an underlay. A floating herringbone behaves like one loose sheet: it creeps, the joints open along the pattern, and there is no repairing it afterwards.

Which puts all the weight on the base. It has to be flat to roughly 2 mm over 2 m, clean and dry, with a moisture reading before anything is ordered. Herringbone is unforgiving about flatness: the blocks are short and set at an angle, so a dip that a long plank would bridge shows as a shadow line running across the pattern. On most of our jobs preparation takes as long as laying. The full sequence is in our fitting guide.

What Herringbone Costs

Our herringbone runs from £25.99 to £59.27 per m² excluding VAT, with a median of £44.99. A few ranges are quoted on request.

Two costs sit outside that figure and are worth knowing before you compare quotes. Material waste: allow 10–15% rather than the 5–7% you would for planks, because the cuts at the walls and around the border throw more away. Fitting: every block is placed individually, so labour per square metre is higher than for a plank floor — our herringbone fitting starts at £40 per m² excluding VAT, against £20 for plank — and the preparation of the base is usually more thorough.

Send us your room sizes and we will give you the real number including waste and fitting, rather than a rate per square metre that turns into something else later.

Shop Herringbone Flooring

41 herringbone floors in oak and walnut, from £25.99 per m² excluding VAT.

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Herringbone We Have Laid

A whole ground floor of smoked oak herringbone in Norwood — kitchen, living room and front room, one pattern carried through with no threshold strips between them. A rustic-grade herringbone through a house in Rotherhithe, with plank on the stairs, because herringbone on a staircase is fussy, expensive and no better to look at. And in Waterloo, a coir mat cut flush into the pattern inside the front door.

Rustic grade oak herringbone floor in a Rotherhithe house
Rustic grade herringbone in Rotherhithe. The knots and colour variation are left in rather than sorted out.

More of these, with before-and-after photographs, are on our recent work page.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between herringbone and chevron?

Herringbone blocks are plain rectangles meeting at right angles, so the pattern steps. Chevron blocks are cut at an angle and meet point to point, making a continuous V. Chevron costs more because of the angled cutting.

Is herringbone more expensive to fit than plank flooring?

Yes, noticeably. Fitting starts at £40 per m² excluding VAT, against £20 for a plank floor. Every block is placed individually, the material allowance is 10–15% instead of 5–7%, and the subfloor usually needs more preparation because the pattern shows every dip.

Can herringbone go over underfloor heating?

Engineered herringbone can, glued down, and brought up to temperature gradually over the first week. Solid herringbone should not.

Which direction should a herringbone floor run?

Down the length of the room is the usual answer, because the zigzag then leads the eye through the space. Across the room can work in a wide space or to make a narrow hall feel broader. It is worth laying a few rows loose before deciding.

What block size should I choose for herringbone?

Wider blocks in smaller rooms, so the pattern does not become busy. In a large open-plan space a narrower block can look right. Come and see both at the showroom — this one genuinely cannot be judged from a photograph.

Can an old herringbone floor be restored instead of replaced?

Often yes, and it is usually cheaper than replacing it. Old solid blocks are 15–22 mm thick and take several sandings. Sanding parquet is a different job from sanding planks — the grain runs in several directions, so it is worked diagonally and in stages.

What Our Customers Say

★★★★★

“We had some herringbone flooring fitted recently. It was a great experience from start to finish and we couldn't be more happy with the result. Ruslan is a…”

— Dave Thompson

★★★★★

“Beautiful job, I’m so pleased. Ruslan is very knowledgable, flagged any potential issues early and advised me on what I could preserve from the existing f…”

— Rosa O'Mara

★★★★★

“I went to visit Wood4Floors to see some samples, and had a super helpful man show me some things and gave me a few full sized samples of herringbone flooring.…”

— Drew Theunissen

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How do I get a price for a herringbone floor?

Send your room sizes for a price including waste and fitting, or order samples and see the blocks in your own light before choosing a size.

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