Mosaic - definitely back in fashion
25 June 2011
Since the introduction of the small packs of 5-finger mosaic we have been inundated with small (and large) orders for this Solid Wood product.
There's nothing more exciting it seems than to rip out old inherited carpets in the home you just bought and discover you are the proud owner of a real wooden floor.
If you are out of luck there, measure one block of 5-fingers to get the size you're after to make your search and enquiries easier. The size of most readily available 5-finger mosaic species in our secure webshop is: 12cm by 12cm, 7.5mm thick.
Teak
The mosaic comes on mesh-backing (tiles), simple to install tile after tile with parquet adhesive (F.Ball B91 for instance) on dry and level concrete or onto level plywood. Finishing the floor - after a light sanding - with a natural oil will bring out the species character best in our opinion. For tropical species we recommend the "tropical combo": one coat of extra thin oil, followed by one coat of HardWaxOil (in the sheen of your liking). Oak should be treated with two coats of HardWaxOil to give the best result.
New sample boards
Here's Ton, in his workshop at home, applying Saicos Wood Wax Clear extra thin to the brand new 5-finger Mosaic sample boards. In front you can see the Mahogany and the Teak board is just receiving the first coat.
If you look closely you can see two other boards hiding underneath: Merbau and Oak - which will be treated to their own finish once the top boards have received the final coat and are dry enough to be turned round. All 4 (2 double-sided) boards will be on grand display in our showroom soon.
Ton and Barry - our professional installation and restoration team - have the world of experience installing all types of parquet floors, from mosaic to design patterns. If you live in Kent, give us a call on 01233 713725 to discuss the option of supply and install in one complete package.
Diagonal (Oak)
Normally this would create much more saw-waste, but because the mosaic consists of a whole load of little fingers which can be individually used, this is not the case here.
In a way, going diagonal could be your solution when you have extended a room which has an original mosaic in an old size. Make the mosaic floor in the new extension a feature by installing it diagonal, it will look the same "pattern" even though the blocks of fingers have a different - modern - size. And none would be the wiser, the human eye is not really equipped to detect small size differences when it has to compare different "shapes".
Diagonal (Merbau)
(Unfortunately we couldn't find representative images of 5-finger mosaic floors, therefore - if you'd noticed - we used images from our Design Parquet manufacturer's 7-finger mosaic examples. 16cm by 16cm, 8mm thick if you are interested, packed per 4.1 sq m and in many wood-species available.)
Different sizes
Not all old (or new) mosaic floors have to contain 5 or 7 very small fingers. Another rather common size and pattern is the 3 fatter finger mosaic: 46 x 138mm per block (and 3 times 46 makes 138, a square of three fingers). Not a standard size, but with help from our Design Parquet Manufacturer we have already been able to supply new blocks of this specific size in Iroko and Oak Prime.
So if you discover an odd size fat finger mosaic floor, don't despair, just give us a call on 01233 713725 (maximum thickness of these blocks is 10mm though).
Creative
And who's to stop you from using regular size blocks to form a large mosaic pattern? If you look at the size of one individual block you can determine how many fingers will make a square - in most cases that is.
Many of the standard size of the so-called herringbone blocks are based on this: 10 x 71 x 284mm (4 x 71) or 10 x 70 x 280mm (4 x 70), 10 x 60 x 300mm (5 x 60) 10 x 71 x 355mm (5 x 71) or 10 x 70 x 350mm (5 x 70) - depending on the manufacturer's specifications of the blocks.
On their side
Vertical mosaic - also known as hogh-kant mosaic - is a different method of putting the fingers on the mesh backing: on their side. You have plenty of FSC certified wood-species to choose from in this very hardwearing and filled with colours product.
Vertical Mosaic (22 x 8mm) or Commercial Parquet (14 x 22mm)
Mini herringbone
Plenty of choices in the Retro Mosaic Wooden World!
Thank you for your time, do visit our Secure Webshop - all links in articles and pages are coloured green
Celebrate our 15th Anniversary with us - see our Special Blogpost page for your discount!
Comments