Tropical wood floors:

High-performance tropical wood is used for interior floors

Widely used outdoors, tropical woods are even more effective indoors. Their high density offers excellent resistance to traffic and perfect dimensional stability, while their rot-proof nature makes them ideal for fitting out damp rooms such as bathrooms or kitchens (all species combined). Renowned for their softness, tropical wood is a comfortable asset for living spaces where it's pleasant to walk barefoot...

Bringing together hundreds of species, tropical woods offer multiple decorative possibilities: aspects, textures, veins, wood grain, available in a wide range of colors and shades, allow for personalized, exclusive compositions...

1. SOLID TROPICAL WOOD FLOORING

High-performance and aesthetic, solid tropical wood flooring is suitable for most living spaces. Laid raw and then sanded on site for perfect consistency, it offers two different appearances:

■ an environmental oil (finish in different shades and aspects: matte, satin, etc.): it ensures simple and quick application and the possibility of occasional touch-ups. For example: if the parquet is stained, sand the damaged blade and oil it. Its application is recommended every 2 years (1 year for the kitchen).

■ a vitrifier : it provides maximum surface protection and is also available in raw, matte, satin, etc. finishes. Apply every 7 years.

The aesthetic trend is towards wide slats, another area where tropical wood excels with standard widths available between 90 and 120 mm, and up to 200 mm (be careful, the thickness will necessarily be greater). The thickness of a solid parquet floor is between 10 and 15 mm (for glued installation) and between 19 and 26 mm (for nailed installation). For the length of the slats, count from 1,20 to 2,20 m, or even from 45 cm to 1,20 m (for thin parquet floors).

Advice from the LCB pros : High traffic rooms should be equipped with the most robust species, such as: Ipe, Cumaru, Massaranduba, Iroko... Similarly, the high density of these woods does not allow the installation of all species on underfloor heating. Only Teak, Doussie, Indian Rosewood and Padouk are compatible with underfloor heating (but are not recommended in high-traffic rooms).

2. TROPICAL WOOD ENGINEERED PARQUET

Made from a sturdy wooden structure and a surface-glued hardwood, engineered wood flooring offers excellent durability. It allows for the installation of all wood species on underfloor heating or the installation of highly aesthetic but delicate wood species such as teak in high-traffic areas. Generally factory-varnished and chamfered, it requires no further finishing.

3. TROPICAL WOOD GLUE LAMINATED TIMBER

Made up of a set of solid wood slats glued together on the edge, it comes in the form of an ultra-resistant slat. Underfloor heating, heavy traffic, etc., glued laminated timber satisfies all configurations. In addition, this manufacturing technique offers the possibility of producing tropical wood slats of large widths (example: 23 mm thick by 135 to 160 mm wide).