Painting vs Oiling Parquet Floors in London Period Properties: Making the Right Decision

Parquet Is a Period Feature Worth Treating With Care

Parquet flooring is one of the defining features of better London period properties — found throughout Edwardian and interwar houses in Kensington, Belgravia, Marylebone, and Chelsea, and in many Victorian properties that underwent late-nineteenth century upgrades. The characteristic herringbone, basket weave, or brick-bond patterns in solid hardwood — typically pitch pine, mahogany, teak, or oak — represent both an original investment and an irreplaceable material. What you do to treat or finish parquet has lasting consequences.

The primary decision is: oil or paint?

The Case for Oiling

Oiling is the treatment most consistent with what parquet was originally intended to receive and how it performs best. Traditional parquet was laid with bitumen adhesive and then sanded and wax-polished; later periods introduced linseed oil and natural wax treatments. Modern hardwax oils — Osmo Polyx, Rubio Monocoat, Bona Craft Oil — are the contemporary equivalent: they penetrate the wood rather than sitting on the surface, feed the timber rather than sealing it under a film, and are repairable spot-by-spot rather than requiring full-floor refinishing.

The advantages of an oiled finish on parquet:

Repairability. A scratched or worn area in an oiled floor can be sanded lightly and re-oiled in isolation. A film-forming finish (lacquer, varnish, or paint) must be sanded back and reapplied over the full floor or at least the affected room to avoid a visible patch.

Authenticity. An oiled or wax-polished parquet floor looks and feels like what it is — solid hardwood. Light plays across the grain variation in a way that film coatings tend to flatten.

Breathability. In London properties with older subfloors, parquet over a timber suspended floor needs to be able to move with humidity changes. A thick film coating — including paint — restricts this movement and can cause cracking in the finish, or in extreme cases, cupping in the wood.

Longevity of the floor itself. An oiled floor can be sanded and refinished multiple times over its life. A painted floor that is later stripped may have been sanded or machine-abrade down to a thinner material layer.

The disadvantages: oiled floors require periodic maintenance — a maintenance coat every one to three years depending on traffic — and they do not fully hide colour variation or staining in the wood. If the parquet is significantly stained or patched with visually mismatched boards, oil will reveal rather than conceal that.

The Case for Painting

Painting a parquet floor is a design decision, not a maintenance one. It is chosen specifically to cover the grain and produce a solid-colour surface, often in a period-appropriate paint colour. In London, this is a legitimate historical treatment — many period properties had their parquet painted, particularly in entrance halls, landings, and secondary rooms.

Painting makes sense in the following situations:

• The parquet is heavily stained, patched, or otherwise visually damaged beyond what sanding and oiling can reasonably correct.
• The design intent requires a specific colour — a painted dark grey or black parquet in a hallway, or a painted cream floor in a drawing room — that cannot be achieved through staining and oiling.
• The floor is of lower-grade material (cheaper softwood parquet that was always intended to be painted) rather than the quality hardwood that warrants preservation of the grain.

Preparing Parquet for Painting

If painting is the decision, preparation is the entire determinant of the outcome.

Assess the existing finish. Old wax or oil must be removed before any paint will adhere. Wax is the more problematic — it repels water-based paint and inhibits the adhesion of oil-based products. Strip wax with a wax stripper such as Liberon Wax and Polish Remover, applied repeatedly until the floor tests clean (water should sheet rather than bead). Oil residue should be sanded back.

Sand the floor. Use a drum sander across the main area and an edge sander at perimeters. For herringbone parquet, sand at 45 degrees to both sets of blocks to avoid tearing the grain. Start at 36-grit or 40-grit to remove any old finish and level minor height variations between blocks, then progress through 60-grit to 80-grit and finish at 100-grit or 120-grit.

Fill any gaps. Mix sanding dust with an appropriate floor filler or use a flexible floor gap filler to fill gaps between blocks. Unfilled gaps collect paint and shadow badly.

Prime before painting. Use an oil-based floor primer on bare hardwood. Apply one coat, sand lightly with 180-grit, and remove all dust before proceeding.

Products for Painted Parquet

Oil-based floor paint — the traditional choice. Hard, tough, burnishes well under traffic. Applies by brush and roller. Requires two to three coats with sanding between. Johnstone's Floor Paint, Dulux Trade Floor Paint, and specialist brands such as Farrow & Ball's Floor Paint (an oil-based formulation) are all appropriate.

Farrow & Ball Floor Paint — popular for period London properties. Oil-based, available in the full Farrow & Ball palette, and appropriate for rooms where the floor colour is an architectural element of the design. Expensive but produces a quality finish.

Water-based polyurethane floor finish over pigmented primer — a practical approach for occupied properties. Prime in an oil-based primer, then apply two to three coats of a hard water-based polyurethane floor finish tinted to the required colour. Lower odour and faster drying than purely oil-based systems.

Apply a minimum of three coats on any parquet floor that will receive foot traffic. Allow full cure before replacing furniture — seven days for oil-based, three to five days for water-based.

For expert guidance on parquet floor treatment or painting in your London property, contact us here or request a free quote.