Flooring
Hardwood Flooring
Everything worth knowing before committing to Hardwood Flooring: what to check at the yard, what to hold in reserve, and what it looks like in six different homes.
Photo: Plutor · BY 2.0Overview
Hardwood Flooring, in plain specification
Written for the decision, not for the mood board.
Hardwood Flooring is chosen twice — once for how it looks in a sample, and once for how it behaves over a decade of Indian weather, cleaning and daily use. The second choice is the one that decides whether you are happy with it. Every specification on this page is written from that second view: the substrate under it, the way it is fixed, the joint it sits in, and the maintenance it will realistically get in a working household.
Most disappointment with hardwood flooring traces back to a decision made before the material arrived — an uneven substrate, a joint width chosen on site, a sealer applied to a damp surface, or a batch bought short and topped up from a different lot. None of these are material faults. They are specification faults, and they are avoidable in an afternoon of planning.
In our work this sits alongside the rest of the home rather than as an isolated decision. Hardwood Flooring touches the electrical layout, the ceiling, the flooring build-up and often the civil work, so it is fixed early in the drawing set and reviewed against every other trade before production starts.
Six house styles
Hardwood Flooring in six personalities
The same brief resolved six ways. Each carries its own material, finish and detailing.
Photo: shalommama · BY 2.0Minimal Hardwood Flooring
Serene Minimal draws hardwood flooring as chalk · pale oak · linen — nothing decorative survives unless it also does work. Wear layer: 0.55mm. Core: SPC rigid. Fitting: Click, floating.
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Photo: tommerton2010 · BY 2.0Bold Hardwood Flooring
Bold Contemporary draws hardwood flooring as charcoal · oxblood · smoked oak — high contrast, confident mass, a single saturated move per room. Wear layer: 3mm hardwood. Core: Multi-layer birch ply. Fitting: Glue-down over screed.
See this stylePhoto: Plutor · BY 2.0Heritage Hardwood Flooring
Modern Heritage draws hardwood flooring as teak · cane · antique brass — indian craft detailing on a contemporary frame — jaali, cane, inlay and hand-finished brass, used sparingly. Wear layer: 4mm hand-scraped. Core: Solid hardwood. Fitting: Secret-nailed to battens.
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Photo: tommerton2010 · BY 2.0Classic Hardwood Flooring
Classic Luxe draws hardwood flooring as ivory · statuario · gold — proportioned panelling, cornice and moulding, book-matched stone and warm gilt detail on ivory. Wear layer: 3.5mm. Core: Multi-layer with HDF. Fitting: Glue-down, herringbone jig.
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Photo: DyosEL · BY 2.0Scandi Hardwood Flooring
Indo-Scandinavian draws hardwood flooring as birch · chalk · sage — pale timber, soft daylight and muted green — nordic restraint adapted for indian light, dust and humidity. Wear layer: 0.5mm. Core: SPC rigid. Fitting: Click, floating.
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Photo: TANAKA Juuyoh (田中十洋) · BY 2.0Deco Hardwood Flooring
Art Deco Glam draws hardwood flooring as emerald · brass · lacquer — fluting, fans and geometry. Wear layer: 3mm with lacquer. Core: Multi-layer with cork back. Fitting: Glue-down with sequencing.
See this styleSpecification
Hardwood Flooring specification, style by style
This is the table we issue to the factory and the site. It is also what a warranty is enforced against, which is why it reads in grades and dimensions.
| Specification | Minimal | Bold | Heritage | Classic | Scandi | Deco |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plank format | 1200x190mm | 1900x220mm wide plank | Herringbone 600x120mm | Chevron 700x140mm | 1200x190mm | Panel parquet 600x600mm |
| Wear layer | 0.55mm | 3mm hardwood | 4mm hand-scraped | 3.5mm | 0.5mm | 3mm with lacquer |
| Core | SPC rigid | Multi-layer birch ply | Solid hardwood | Multi-layer with HDF | SPC rigid | Multi-layer with cork back |
| Fitting | Click, floating | Glue-down over screed | Secret-nailed to battens | Glue-down, herringbone jig | Click, floating | Glue-down with sequencing |
| Underlay | 2mm IXPE with vapour barrier | Acoustic mat, 3mm | Timber battens with vapour barrier | Acoustic mat | 2mm IXPE | Cork acoustic mat |
| Expansion gap | 10mm perimeter | 12mm perimeter | 15mm perimeter | 12mm perimeter | 10mm perimeter | 12mm perimeter |
| Finish | UV lacquer, matt | Hardwax oil | Hand-oiled | Satin lacquer | UV lacquer | Lacquer with brushed texture |
| Slip rating | R10 | R10 | R9 | R9 | R10 | R9 |
Before you commit
How to choose hardwood flooring
Six checks that prevent the failures we are most often called to fix.
- Measure the subfloor before choosing anything. A screed out of level by more than 3mm over 2m has to be corrected first, and that cost belongs in the flooring budget.
- Ask for the wear layer in millimetres, not the marketing grade. That number decides whether the floor can ever be sanded back.
- Check moisture in the slab. New concrete needs weeks of drying; laying over a damp slab is the most common cause of cupping in the first monsoon.
- Match the format to the room size. A 1900mm wide plank in a 3m bedroom leaves awkward rips at both walls; the plank should be sized to the room, not the catalogue.
- See a laid sample of at least a square metre. Grain and gloss read completely differently at one plank versus a floor.
- Confirm the expansion gap and how it will be covered before the skirting is ordered.
Bangalore
Hardwood Flooring in Bangalore
What the city's climate, water, housing stock and society rules mean for this specification.
Most of our work is in Bangalore, and the city sets a few conditions worth knowing before specifying hardwood flooring. The climate is the kindest in India to timber and joinery — no extreme dry heat, no coastal salt — but the monsoon runs long, and humidity between June and October is what tests every edge, seal and ventilation gap in a home.
Most societies here allow work between roughly 9am and 6pm, restrict Sundays, require a service-lift booking and hold a debris deposit. That schedule is written into the programme at the start, because a plan that assumes twelve working hours a day will slip in its first week.
Traffic decides delivery windows more than distance does. Material moving to Whitefield, Sarjapur or Electronic City is scheduled outside peak hours, and large items are checked against the lift and stair turn before the order rather than on delivery day.
Dust along the metro and ORR construction corridors is a real specification input. Sealed joinery, washable finishes and casement or sliding windows with good seals pay for themselves in these pockets in the first year.
We survey in Bangalore at no charge, take our own dimensions and come back with a layout, a material direction and a line-by-line estimate.
Sizing
Hardwood Flooring by home size
Quantities below are the areas we typically specify hardwood flooring for, by home size. They assume a straight lay with a 10 to 12 per cent reserve from the same lot.
| Home size | Typical scope | Planning note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 BHK | 180–260 sq ft | Compact planning, one clear gesture |
| 2 BHK | 320–420 sq ft | Standard scope, most common brief |
| 3 BHK | 480–650 sq ft | Full scope with storage planned in litres |
| 4 BHK | 700–900 sq ft | Extended scope, bespoke elements |
| 4+ BHK / Villa | 1,100 sq ft and above | Villa scale, bespoke throughout |
Cost
What moves the price of hardwood flooring
We quote line by line rather than per square foot, because these are the items that actually differ between two estimates.
- Wear layer thickness and the species of the top layer.
- Pattern: herringbone and chevron add labour and wastage over a straight lay.
- Subfloor preparation — self-levelling compound over a poor screed is frequently the largest line item nobody budgeted.
- Acoustic underlay, which apartment associations increasingly require.
- Thresholds, skirting and stair nosings, all of which are per-piece machined items.
Process
How the work runs
Five stages, with the decisions each one locks.
We measure the space ourselves rather than working from the builder's drawing, note the services, water quality, daylight and society rules, and write down how the room is actually used. Hardwood Flooring is specified against that survey, not against a catalogue.
Plans, elevations and details, with the specification written as grades and dimensions. You approve an elevation, not a render — this is the stage where changes cost nothing.
Material, finish, hardware and services are locked, and the estimate becomes a line-by-line document. We tell you exactly what this date locks and what can still change afterwards.
Factory production runs to the approved drawing while site work is prepared. Material is checked against the approved sample on arrival, in daylight, and stored correctly until the programme calls for it.
Installation, testing, snagging and a documentation file with drawings, warranties, decor codes and hardware models. A first-year service visit is scheduled at handover.
Living with it
Maintaining hardwood flooring
The honest routine, and the mistakes that cost the most to undo.
Care and maintenance
- Felt pads under every chair and table leg, replaced yearly. Grit trapped under a pad is what actually scratches a floor.
- Damp-mop, never wet-mop. Standing water at a joint swells the core, and no finish prevents that.
- Keep indoor humidity broadly stable. Timber floors move seasonally; violent swings from monsoon to air conditioning are what open joints.
- Refresh oiled floors annually and re-coat lacquered floors when the sheen dulls in traffic lanes, before the wear reaches the timber.
What goes wrong
- Skipping the vapour barrier on a ground floor slab.
- Closing the expansion gap with a tight skirting or a fixed threshold, which turns natural movement into a bulge in the middle of the room.
- Laying before the wet trades are finished. Any floor installed before plaster and paint takes damage that shows at handover.
- Choosing a high-gloss finish for a house with dogs or small children.
Detailing
Hardwood Flooring detailing notes
The small decisions that separate built work from assembled work.
Run the plank direction along the main sightline or with the primary light source. Across it, every joint casts a shadow line.
Thresholds matter more than the floor. Where timber meets stone, a flush machined threshold reads as intentional; a surface strip reads as a repair.
Herringbone and chevron need a centre line set out before the first plank. Starting from a wall guarantees a wandering pattern.
Under-door clearance has to be checked before laying; planing doors afterwards damages an otherwise finished job.
Questions
Hardwood Flooring — answered
Is Hardwood Flooring suitable for Indian conditions?
Yes, with the right build-up. The two things that matter are a dry, level subfloor and a vapour barrier; humidity swings and rising damp cause nearly every failure we are called to inspect.
Can it be laid over existing tiles?
Often yes, if the tiles are sound, level and clean. Loose tiles must come up first — a floating floor over a drummy tile will telegraph every hollow as a click underfoot.
How long before the room can be used?
A click floor is walkable immediately and a glue-down floor after 24 to 48 hours. Heavy furniture should wait the full curing period regardless of what the room looks like.
What happens if a plank is damaged?
Individual planks can be replaced in a glue-down floor and swapped out in a click floor by lifting from the nearest wall. Keeping a box of the original batch makes this a one-hour job instead of a full-room problem.
Does it work with underfloor heating?
Engineered and rigid-core formats do, within the manufacturer's temperature limit. Solid timber generally does not, and no floor should be laid over heating that has not been commissioned and cycled first.
How does it handle water?
Rigid-core products handle spills and mopping; timber-topped products handle spills wiped promptly. Neither should be used in a shower area or an open balcony that takes rain.
Do you work on hardwood flooring projects across Bangalore?
Yes — Bangalore is where most of our projects are, from apartments along Sarjapur Road, Whitefield and Hebbal to independent homes in Jayanagar, Indiranagar and Malleshwaram. We survey the space ourselves, work within the society's access and working-hour rules, and hand over with a documentation file. There is a dedicated page for our work in the city if you want the full picture.
Does Bangalore's climate or water affect this choice?
The climate helps and the water does not. Mild year-round temperatures are kinder to timber and joinery than almost any other Indian city, so craft detailing lasts. Hard borewell water in the eastern and northern corridors is the real constraint — it scales glass, chrome and stone, and it changes what we specify and what maintenance we ask the family to commit to.
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