SNOW ON THE WOLDS!

Snow on the Wolds

This photo, taken last week, is of our recent snow and ice, which, although beautiful has caused us a few problems - we have been waiting for more parquet to come into our yard, but so far the snow is too deep for any driver to want to try! It has also slowed up our deliveries, but with the thaw underway and the aid of some industrial sized shovels we should be able to get back to normal within a few days. The up-side is we have managed to catch up on the heap of paperwork that mysteriously grows when you aren't looking at it!

There is some very nice quality long block walnut due with the next delivery lorry, so keep checking or send an email to register an interest, it will be a cracking parquet block!

PANGA PANGA FROM SURBITON

There was a call from the demolition company asking us to lift a floor from a Church Hall in Surbiton, Surrrey in a hurry as they were ready to fell the building. We managed to get to site in time to lift what we were told was a mahogany floor and it turned out to be Panga Panga, one of the rarest and best looking parquet timbers.

Lifting of parquet at Surbiton

 
The Church Hall was built in 1950, the Church having been badly damaged during the Blitz - apparently a bomb went straight through the roof, so the Church Hall was built as a space for Parish activities, sadly now making way for housing...we cannot complain though as this is how rare timbers come to light, old buildings which are demolished to make way for new and we have the chance to reclaim the parquet for use elsewhere. But we do have to graft to lift it, and then it is brought back to our yard, sorted and graded, (all the damaged blocks rejected) and then palleted and wrapped ready for clients.
 
We find that Panga Panga is one of the timbers that is in very high demand, the dark colouration with the swirls of light banding make it really striking and it looks absolutely fantastic as a border to a light wood or the reverse, where a light wood is edged onto the dark floor, giving a very classy and modern twist to what is a traditional flooring system.

The opportunity to chose this sort of flooring and at the same time buying a reclaimed and recycled timber, thus being sustainable is a strong motivation to many of our customers. No rainforests have been harmed in buying our product, these timbers come from trees that were felled many years ago when there was not the mass clearance that happens today, without regeneration.

TRW Factory Aylesbury - Wenge and Teak

TRW Building Aylesbury

We had another big job to do last week, this time it was lifting the parquet from the old TRW Factory in Aylesbury. We removed Rhodesian Teak and Wenge all of a fantastic quality and condition, the later stuff dating from the 1970s and the earlier stuff dating from 1964 as per the stone below.

We have to do the parquet lifting quickly and often on short notice, immediately before the demo guys come in and flatten the building! If we want to reclaim and therefore recycle what is a superb quality resource we really have to be flexible and mobile to get to these places because the demo guys wait for no man!

Look out for the timber on our website and give us a call if you want a price, sample and delivery quote, this is great stuff!

This has been a busy summer!

This summer there has been a great deal of activity, with plenty of parquet coming in. Good quality wood block from all over the country; the latest from Teddington which is some exceptional quality long block oak and beautiful mahogany (both of which are popular with the floor-fitters). We have a supply of walnut coming in from Carlisle, which is selling before it even gets to the yard and next stop Aylesbury.

The timbers that have proved popular with our clients, apart from the perennial oak that is, are the pale woods, maple for instance especially good for a modern house or apartment. Pitch pine is great for an old barn or farm building conversion, and the darker woods work well in Victorian or Edwardian houses, like a Rhodesian teak. Many of them look great with a contrasting border just to add something unique to the floor and quite a lot of our customers are going for that effect. Our customers in France and Spain particularly go for walnut and oak with a dark border. So as quickly as pallets go out, we are trying to get more in - the problem is that we can never tell what will come up next!

The rain over the last month hasn't made life easy either, grading has to be done under cover to keep the block dry and in good condition, so the summer we had planned, enjoying the sunshine whilst working has not really materialised. May still get some good late summer sunshine if we're lucky - fingers crossed.

Maple Parquet Grading

Today we were sorting and grading some beautiful maple block in 35sqm packs to put for sale on the internet. The parquet came from Barnet School and is lovely and clean.

East Barnet School

Here are some images of a recent job from which we have rescued some beautiful parquet block. East Barnet School is being demolished and we have got in to lift a variety of blocks including maple, beech and oak. 

The site is being cleared for use as a car park for the new college and we'll be giving the quality flooring a new lease of life.

PLESSEY ROAD SCHOOL.

This school in the North East of England is to be demolished and we have carefully lifted and bagged up the floor ready to be sold on and given a new life.

ABOUT OUR PARQUET

Welcome to our blog. Here you can get an insight into the way we source and process our parquet.

This is the main barn in which the parquet is graded and checked by hand, and stacked onto pallets ready for distributing to customers. We ensure that every pallet that goes out is of a high enough quality to lay with little trouble.









A pallet ready to be wrapped and sent out to a customer.