Versailles flooring
Versailles parquet floors are made up of carefully assembled square wooden Versailles panels. These oak panels take their name from the “Chateau de Versailles” for which the motif was apparently created to replace marble floors in the palace with that pattern. Most of BCA Antique Materials’ floor references are made using our antique French oak from extensive stocks stored at our Maine & Loire and Normandy stockyards. Although many are destined for projects overseas, owners of « Monuments Historiques » properties in France also choose BCA’s antique parquet flooring for their restoration projects to get as close as possible to the authenticity they require.
Versailles parquet floor
BCA’s panels in antique reclaimed oak really do come as close as possible to the actual parquet at Versailles and other more modest historic buildings in France and other countries. At BCA we offer different types of Versailles parquet and other classic pattern panels. Occasionally we manage to source genuine antique Versailles panels, but mainly we supply our newly assembled but traditional versions made from our stocks of antique French oak flooring. We can also supply matching border pieces for room perimeters, doorways, window reveals, wainscoting and even stair treads, all in the same matching antique oak with character as chosen for the Versailles panels themselves. Although we supply bespoke antique oak floors if clients send us their plans with specific requirements, we do not do any installation works ourselves, even locally, preferring to maintain our status as suppliers and leaving the installations to clients’ own crafts people wherever in the world they may be. Over the years we have exported them to traditional projects in North America, GB, Australia and New Zealand, Asia, and the Middle East.
Making Versailles panels
In order to manufacture Versailles flooring panels, and other patterns such as our « Anjou » version, all the pieces of oak are assembled together with a clever matrix of mortise & tenon points within its border frame, with all the component pieces jointed together with pegs. Therefore we stress that they are NOT cheap fake panels made using thin veneers glued to a plywood base. For a traditional installation it is possible to hidden-nail the panels down to battens or joists. The perimeter of each panel has a groove milled into it, and we supply thin oak strips to use as tongues to fit each panel to the adjacent panels. Our Versailles parquet panels are usually supplied without an applied finish, but pre-finishes can be arranged (see the stock website for current options in stock). In order to enhance the authentic and antique aspect of reclaimed oak parquet, a varnish, oil or wax polish finish works well, sealing them at the same time.
