Should use install parquet flooring in Singapore?

My parquet flooring in the photo above may look dry, but it's actually wet underneath the tiles, and there's no way to tell if the water has dried completely.

That is one of few maintenance issues of parquet flooring. There are others which I will mention below.

When I moved to my new place, the parquet flooring from the previous owner look worn but seems fixable. By fixable, I mean the wood can be sanded and polished to become new. I chose to keep the old 20-year parquet flooring and after sanding and polishing, the old wooden floor looked new and perfect. All the scratches and any marks where removed in the process.

Other the next few months, I discovered some underlying issues that wasn't visible to me at first, and usage issues that did not occur to me.

If you're using parquet flooring in bedrooms, it's actually alright. But do not use parquet flooring for office as you'll wear down the wood real fast.

1. Some of the old wooden tiles have become hollow. Integrity of the wood may have been compromised. The surface of the wood is still hard, but when you step over the wood, sometimes you can hear that hollow sound. Those hollow tiles still look and feel fine, but I'm not sure how long they will last.

2. Parquet floors are prone to scratches and dents. The wood used by parquet floors aren't the engineered hardened wood you find in vinyl flooring.

At my previous home, my kids could drop toy on the vinyl flooring constantly and there won't be any scratches or dents. On the parquet floor, anything hard that drops onto the floor will cause a dent of scratch.

You'll also need to replace the plastic wheels of your computer chair to the soft wheels. Be careful of the mobile moving cabinet under your computer desk too. If you forget to unlock the wheel and drag that cabinet or mobile pedestal around, the wheels will scratch the wood.

3. Wood can be damaged by water. If you forget to close your window and it rains, or when you spill water onto the floor, the water can seep into and under the wooden tiles. You may see water flow out from seams of nearby tiles. There is no easy way to dry the tiles completely unless you hire an expert wood flooring guy. But do you really want to hire someone to dry out your floor each time you spill water accidentally?

I'm lucky in the sense that the water spill that happened in my room is near the window. So the sun can heat up the wood to prevent mold. I also happen to have a dehumidifier in my room that I can use. But the drying process will be slow because it's only water that comes out of the seams that can be dried off.

My apartment has another unfortunate problem with water seepage through exterior walls. The exterior paint of my condo does not seem able to prevent water from going into the concrete, and as such my interior walls can be moist due to prolong rain, and the moisture also affects the flooring and the wood tiles above.

Do you really need or want parquet flooring in Singapore?
I recommend going with porcelain or homogenous tiles instead. If you want wood, go with vinyl flooring or engineered wood flooring. Or go with wood-like porcelain tiles. You can go to museums and take a look at their wooden floors. Maybe ask around to see what kind of wooden tiles they use because those museum floorings are designed to last.

Wood makes sense in countries that have cold weather because porcelain tiles can feel cold. But in Singapore where weather is hot, you won't get the cold-feet effect unless you have your air-con set to a really low temperature. But even with air-con, the floor won't be so cold that it bites.

Wooden flooring looks good and feels good, but they don't really have any practical advantages with Singapore's weather and climate.

On hindsight, I should have swapped out the wood during my renovation and used tiles for all the flooring. You just can't go wrong with porcelain or homogenous tiles which are way more durable. These are the types of tiles used in train stations, for decades.

Had I gone with tiles, I would not have any of these problems. Tiles are almost maintenance free.