French Herringbone Or Classic Herringbone: Which Suits A Pacific Heights Home?
Planning a herringbone floor in San Francisco or the Bay Area? We can help.
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Main office: 406B West Broad Street, Westfield, NJ 07090. We ship and deliver wood flooring throughout San Francisco and the Bay Area.
Quick Answers
French vs classic: classic herringbone has square, 90-degree board ends in a stepped zigzag; French herringbone, often called chevron, has angled ends, commonly 45 degrees, that meet in a continuous point.
For Pacific Heights: classic herringbone suits Edwardian rooms with many doorways; French herringbone suits long formal rooms and Beaux-Arts enfilades with one principal sightline.
Waste allowance: plan roughly 10 to 15 percent over the measured area. Our unfinished herringbone ships in full bundles with a 200 sq. ft. minimum.
Radiant heat: yes, in engineered construction listed for it, such as our Luce and Portaviva European oak herringbone.
Few decisions shape a formal room as much as the floor pattern. In Pacific Heights the floor has to answer to plaster cornices, paneled doors, coffered ceilings and, in many houses, original millwork that has survived more than a century. Classic herringbone and French herringbone are the two patterns we are asked about most for these homes. They look similar in a photograph. In a room they behave very differently.
This guide covers the geometry, room size and sightlines, layout lines and ordering.
The Geometry: 90-Degree Ends Versus Angled Ends
Classic herringbone is built from identical rectangular staves with square ends. Each board butts the side of its neighbor at a right angle, producing the familiar broken zigzag. The pattern has a stepped, woven character, and the eye does not settle on a single axis.
French herringbone, which many makers and catalogs also call chevron, cuts the ends of each board at an angle so that two boards meet end to end in a clean point. The result is a continuous series of arrows running down a straight centerline. The most common angle is 45 degrees. The Hungarian point, or point de Hongrie, follows the same principle and is often cut at a different angle, so terminology varies between suppliers. Our advice is simple: never specify by name alone. Put the cut angle in degrees, the board width and the length on the drawings.
One practical consequence follows from the geometry. In both patterns, tongue-and-groove pieces come in left-hand and right-hand versions, often labeled A and B. In French herringbone the angled end makes the handedness more critical, because a wrong piece cannot be trimmed into place without breaking the point.
Board Proportions And Scale
The ratio of length to width sets the scale of the pattern, and scale is what makes a floor feel at home in a room. Our unfinished white oak herringbone, offered in solid and engineered construction, is listed in sizes from 2-1/4 x 11-1/4 inches up to 6 x 36 inches, in plain sawn, rift only, quartered only or rift and quartered cuts. The same sizes and cuts are listed for our unfinished white oak chevron. See our guide to wood floor cuts.
A few principles guide the choice:
Narrow, short staves (for example 2-1/4 or 3 inches wide) produce a fine, tight texture that recalls historic parquet and suits smaller Edwardian parlors and libraries.
Mid-width staves (4 to 5 inches) read clearly from a standing position and are the most versatile size for living and dining rooms.
Wide, long staves (6 inches and up) give a bolder, more contemporary graphic and need generous rooms.
French herringbone exaggerates length. Because the eye follows the points, a chevron of a given width reads longer and more directional than a herringbone of the same board.
Parquet patterns follow the same rules of scale; see Parquet Flooring for San Francisco and Bay Area Homes: A Buyer's Guide.
Prefinished European Oak Options
For clients who prefer a factory finish, the Luce herringbone is European oak in a Prime / AB grade, 5/8 inch thick, 4 inches wide and 23-5/8 inches long, with a matte UV urethane aluminum oxide finish. The Portaviva herringbone is a character-grade European oak, 4-3/4 inches wide and 23-5/8 inches long, with a matte UV oil finish.
For an angled-end pattern in European oak, our European Oak Herringbone Pattern Collection lists French herringbone in 4-6/8 and 5-1/2 inch widths, alongside Italian and Hungarian patterns. Browse the full herringbone collection and the chevron collection for current sizes, grades, finishes and pricing.
Room Size And Sightlines In Pacific Heights Interiors
Pacific Heights holds two broad families of formal interiors, and each favors a different pattern.
Edwardian homes, built in the first decades of the twentieth century, many during the rebuilding years after 1906, tend to have well-proportioned rooms connected by many doorways, with pocket doors between parlors and a central hall. Classic herringbone works well here because its stepped weave has no dominant arrow; it looks correct from the hall, the dining room or the stair.
Beaux-Arts and Classical Revival residences are organized around axes: an entry hall that aligns with a stair, an enfilade of reception rooms, a gallery that frames a view toward the Bay. French herringbone belongs in these plans. Aligned with the principal axis, its points draw the eye from the front door to the far window.
Three tests help decide:
Where is the room seen from? One dominant entrance favors French herringbone pointed along that line. Several equal entrances favor classic herringbone.
What is the room's proportion? Long, narrow rooms and halls are lengthened by French herringbone running their length. Square rooms often look best in classic herringbone, which does not pull in one direction.
How does the pattern cross thresholds? In an enfilade, carrying one centerline through every doorway is more important than centering each room independently. Decide this before the first board is set.
Layout And Centering Lines
Herringbone forgives very little. A small drift in the first courses is visibly off by the far wall, so milling precision matters as much as installation. Our unfinished herringbone is milled to a dimensional tolerance not exceeding .005 inch in the width or profile of any one piece, as stated on the product pages.
On site, the sequence we recommend to installers runs as follows:
Establish the governing axis. Usually this is the centerline of the room's principal feature: a fireplace, the main entry, a bay window or the axis of an enfilade.
Strike the working line. For French herringbone, the working line is the line on which the points meet, so it sits directly on the governing axis. For classic herringbone, the working line is struck parallel to the axis and offset so that the pattern's centerline lands on the axis once the first rows are set.
Dry-lay before gluing or fastening. Shift the working line until the cut pieces at opposite walls are equal and no sliver cuts appear at a threshold or hearth.
Square the start with a jig or template. A plywood starter block cut to the exact angle keeps the first courses true.
Plan borders deliberately. A border of one or two boards running parallel to the walls absorbs small variations in wall straightness and gives the pattern a crisp frame.
Bay Area Conditions That Affect Herringbone
Herringbone spreads seasonal movement in two directions, because each board meets its neighbors at right angles. Even so, local conditions matter.
Fog, marine layer and offshore winds. Pacific Heights sees both the summer marine layer and dry fall offshore winds. Keeping interior relative humidity steady through the year protects the tight joints that define herringbone.
Raised foundations. Many houses in the neighborhood sit over crawlspaces. Moisture rising from bare soil can cup a floor from below, so confirm a vapor retarder over the soil and good ventilation before installation.
Moisture testing. NWFA guidelines call for comparing the moisture content of the flooring and the wood subfloor before installation. For solid flooring under 3 inches wide, the difference should not exceed 4 percent; for 3 inches and wider, not more than 2 percent. Herringbone staves fall on both sides of that line, so the measurement must be matched to the board width actually specified.
Radiant heat in renovations. Where a renovation adds radiant heat, engineered construction is the safer route. In solid, our product pages recommend rift and quartered sawn oak.
For a wider comparison of the patterns, read herringbone, chevron and parquet floors for San Francisco homes.
Waste Allowance And Ordering
Patterned floors consume more material than straight plank: every wall, doorway and hearth produces angled cuts, and French herringbone offcuts rarely fit elsewhere.
Typical allowance. A common planning range is 10 to 15 percent over the measured area for herringbone and French herringbone.
Increase it for small rooms, borders and feature strips, many doorways, curved walls, and rooms with bays or chimney breasts.
Order in full bundles. Our unfinished herringbone is sold in full bundles, with a minimum order of 200 sq. ft.; the shipping quantity is rounded up to complete bundles at checkout.
Order the whole project at once. One production run matches far better than a later top-up order.
Delivery. Our herringbone is made to order to your specifications and ships as palletized bundles. We ship and deliver throughout San Francisco and the Bay Area, and confirm the delivery schedule and shipping quote with each order.
If you are also considering long straight boards for adjoining rooms, see Wide Plank Wood Flooring in San Francisco: Species, Grades and Finishes.
Plan Your Herringbone With Us
The right pattern is decided on the drawings. In a virtual consultation we review plans and photographs of your rooms, recommend pattern, board size, grade and cut, and set out the governing axis and waste allowance for your order. Book a virtual consultation, request a sample box to compare finishes in your own light, or call (908) 232-6600, 9am to 5pm Eastern. For pricing on a specific layout, use our herringbone quote form.
Browse the collections: herringbone and chevron.
Related San Francisco Flooring Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is The Difference Between French And Classic Herringbone?
Classic herringbone uses rectangular boards with square, 90-degree ends set in a stepped zigzag. French herringbone, often called chevron, cuts the board ends at an angle, commonly 45 degrees, so the pieces meet in a continuous point along a straight centerline.
Which Pattern Suits A Pacific Heights Home?
Classic herringbone suits Edwardian rooms with frequent doorways, because it reads calmly from every direction. French herringbone suits long formal rooms and Beaux-Arts enfilades, where its points can follow the principal sightline.
How Much Extra Material Should I Order For Herringbone?
A common planning range for herringbone and French herringbone is 10 to 15 percent over the measured area, more for small rooms, borders or many doorways. Our unfinished herringbone is sold in full bundles with a 200 sq. ft. minimum order.
Can French Herringbone Go Over Radiant Heat?
Yes, in engineered construction listed for it, such as our Luce and Portaviva European oak herringbone. For solid herringbone over radiant heat, our product pages recommend rift and quartered sawn oak.
Ready to plan your floor? Book a virtual design consultation, request a sample box, or call (908) 232-6600. We ship and deliver throughout San Francisco and the Bay Area.
About the author: Joe Avila leads San Francisco Wood Floors, part of Huggins Wood Floor Specialist, and brings 26 years of experience in wood flooring. He is an NWFA-certified wood flooring inspector, installer and sander, and has taught accredited AIA, ASID and IDCEC programs for more than a decade. He advises homeowners, designers and architects from species, grade and pattern through subfloors, moisture and installation.
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