Factors affect the cost of finishes.

1. Pattern of laying parquet

The current floor finishes on the gallery is herringbone parquet. It is a popular laying
parquet pattern using solid timber, the solid timber is glued to concrete. This method
of laying solid timber can be costly when it needs special craftsmanship, skill and
labour to install each block of timber individually to create the special pattern. The
herringbone pattern is produced when the pieces of wood are laid in a V pattern at a
90-degree angle, zigzag. The costly part is the labour cost compared to other pattern
which may require less labour cost such as the parallel parquet.

Figure 1.1 : Herringbone parquet in the gallery

2. Maintenance of carpet

Carpet is an expensive choice of floor finishes, not because of the installation cost of
the carpet itself but the maintenance cost after installing. In terms of maintenance, it
requires a regular cleaning and vacuuming because it has high sensitivity to attract
dirt and stains. When a carpet has damages no matter how small it is, the one whole
piece of carpet in the space will have to be changed.