Feature Strips

Borders with only feature strips are the most common, and cheapest to install. After tongue-and-groove flooring became popular, around 1920, the plain band was the only one easy to integrate in. This can be enhanced, and made more expensive, by adding various cross banding schemes.

Contents to Sections Below:


One Strip

241 Floor border: P241 Midwood Park circa 1930
Mahogany band is 1" wide, surrounded by 1-1/2" oak. Inner field is diagonal fingerblock with four 2" slats in an 8" square.

Two Strips

163 Floor border: P163 Ditmas Park 1914
Mahogany strips are 1" and all oak is 2". Missing is the 2" oak strip between the mahogany band and the fingerblock. The inner field is a fingerblock in a herringbone pattern of 8" × 16".
218 Floor border: P218 Crown Heights North II c1907
Mahogany strips are 1-1/2". Oak around is 2" wide. Inner field is diagonal fingerblock with 1-1/2" slats in a 12" square. The floor had a wax finish.
185 Floor border: P185 Northern Bedford-Stuyvesant Year?
Oak strips are 2". Dark strips are 3/4". Inner field is diagonal 8" fingerblock with 2" strips.
208 Floor border: P208 Midwood Park 1917
All oak is 2" wide. Dark strip is 3/4" wide. Inner field is straight fingerblock in 8" squares.
206 Floor border: P206 Ditmas Park Historic District 1907
Strips are 1" wide. Surrounding oak is 2" wide. Inner field is diagonal finger block with 1-3/8" slats in a 12-3/8" square.

Three Strips

38 Floor border: P038 West Midwood 1915
All oak boards are 2" wide. The mahogany is 1". The maple is 1-1/4". Oak is the cheaper plain sawn.
201 Floor border: P201 Ditmas Park West Year?
Bands are 3/4" wide with 2" oak around. Inner field is 2" oak laid diagonally.
59 Floor border: P059 Prospect Lefferts Gardens 1913
61 Floor border: P061 Bedford-Stuyvesant 1899
Mahogany bands are 1-1/2". Oak bands between them are 2-1/2". Not mitered in the corner. Usually they are. The flooring looks like it is tongue-and-groove. It doesn't really belong here.
204 Floor border: P204 Fiske Terrace 1905
Strips are 3/4" wide. Oak in between is 1-1/2" wide. Inner field is diagonal fingerblock with 1-3/4" slats in a 12-1/4" square.
205 Floor border: P205 Fiske Terrace 1905
Strips are 3/4" wide. Oak in between is 1-1/2" wide (two to one ratio). Inner field is straight fingerblock with 2" slats in 12" square.

Multi Strips

149 Floor border: P149 Crown Heights North Historic District II 1889
A very lovely border. The inner field lays the strips in a lattice weave, as seen on the right. The strip widths from the outside: 1/2" mahogany, 1-3/4" oak, 7/8" mahogany, 1/4" maple, 1-3/8" cherry, 1/4" maple, 7/8" mahogany, 1-3/4" oak, 1/2" mahogany. A total of 8-1/8".

The inner field mahogany squares are 2". The surrounding rectangles are 2"×4". Five strips are squeezed in 6" wide and 18" long.
182 Floor border: P182 Stuyvesant Heights 1892
This was in a hall. The mahogany strips are 3/2" and the maple is 1/4". Total border is 2-3/4". The laid straight fingerblock is 4-3/4" blocks of 4 fingers, each 1-3/16" wide.
262 Floor border: P262 Lefferts Manor 1897
78 Floor border: P078 South Midwood 1916
A very simple pinstripe for a hallway. Maple strip is 1/4" and the mahogany on the sides is 1/2". Field slats are 2" wide.

Strips with Cross Banding

12 Floor border: P012 Park Slope Sportmen's Row 1889
Field is 10" parquet squares with seven unequal strips. Most are 1-1/2" wide. The end ones are less. See measured drawing.
181 Floor border: P181 Stuyvesant Heights 1892
A small pattern for a small room. The mahogany strip is 3/4" and the maple is 1/4". The cross-banding bands are 2-1/2" wide right triangles. Their height is about 1.65". Total border is 3.65" wide. The laid straight fingerblock is 6-1/4" blocks with six fingers of varying width.
104 Floor border: P104 Stuyvesant Heights Historic District 1899
Strips are all 2" wide. Inner border of diagonals is 9-1/2" wide. The inner field was a custom design with a fancy pattern in the middle of the room. Since this is a floor borders site, I didn't take a picture.
101 Floor border: P101 Bedford-Stuyvesant 1901
Border pattern is 8" wide. Within the border strips are either 1" or 2" wide. The strip in the middle of the corner is 2-3/4" wide. The rectangles in the feature strips are 1" × 3-1/2". Inner field is straight 2" wide planks.