Should I get a lacquered or oil finish on my sanded wooden floor?
Lacquered wood floors
Lacquer is a protection to your wooden floors that sits on top of the wood. We would apply 3 coats of a polyurethane lacquer(varnish). This is keyed before the last coat to bond well with the previous coat.
This is hard wearing and can be in different sheen or shine levels, ultra matt(no shine), matt(little shine), silk matt(reasonably shiny) and gloss(shiny). The protection is the same but the shinier it is as it gets scuffs and scratches it will look more worn with more of a gloss as the light will reflect less. Silk matt is our normal finish on the floor that we use 80% of the time and gives a nice finish to the newly sanded wooden floors.
If and when the lacquer starts to get scratched then the only Real way to remedy is to use a floor refresher which may help a bit or to have the floor re sanded and re lacquered.
You can take it to even more protection by using a commercial 2 part lacquer which offers even more protection. Great for commercial properties and also heavy household traffic.
Oil wooden floors
Oil protects the floor from within. The oil soaks into the wood and offers a protection to stop stains and spillages from penetrating the wood. Consider the wood to be like a sponge and the oil will soak into the voids on the top surface of the wood.
Through time the oil will dry so needs to be topped up to keep the wood protected with the oil. This can be done by maintaining with a special wood soap when mopping and using an oil maintainer product that is applied by a flat mop or by hand.
Oil will have no sheen but will be a beautiful golden finish to the floor and you can also get coloured oils too but the colour will come out the floor quicker.
The more you maintain your oiled floor the better it should get as you add strength to the floor as well. With oil you can just do sections and if you follow the maintenance guide you should be able to sand sections and re oil the floor and it will blend in with the rest of the floor.
Lacquer or Oil
I would say that it depends on how much time you are willing to spend looking after the floor. If you have a busy household and don’t have time then opt for a lacquer floor.
If you like a more natural floor, don’t have a busy household and are prepared to maintain your floors then oil could be a great choice for you.
Oil is no good if you don’t put occasional maintenance into the floors.
Wood floor general maintenance tips
- Use a coarse coir mat outside your front and back door
- Use a softer internal door mat
- Take off outside shoes
- Clean up spills immediately
- Use quality felt pads under all furniture and replace every few months
- Ensure pot plants don’t get overwatered as overspill if unnoticed can be permanent
- Be very careful cleaning ovens as this caustic cleaner may permanently mark the floor
- Don’t wipe floors with magic sponges
- Steam cleaners are damaging to ALL floors so please don’t use
- We also sell new wood floors
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