7 reasons for using Oil and Hard Wax Finishes on your floor

There is a big misconception about wood floors finished with oils and hard wax oils. The main one is maintenance. In fact, oiled floors are easier to maintain and repair than lacquered floors with modern maintenance methods and kits.

In high traffic areas, oiled floors should be the preferred option for the following reasons:

1. Places like stairs and corridors always wear in the middle. After a few months or a year, even a lacquered floor would look dull in the concentrated traffic area.
2. An oiled floor, even one that is coloured, can be made to look like new with a simple concentrated floor cleaner and a fresh application of the coloured oil. No sanding, no mess, just a simple process.
3. Lacquered floors are not easily repaired if people have high heels where the rubber sole has gone or have walked in stones and sharp object get dragged along. The normal remedy for this is expensive, as it requires a full sanding and re-lacquer. This can be time consuming with a lot of downtime.
4. The latest coloured oils and hard wax oils penetrate the cell structure of the wood. Therefore, protecting it below the surface, unlike lacquers that “sit” on top of the wood. If the oak has been stained it can be easily damaged once the lacquer has worn away because the stain is not protected – unlike coloured oiled floors where the colour is part of the protection.
5. Everyone has been in a public place like a bar, theatre, hotel or school where the concentrated traffic area looks dull and dirty. If the floor was stained it also probably looks much lighter, and these are normally lacquered floors. With an oiled floor it would be very easy to rectify simply by reapplying oil.
6. The modern hard wax oils dry very quickly as the last thing a client wants is to install a high quality wood floor that gets damaged by workmen only to have to have it sanded back and re-finished.
7. Lacquered floors that are partly repaired never look the same because lacquer applied at a factory is completed on a specialist finishing line with heat, infrared and UV lamps to cure it so that it is a hard finish. Oiled floors on the other hand can be easily done on site after fitting the boards, once all other work is completed and are much more easily repaired. If you get a bad or damaged patch in the middle of a coloured oiled floor you can renew it to look exactly like the rest of the floor. With a lacquered floor this is impossible.

Cleaning oiled floors is just the same as a lacquered floor, vacuum regularly, keep grit off it and use the correct maintenance kit. For more information and a step-by-step process on the correct maintenance process, check out our guide How to Maintain Your Oiled Wood Floor.

If you have any questions on caring for you roiled timber floor please contact us on: +44 (0) 1666 504 015. Or alternatively, email us on: info@thesolidwoodflooringcompany.com .