Wooden Flooring Finish: oil or lacquer? Advantages and Disadvantages

One of the hardest questions to answer is: what makes a better finish, lacquer or oil/HardWaxOil?

First of all it’s down to personal taste and secondly to what is expected of the floor, e.g. easy maintenance, shiny look or natural appearance of the wood.

Historical the wax floor is still seen as very labour intensive to maintain, who doesn’t have memories of caretakers buffing away endlessly week after week after week (be it your “Gran” or the school caretaker). Then came the ‘modern’ lacquer (and synthetic and affordable wall-to-wall carpets) and the original wax floor almost became extinct.

For many decades..................(read more)

Comments

[nick thomas]

Does all oiled floors look orangy, I am trying to get a biscuit coloured floor with an oiled finish but cant find one. Any help .........

[Karin H.]

Hi Nick, welcome

Normally only pine boards turn orangy when applying a natural finish. Oak tends to turn honey colour, a typical characteristic of Oak.
HardWaxOil does come in various colours and when choosing one it's always best to try the colour out (both coats) on a little left-over piece.

Wood You Like Ltd

[Anne Houston]

So glad I read your site as I am having my parquet floor restored in my hall I didnt know to have it oiled or laquered but I am going for the oil

[Karin H.]

Hi Anne

Glad to be of service. Hope your floor will look grand in the end: a true asset in any home.

Wood You Like Ltd

[Richard H]

This is very helpful information. Have just tried Danish oil on a left-over bit of oak engineeered board we've just had put down, but it has made the colour significantly darker. It is a very light oak and we want to keep it that way. We've heard that Osmo oil can make wood look orange. Any ideas ?

[Karin H.]

Hi Richard H

The best way to test how your finished floor with a natural finish will look is to wet it. That'll be its new colour, but keep in mind that all woods mature over time, becoming darker.

Pine tends to turn orangy, Oak more of a honey colour look.

We normally use Blanchon HardWaxOil, thinner and a in our opinion more natural look than the thicker Osmo.

Hope this helps

Wood You Like Ltd

[Asa]

Hi Karin

Would it be OK to apply white coloured Blanchon HardWaxOil to an oak floor that has alraedy been treated with one coat of danish oil?
Åsa

[Karin H.]

Hi Asa

The best way to find out is to test it on a small area (or left-over piece). It's always hard to tell when it is not clear how long ago the first coat has been applied and how the pigment of the white Blanchon reacts.

You can order a small tester to see if it brings the result you're hoping for.

[John]

Hi :) We have just bought a house and are wanting to sand and either lacquer or oil the flooring. I think that the wood is ash, but I'm not 100% certain. I'm just wondering whether the hardwaxoil is hard-wearing enough for areas such as the kitchen, where there will be a lot of foot traffic, and the possibility of spills etc?

[Karin H.]

Hi John

HardWaxOil is highly suitable for kitchens. There is normally more moist there and the oil in the HWO prevents any other moist coming into the wood, while it still allows the wood to breath.
Another advantage of HWO over lacquer especially in kitchens: you don't walk in kitchens, you shuffle more. From cooker to fridge, from fridge to work top, from cupboard to work top etc. This "abrasive" movement can wear out the finish. Combined with the moisture amount in kitchens, once the lacquer layer is worn of by shuffling the wood is unprotected and moist will be pressed into the wood, colouring it dark.
When a HWO is applied, the oil as said before protects the wood more and the wax will prevent damage from the normal abrasive movements more than a lacquer - which lays on top of the wood as a thin film.

Also, HWO floors can be repaired locally - for instance the area where you work most, cooker or work top - without ending up with a patchy floor. Lacquered floors repaired locally will result in patchy floor, where new lacquer overlaps old lacquer.

Hope this helps
Wood You Like Ltd

At 20:32 07/03/2009, you wrote:

[jon]

I had Osmo HWO applied to a floor I had fitted a year ago in my kitchen, lounge and halls and must say that it is completely unsuitable for a house with average traffic.
If you want a floor you dont have to constantly attend to and maintain to achieve a half decent finish this isn't for you. I am getting all my Oak engineered board sanded and coated with a low maintenance Lacquer.

[Karin H.]

Hi Jon

Sorry to hear about your experience. On the other hand, every wood floor, no matter what type of finish is applied, needs regular maintenance. Polish to keep both the wood and the finish itself healthy. For areas with average traffic as well as heavier traffic.

Regular maintenance, with the suitable product, ONLY needs to be done on average every 5 - 6 months: low maintenance.

Wood You Like Ltd

[Scott]

Hi there, I had an oak floor fitted by yourselfs about 5 years ago now but it has turned very orange. How can I restore it to its previous colour?

[Karin H.]

Hi Scott

Sent you an email asking for more details about your floor. Hoping to receive your reply at your earliest convenience so we can advice you best

Wood You Like Ltd

[Neil Glasson]

Hi Karin,

Followed advice from your good selves which has not been flawed so far. Sanding pine boards finishing with 100 grit. Applied Blanchon coloured HWO as per instructions just finished last night. Only to find that between the sanding process and the oiling process our cat had walked on the bare pine with wet feet. These paw prints were not visible until the HWO was applied but now we have some well defined paw prints in numerous places. They feel slightly raised to the touch. My question is will they fade over time or should I resort to the wire wool treatment?

[Karin H.]

Hi Neil

It's always the same with these nice creatures: they hide away right up to the moment you absolutely do not want them on your floor! (Happened to us right after applying a coloured oil once and we learned it is absolutely not recommendable to try to chase the cat of a wet floor!).

It is best to lightly sand the effected areas, careful you do not put too much pressure on it to avoid "closing-up" of the grain. Then apply the second coat of HardWaxOil - after vacuum cleaning of course - according the instructions.

The paw prints - thanks for your picture - might slightly shine through in the beginning, that will fade over time and you can "speed" this up by applying a wax polish after the HardWaxOil is fully cured = 2 weeks.

Hope this helps (keep the cat firmly away until you're finished ;-))

Wood You Like Ltd

[Moni]

Hi! We would like to oil our engineered solid oak floor which is a natural rustic colour rigt now. The thing is that we want a slightly darker, more golden colour...like a wallnut. Do you have perhaps a magazine or samples of the colours of your oils, as I can't make an idea of which colour is closer to what I'm looking for? In case you do, please let me know. Regards, Moni

[Karin H.]

Hi Moni

Thank you for your question.
You could have a look here, at the colour chart of the HardWaxOil colours we have available. As with every little sample (online or on paper) it shows the colour on one little strip of wood, where in every floor every board has its own character.

You could order a tester first (0.25 ltr) to try it out?

Kind Regards
Wood You Like Ltd

[shelly]

We have had a wood floor laid fairly recently and it has been waxed, which is high maintenance if you want to keep it looking good. I want the floor to have a sheen/shine, would you use lacquer and if so can you over wax.

[Wood You Like Ltd]

Hi Shelly

Your solution might lay in our "old-fashion" 7kg cast iron buffing-block, making light work of the maintenance and making your floor looking really good with a shine. You don't need to apply wax or polish that often when you use a buffing block (and applying wax/polish too often can have the reverse effect on your floor, too much and a greasy, sticky layer will keep dust and dirt trapped).

If that's not what you have in mind than sanding the whole floor to remove all the wax - using a wax-remover first - and then apply a lacquer could be done, but in our opinion will not look as good or as long good as an oiled/waxed floor does.
(You cannot lacquer or varnish straight over an waxed/oiled floor!)

Hope this helps
Wood You Like Ltd

[Julie]

We are about to sand our pine floor for the third time (due to building work being carried out etc)we have never been happy with the result after varnishing so we thought we would use Osmo Hardwax Oil this time, but after reading comments on your site we are now wondering about trying Blanchon HWO.We want a matt finish and to avoid it looking yellow/orange.What probuct do you suggest and what colour?
Many thanks
Julie

[Wood You Like Ltd]

Hi Julie

Thank you for your question. On pine floors we indeed recommend to apply Golden Oak HardWaxOil to prevent the pine turning orange - as it often does when applying a natural finish. Another advantage of using HWO is you can, if needed, repair it locally where with a varnish or lacquer you often have to resand the whole floor.

Hope this helps

Wood You Like Ltd

[Nic Millington]

Hi

Having taken up a bedroom carpet,I have just discovered a very old oak floor. The original building dates from late 1500s but I suspect the 11 x 1" boards are rather more recent. I'm just about to hire a belt sander. Can you give me any advice on treating this floor after sanding?

Many thanks

Nic

[Karin H.]

Hi Nic

Thank you for your enquiry. Can I redirect you first to one of our guides: "7 easy steps to repair/restore your original (parquet) floor"

If you need further advice or tips just let me know.

Kind Regards
Wood You Like Ltd
Karin H