Flooring - Oiled or Laquered?

[TheScullster]

Hi all

On the point of needing to buy wood (preferably engineered) flooring. Er-indoors was taken with some B & Q stuff with contoured surface. My concern with this is that if you need to sand it, it would be necessary to sand all the contours out to get rid of grime, scuffs etc. So I am trying to stear her in the direction of flat planks. But I'm not sure of the (dis)advantages of oil over laquer finish. Which would be easier to repair in the event of divots? Also, any recommendations for dark (antique looking) engineered oak suppliers?

TIA

Phil

[JimK]

to my eye oiled looks better but wears quicker, but is easier to patch up and dints etc add to the character, lacquer is harder, shinier, "moderner" and wears slower but could be a PITA to patch (as opposed to refinish) to get the same shiny crisp "aseptic" finish....

JimK

[TheScullster]

"JimK" wrote

Thanks Jim - just the feedback I was looking for

Phil

[JimK]

pleasure - indeed some friends had the bumpy "hand scraped" stuff in their lounge - IMHO it felt *very* odd under bare foot and looked a bit twee as well - too bumpy to be realistic somehow --- course they thought it was the dogs proverbials but I expect they couldn't accept something that cost them that much could be so ..erm.. unimpressive?.....

we have solid oak glued onto concrete then oiled with osmo hardwax oil

- doing OK considering what gets thrown at it - dogs, kids, etc and not that expensive compared to even some laminates - =A325/m2 incll VAT I paid last time (few years now)

cheers JimK

[The Medway Handyman]

Yup, oiled is much easier to patch, no need to sand to obtain a key.

[Tim W]

JimK wibbled on Friday 30 October 2009 16:38

Agree. I got the Kahrs Oiled and applying a coat of the oil is a piece of piss. It's so little effort that doing it a 6 monthly intervals for an initial period (recommended to build up the surface) is not a problem at all.

In my view, if it's likely to get knocked about, oil is best.

[JimK]

I conclude you have no dogs or kids (or a very large house!) :>))

JimK

[Tim W]

JimK wibbled on Saturday 31 October 2009 08:02

Me or the OP?

Why?

[JimK]

you, just cos i've been meaning to chuck another coat of oil over our floors since I did them --several years ago -- but with constant use by untrained/untrainables there's never been a window of opp yet!

What oil do you use and how long to dry?

Cheers JimK

[Tim W]

JimK wibbled on Saturday 31 October 2009 11:41

Ah. Yes I have sprogs - that's why I went for oil, like I wax my table. It won;t last as long, but whatever you do will sustain wear (it's impossible to avoid with kids and pets) and the oil as other's have said does rejuvinate well, and easiliy, unlike laquer.

As it's a Kahrs floor, I used the recommended stuff with is this:

's expensive, but a little goes a long way. It's not at all like danish oil and application technique isn't that critical. It does have instructions for doing 1/2 room at a time, wait a few hours, shove furniture the other side and do the other 1/2.

You need one of these:

a B&Q microfibre cloth works perfectly well too - just machine wash it immediately after use or you'll end up binning it.

HTH

Tim

[Tim W]

JimK wibbled on Saturday 31 October 2009 11:41

Yes I have sprogs. I went for oiled for the same reason I wax my dinig table. It won't last as well, but whatever you do they will sustain damage, so I'd rather have the easy to rejuvinate option :)

The proper stuff for Kahrs (which I have):

's expensive but a little goes a long way. It's not like danish oil so application isn't difficult or critical. It dries fast too so you can do

1/2 room at a time, moving furniture after a few hours - thus it is possible to do it when the kids are at school. Khars have explicit instructions for doing 1/2 room at a time.

You'll need something like this to apply it:

used a B&Q microfibre mop and that worked pretty well too. Just wash the mop afterwards otherwise it's a bin job.

HTH

Tim

[Tim W]

Tim W wibbled on Saturday 31 October 2009 12:50

Woops - thought I'd lost the original reply, so did it again. Apparantly not.