Flooring Lacquer Complaints

Hello and welcome to another Woodfloor-Renovations Blogpost.


Apologies for my poor output of late, but we have been extremely busy in the run up to Christmas...there just isn't enough hours in the day.


I've received some correspondence of late, where end users are making complaints about the flooring lacquers that they themselves have applied and are unhappy with the results, and because it obviously can't be their fault [the end users]...it must be the lacquer !!!!


What many end users just don't do, is to properly read through and understand the manufacturers instructions on how to apply the lacquer, one of the complaints I received was from a gentleman in the UK, who has prepared his parquet floor and applied the lacquer himself, in this case a Silk Matt finish.


The complaint was basically that the finish on the floor didn't look consistant and that it looked shiny at one end of the room and silk at the other...In my book this is a classic case of the lacquer not being shaken properly prior to being used.


Wood flooring lacquers are made up of many different components, and they need to be properly mixed together before being used, if the can of lacquer isn't shaken then the different components settle at the bottom of the can, and when you pour the product onto the floor to apply it, its just not mixed properly and the chances are the first part of your floor will look glossy, as the matting agents [some of the many components] are at the bottom of the can, unmixed...Its not rocket science is it.


As I have mentioned many times on this blog, read, understand and follow all the manufacturers instructions and you will have a pretty good chance of a successful outcome for your project...ignore or disregard the advice at your peril.


Another issue that was emailed in was from a lady who was asking if it was 'really necessary' to add the hardener into a high traffic lacquer.....the answer is a resounding YES IT IS...its a 2 component lacquer for a reason, you pour part B into part A, give it a shake up for 2 minutes and you are good to go...Now if you DON'T pour part B into part A and use the product, your floor will be good for nothing as it just won't go off without the hardener mixed in...You have been warned... :-)


Thanks for reading...Regards Gary


Checkout the Woodfloor Renovations Website

Waxed Parquet Block Floor is Sticky and Picks Up Dirt

Hello and Welcome to another Woodfloor-Renovations Blog Post.


Today I'll show you a couple of pictures from a recent Floor Sanding job of ours and explain a few things that many end users often do and wonder why what they have done looks rubbish and doesn't last.


Our client had previously done the floor sanding and sealing works herself, with poor results, and was asking many questions with regards to sanding/finishing/products etc.etc.


When she had last sanded/sealed the floor, [only 12 months ago] which is an original Pine Parquet Wood block floor, fitted in the diagonal herringbone pattern with no border approximately 90 years old, the area was, to cut a long story short, basically sanded and waxed, which had unquestionably been applied too thickly by our client, [a common DIY mistake] which was the reason the floor looked blotchy, felt sticky all the time, was difficult/impossible to clean and attracted dirt like bee's to a honeypot...[picture below] 

This picture [above] was taken about 30 minutes or so after we started sanding the floor, and you can clearly see the high traffic area's in the middle of the picture which were basically bare wood as the old seal had completely worn through.

The picture below is the floor in its finished condition, immediately after the 3rd coat of lacquer had been applied to this floor.

 Our client had specified a high traffic lacquered finish for this project, and in this case we applied 1 x coat of a solvent based primer to seal in any wax residues and negate any contamination of the new lacquered finish, this was then followed by 2 coats of Lobadur WS 2K Fusion which is a high performance 2 part lacquer, famed for its durability, which looked superb and will serve our client well for many a long day.

Looks a bit different from the first picture doesn't it !

Thanks for reading...Regards Gary

Parquet Flooring Repair and Restoration Cheshire

Another Woodfloor-Renovations Parquet Floor Restoration project, this one was in Cuddington, Cheshire.

In this video clip you can see the areas of blocks which we have just repaired [with the white masking tape on] and the other voided area which we were about to repair.

Check back to see the second video where you can see the completed project.

Thanks for viewing. 

My Wood Floor Looks Orange.....Why ?????

Hello and welcome to another Woodfloor-Renovations blog post.


Today we'll talk about another question i've been asked many times, the [full] question is:- "I've got a Maple Strip Wood Floor and it looks almost Orange ? It was only sanded and finished 3 years ago...Do you know why my floor has gone that colour ?? "


I've seen countless wood floors that have turned orange in colour, usually only a couple of years after the floor has been refinished, the culprit is merciless in that it doesn't care what the species is, or whether the floor is Parquet Block or Strip Flooring, the end result will always be the same...in that the floor turns Orange in colour.


The guilty party is almost certainly a floor seal called 'Bourneseal' this product was used very widely in the floor sanding industry for many years as a flooring lacquer, and is still available today, but is no-where near as popular with flooring contractors as it once was.


I don't know the technical details as to why Bourneseal turns wooden floors an orangey colour, the lady who sent in the question mentioned that the floor seal had looked clear for at least two years and then started to slowly turn orange during the third year.


If you want the floor to look clear again i'm afraid the only thing you can do is to have it fully Sanded off and Re-Sealed, as far as i know there is no other way, but if you do have the floor fully sanded make sure your contractor uses a modern non yellowing seal from a reputable manufacturer such as Bona, Junckers or Lobadur...


There are many other Lacquers out there from excellent manufacturers, which will do the job very well, but as I use lacquers very regularly from Junckers, Lobadur [lecol here in the UK] and Bona, I know these products work extremely well and WILL NOT even go yellow, never mind orange.


Hope that helps, thanks for reading.


Regards Gary

Does Tack Clothing a wood floor make any difference??

Hello and welcome to another Woodfloor-Renovations Blog post.

In Today's post I'll be touching on a subject that even alot of professional firms don't include in their wood floor preparations, today's question....and its from me to be honest with you,
 is..."Does tack Clothing a Wood Floor make any difference ?"  

The short answer is "Yes" it does make a difference.....a big, big difference.... now let me explain why.

Tack Clothing a floor is the absolute final part of the floor sanding process before the Seal/Oil/Lacquer is applied to the freshly prepared wood floor.

The cleaner the floor is before the seals are applied the better the finished product, the happier the clients.....quite a simple equation really. When we hoover our floors for the final time, and believe me when I say our Vacuums/Hoovers are very powerful, they pick up virtually all the dust left over from the final sanding process.

You can run your hand over the floor prior to tack clothing and it will feel lovely and smooth and you will be hard pressed to find any dust or debris with your hand.The Tack Clothing process cleans away the very fine dust that you can't see but is there, it really does make a difference folks...

if you are a professional  reading this and are thinking...Ppaaahhhh I don't need to do that...check out the pictures below...As someone said a long long time ago...a picture speaks a thousand words...

The pictures were taken directly before and after tack clothing a small [10m2] Study which had Teak Parquet Block Flooring. Let me know what you think.

A 20 Pence Tack Cloth 'Before'

And 'After' ...It does make a difference

Thanks for reading.

   

Bona Novia...Is it any Good ??

Hello and welcome to another Woodfloor-Renovations Blog Post.

This post is about an enquiry I received a few weeks ago, the person was wondering because this product was at the cheaper end of the flooring lacquer scale that it may not be up to much.

The direct enquiry was "Bona Novia...Is it any good ??" 

The quick answer to this question is YES, it is a good product, in my humble opinion a VERY good product.

Bona Novia is positioned at the 'Budget Sensitive' end of the market, or in easy to understand language the cheaper end, just because the product is relatively cheap by comparison doesn't mean it isn't any good, quite the opposite really.

Novia is from the mighty Bona stable, a Swedish company renowned for it's high quality products for several decades.

I can speak with a little authority on this because in October 2008 I was invited, along with around 25 other Wood Flooring professionals from the UK on a 2 day visit to the Bona HQ in Sweden...

At this time Bona Novia was just about to come to the market, and we were lucky enough to be given a tour of the Bona laboratory where all the formulations are made. It gave us all a fantastic insight into the thoroughness and incredible amount of work that goes into producing a wood flooring lacquer like Bona Novia.

Now I might just be a little biased when it comes to Bona Novia, but after seeing first hand what goes into that product that's hardly surprising news...

I personally have used Bona Novia on many many projects and have nothing but high praise for the product, from a professional perspective its very easy to apply to wooden floors, looks fantastic and has good wear characteristics and given its relatively low price point its good news for the end user of this product.

I have written a more comprehensive product review of Bona Novia which is available for viewing at the Woodfloor-Renovations Website

Hope this helps - Thanks for reading

    

Bona Traffic Review

Hello and welcome to another Woodfloor-Renovations Blog Post.


Today I'll briefly chat about a leviathan of the Wood Floor Lacquer world - the mighty and rather splendid...Bona Traffic


We did a comprehensive product review of this product a few months ago, which is the  Bona Traffic Product Review

We go into quite alot of detail in our product review, and if you are thinking of using a high traffic floor finish for your renovation project then you could do an awful lot worse that have a good read through and see what you get for your money [which is alot]

Bona Traffic isn't a cheap product, to be honest it's quite expensive, but as with most things in life you really do get what you pay for, and with Bona Traffic you get a superb, easy to apply hard wearing polyurethane finish that will look fantastic and last a long time.

Thanks for reading.

How Clean does my floor need to be before applying floor lacquer

Hello and Welcome to another WFR Blog Post.

Today we'll touch on a general cleanliness question of when a floor has been sanded and properly prepared in readiness for the first coat of seal.

The question I've recently received from a DIYer who has sanded his own floor is "How clean does the floor need to be before I apply the lacquer ?"

Pretty straightforward answer this one, 'As clean as possible'.....the cleaner your floor the better overall it will look, its a very simple equation really, as a general rule of thumb on a standard parquet block floor of say 20m2 we would vacuum the floor probably 5 times over the course of the day.

With floor sanding you really can't vacuum enough, but on occasions no matter how carefully the floor has been hoovered there ALWAYS seems to be the odd bit of debris that is in the way just as you are starting to apply the first coat of seal.

Personally I advocate the use of 'Tack Clothing' the floor just after the final vacuuming has taken place, it never ceases to amaze how much dust and crud the tack clothing process picks up, for a 20m2 room I'd advise using 2 cloths, tack cloths are very cheap and the process is ridiculously easy to do and will take less than 5 minutes for a 20m2 wood floor, it will make a tangible difference.

If there are any Pro's who are reading this thinking 'yeah right'..... just try it once and see what a difference tack clothing makes......I was converted many many moons ago and now make sure we tack cloth EVERY floor we do.....Remember the cleaner the floor the better the finish will be....its that simple.


The proof is in the pudding....well the pudding in this case is the two pictures below, the first is our brand new tack cloth just before we used it on a 10m2 Mahogany Parquet Block Floor, the second picture is just after it had been used on the said 10m2 floor.....PS....The floor had been thoroughly vacuumed with a very powerful vacuum just prior to being tack clothed....Don't they say a picture speaks a thousand words.....I shall say no more....

The Tack Cloth Before Being Used

Tack Cloth after being used......

Thanks for Reading. 

How Many Coats of Floor Lacquer

Hello and Welcome to another WFR Blog Post.


Today's diatribe is an aspect of Floor Sanding I'm not asked alot but is an important question for the DIY enthusiasts out there, and as we all know, Knowledge is power.....


The question is "How many coats of floor lacquer can I put on my wood floor in a day ?"


A fair question deserving of a proper answer.

Any self respecting professional flooring contractor/company will quote for and apply 3 coats of a good quality floor lacquer as standard, very often the three coats of lacquer can be applied in anything from 3-6 hrs depending on A. Site Conditions and B. The lacquer specification being used.


For example a High Traffic 2 component lacquer eg. Bona Traffic or Junckers HP Commercial will take longer to dry than a single component lacquer such as Junckers Strong or Bona Mega, typically between 2-3hrs per coat for a 2 component high traffic lacquer, and between 1-2 hrs per coat for the single component products in reasonable drying conditions.    


Site conditions play a big part in how many coats of floor lacquer can be applied in a day, for example if its a nice warm day outside and the room you are applying the lacquer to is at a nice ambient temperature then the lacquer should dry within the manufacturers stated time-frame [probably quicker] This is taking into account also that the lacquer has been applied properly at the correct coverage rate for the product.


The flip side is when the weather is cold and wet, both these elements will slow the lacquer drying times down, putting the central heating on will certainly help lacquer drying times, lacquer likes the warm, but doesn't like cold and damp conditions, so if its pouring down with rain outside, that can also have an impact on drying times inside, so many different elements determine how many coats of lacquer can be applied in a day. 


If you are a DIYer and are undertaking for example a 25m2 Lounge [270 sq ft] and have taken a day to properly prepare your wood floor, give yourself the next day to properly apply the lacquer and of course the primer as the first coat. If you want to apply an extra coat you simply have to give yourself more time...


Don't forget to allow the correct drying / curing times before moving furniture back into the area, ALWAYS read and carefully follow the manufacturers instructions.


We have more Floor Sanding Review Pages on our website  Here


Hope this helps....Thanks for reading

How Do I Lay a Parquet Floor ??

Hello and Welcome to another WFR Blogpost.


This post will probably be a short one, but the subject matter is something I come across on a regular basis...


The question is "How Do I Lay a Parquet Floor ??"

 Believe it or not that's what I'm asked on a very regular basis, its akin to asking "how do I do a vasectomy myself ? ".....if you don't know how to, or haven't been professionally trained then my strong advice would be Don't Bother.....get a professional tradesman to lay the floor, and a professional company to Sand & Refinish for you as well.


The chances are after investing considerable amounts of money and time, the end result won't be anywhere near the quality of finish you expected.

Here's what a properly laid/sanded & refinished Parquet Floor looks like.....

That's it....Rant over....Thanks for Reading :-)

Floor Lacquer Sheen Levels....Whats the Difference ??

Hello and welcome to another WFR Blogpost.


Today I'll enlighten you on a question that confuses most of my clients who just don't understand the difference....


The direct question I was asked is:-"What's the difference between Bona Mega Matt & Bona Mega Silk Matt ?? "


The trade terminology for this is "Sheen Level" ie. the difference between Matt & Silk Matt products. What this basically means in how much light the product reflects when applied to your wooden floor, typically a Matt product will reflect around 20% of the sunlight that hits it, Silk Matt or Satin reflect between 40-60% depending on the manufacturer, and Gloss reflects about 80%.


Ultra Matt is a finish which is becoming more and more popular these days and just about all the top manufacturers have these products in their ranges, Ultra Matt Lacquers have a very low sheen level which by comparison to Matt/Silk Matt/Gloss, this would be around the 9% mark.


At the end of the day choosing which sheen level to go for is a subjective issue and needs to be made by the home-owner before the project starts, what I will say is around 80% of my clients choose Silk Matt/Semi Gloss [which are the same] most of them say they don't want the finish to be too shiny or too flat/dull, so they plump for the Silk Matt which ALWAYS looks good by the way....All the finishes look good but its all about personal preference....


If you are not sure, ask your contractor to sand off a small area of your floor for you prior to the project starting and apply a quick couple of coats of the lacquer, so you can see for yourself how the sheen level will look on your particular floor, a good contractor won't mind doing this for you as it doesn't take long to do......


Hope that helps.....Thanks for reading. 

Bona Traffic or Junckers HP Sport....Whats the Difference ??

Hello and welcome to another Woodfloor-Renovations Blogpost.


Today's Blog is a question I've been asked many times, and the subject matter concerns the 2 heavyweight champions of the High Traffic Flooring Lacquer market here in the UK, Bona Traffic & Junckers HP Sport.


The question is ...."What's the Difference ??"

Firstly these giants of the Floor Lacquer world are both superb products, and if you are contemplating using a high traffic finish for your wood flooring project you could do alot worse than use either of them, and if you apply them properly you will have a hard wearing, great looking durable finish that will last you for many years.


Trying to choose between Bona Traffic & Junckers HP Sport is a bit like picking a favourite horse, both are really really good but which one to go for.....do you favour Shergar or Red Rum ??....The analogy is a horse racing one but I'm sure you get the meaning....


Both these lacquers have enviable reputations in the Floor Sanding and Sealing world, they set the standards and others follow, the manufacturers  Bona & Junckers are both excellent companies with great product ranges and really good technical departments who will answer any questions you have about their Lacquers and oils.


Expect to pay somewhere between £70-£90 for a 5 litre can of these 2 component lacquers, typically the Junckers HP Sport is around £10 per 5L can cheaper than Bona Traffic, shop around online for a good deal.


Remember to properly read and follow the manufacturers instructions before you use any of these products.


For more flooring product reviews checkout our Product Review Pages at the Woodfloor-Renovations Product Review Page    

Osmo Oil....Repair an Oiled Wooden Floor

Hello and Welcome to another WFR Blog...


This Blog is about how to accomplish a professional quality repair to a damaged area of an Oiled Wooden Floor.


In this case the floor in question was an Engineered Oak Strip floor, that had a quite bad black mark which had been made by over a period of time by the family pet.....a small dog...
The naughty pooch had marked out his area via a thick rug, and had made multiple deposits over a few weeks before the rug was lifted and the damage was revealed.

See the series of pictures below.

The first of these pictures show the damage quite clearly, the adjacent area needs to be masking taped off, then thoroughly sanded and properly prepared and Vacuumed, the oil, in this case Osmo Satin was sparingly applied with a Bona Oil cloth, and although the repaired area looked a little lighter than the surrounding area it blended in really well, certainly looked better than a black blotch that's for sure.

The sanding processes were carried out mainly with a Festool Rotex Detail Sander and sundry hand tools, we started with a 60 grit to remove the old residues, then an 80 grit, and finished off with a 120 grit.The masking tape was removed after the second coat of oil was applied.

Hope this helps....Thanks for reading.

Take a look at the main Woodfloor-Renovations Website Here

Parquet Flooring Repairs - How to fix loose blocks in my wood block floor

Hello and welcome to another WFR Blog post


This Blog is about another very frequently asked question that we have been asked numerous times.


The questions is:- "How Do I Fix the loose blocks in my Parquet Flooring ? "


I have already written a comprehensive guide on this subject on the 
Woodfloor-Renovations website, so to save a couple of hours in front of the computer I'll link you directly to the page on our site.


Let me know what you think of the review...Parquet Block Repairs


Thanks for reading

How Do I Fill the Gaps in my Hardwood Floor ?

Hello and Welcome to another Woodfloor-Renovations Blog post.


This subject really is the one I get most correspondence about, its a fairly simple process really but if its done badly or you don't know what you are doing or what products you should use then things can go very wrong very quickly. 


This Blog is about Gap Filling your wood floor, it doesn't matter if you have a beautiful hardwood Oak Parquet Block floor or old softwood Pine Floorboards, the principles are the same as is the method for getting the job done. The Gap Filling part of the Sanding & Sealing process is carried out shortly before applying the first coat of seal to the floor so it really does need to be done correctly otherwise your floor could easily look a mess.


Two main components are needed for Gap Filling are some nice clean fine sanding dust from the floor/species you have been sanding, and the Filler itself.

 There are two distinct product types in the Filler market, Solvent Based Fillers v's Water-based Fillers, both have different properties and behave differently, for example the solvent based fillers have a quite pungent smell when used, and the Water-based fillers don't, with solvent based fillers you have a quite short working time whereas the water-based fillers have a  long open time.


I can tell you are leaning towards the water-based products already :-) but before you make up your mind read on.

 From a Professional standpoint I personally almost always use solvent based fillers, this is because a solvent based filler dries really quickly [10-15 mins] and most of the filling I do is for relatively small area's in respect of the overall job. I need the filler to go off quickly to be able to move onto the next phase of the operation which would be to properly Sand off any residues and to finish the preparation on the newly sanded floor.

The two above pictures are of the exact same area from a recently completed job, where the pictures clearly show the dramatic difference that applying filler can make, in the top pictures your eye's are drawn to the 'black gaps' that can be seen pretty much everywhere in that picture. In the lower picture you can clearly see the difference that the gap filling has made - believe me that particular floor took some gap filling :-(( 

Click on the link and you will be taken to the complete Gallery of that project - the before and after pictures are quite startling   Conwy Valley Pitch Pine Job

The main component of gap filling is the dust, make sure it's nice and clean and at least 80 grit and finer, meaning 120 grit dust is better again, mix the filler into the dust, to the consistency of a thickish custard, don't worry if you pour on too much filler and it goes very runny, simply add more dust and mix well.

When properly mixed you basically scrape the mixture into the gaps, somewhat similar to grouting tiles. I would advise using as wide a scraper as possible as gap filling can be a very time consuming and tedious job if all you have to use is a 4" wallpaper scraper.

As soon as you apply the filler mixture to the area you are filling, make sure you scrape off as much of the residues as possible, as when the filler dries, it dries hard and can be difficult to remove if thick residues have been left on the floor to dry.

Remember - Solvent based fillers have an approximate 10-15 minute working time, while the water based fillers have a much longer open time, and can be as much as an hour or more before it is properly dry depending on how wide the gaps are...the wider the gaps the longer the drying time and that refers to both filler types.

Hope this article helps - Good Luck with your project.

Using a Primer and How Many Coats ?

Welcome to another WFR Blog Post


This post is a question I've been asked several times, and although not earth shatteringly important its still nice to know the correct way to do things....knowledge is power....


The question in point is "Do I need to use a Wood Floor Primer before I use Bona Mega "


The very short answer is YES, use a Primer before applying subsequent coats of Bona Mega or any other Lacquer product, but as usual with Floor Sanding related issues things are not quite what they seem....


**Remember**....you only ever apply 1 COAT of flooring primer, wait for it to properly dry, then add the subsequent coats of Floor Lacquer to your floor.


There are many primers out there in the world of Floor Sanding, but if you are applying Bona Mega as your top coats then you should use the correct primer from the same manufacturer....in this case Bona....the primer being Bona Prime.


There are a number of different Primers in the Bona stable, i would advise doing your homework and finding out which Primer will best suit your projects needs before parting with your hard earned cash....


Have a look at The Bona Website for all the technical info on their excellent range of Flooring Lacquers and related products.


Thanks for Reading......Regards Gary

Wood Floor....Rough To The Touch

Not too long ago I had an email from a lady who had recently Sanded & Refinished a Wooden Floor at her home....She had put a fair bit of detail into the email about the processes she had employed in her DIY Floor Sanding attempt.

The room was her lounge, and the material of the floor in question was original pine floorboards which had been hidden under carpets for many years. She had used hire shop floor sanding machinery and had been shown [briefly] how to use the equipment. The room was approx 15m2 in size and the Sanding part of the project took her 2 days. The hire machinery consisted of a Main Sanding Machine and an Edger machine.

She had stopped sanding the floor at the 60 grit stage as in her own words she said 'the floor didn't feel too bad' the Edging had been completed to the 40 grit level, and she didn't sand right into the corners as she didn't know how to...The area had been Vacuumed twice before the lacquer was applied.
 

Two coats of a good quality water based Lacquer [Bona Resident] were applied with a paint pad, and the floor was not 'cut back' after the first coat of lacquer had been applied.....The lady was not too happy with the overall finish and asked what i thought the reason for the rough finish/appearance might be.


First of all i have to say that the level of equipment she had used would in my opinion be nowhere near good enough to achieve a professional quality standard of finish, also as a minimum the floor should of been sanded to a 120 grit with the HT7 sanding machine that was used, and the Edging should of been done to 80 grit as a minimum. The corners should of course of been properly sanded and then the whole floor should of been buffed to a smooth 120 grit level with a quality buffing machine such as the Bona Buffer. 


In short I feel that there had been no-where near enough preparation work done before the coats of lacquer had been applied, when a floor is sanded using coarse grit levels, the grain of the wood is opened [widely] and the subsequent passes with the intermediate and fine sandpapers will help to close the grain back up, the process with the buffing machine then helps complete the job....In this case the grain of the wood had not been sufficiently closed before the lacquer was applied, hence the grain 'popping' heavily leaving the material feeling rough to the touch and visually looking poor as well.


I would say that without question the Lacquer had nothing whatsoever to do with the floor ending up feeling and looking rather poor, if the correct amount of preparation work would have been carried out the overall finish would likely of been a lot better......But if you want a professional quality finish....Use a Professional


As i say to alot of clients both prospective and actual....' its all in the prep '


Thanks for reading....


   

From Behind The Machine....Our first post

Hello and welcome to the Woodfloor-Renovations first ever blog post...

Over the coming months I'll be commenting on many Floor Sanding related topics, such as Gap Filling, or whether to use Lacquer or Oil as your floor seal of choice, I'll also be giving you an insight as to my perspective on the trials and tribulations of a professional Floor Sander. 


I'll be trying to answer questions sent in via email on Wood Floor Sanding topics, so if you have any issue's with your project or are just wondering 'How do I' do this or that....email me or ask through the Blog and I'll try and answer the question.

The question I'm most asked is 'should I use Lacquer or Oil on my wooden floor ?'

Its a reasonable question, unfortunately there isn't a straightforward answer....it's mainly down to personal preferences but there are many things to bear in mind before making the decision on which Seal to use on your project.



An Oiled finish can give a greater depth of colour to the floor, while a lacquered finish may leave the floor slightly more pale in appearance, but this can be entirely dependant on wood species... Normally 2 coats of Flooring Oil are applied to a properly prepared wood floor, while most professional Floor Sanding Companies will apply 3 coats of Lacquer as standard. Under normal traffic conditions, an oiled finish should last between 12-18 months before needing more coats of Oil to be applied, whereas Lacquer should last between 3-5 years before needing attention.

These timings are approximate and depend on a number of variables, such as :-the Cleaning regime employed by the home-owner, the volume of traffic in the home, and the type of shoes that go over the floor......


Both Lacquers and Oils are available in different sheen levels, with Lacquers the sheen levels are usually:- Extra Matt, Matt, Satin, Semi Gloss and Gloss, while Oiled Finishes usually come in:- Matt & Satin finishes.


It is highly recommended to always use the proper wood floor cleaning products from the manufacturer of the Lacquer or Oil you have applied to your floor....Why?? i hear you ask.

The answer is quite simple.....the Lacquer/Oil manufacturers wood floor cleaning products are designed to work specifically with the Seal you have just applied to your wooden floor, their usually easy to follow instructions make cleaning your beautiful newly Sanded & Finished Floor quick and very easy, these products are normally cheap and readily available.   


Do a Google search for:-wood floor cleaning kits / you will get many results and varying prices, one of the best cleaning kits on the market is from Bona, and is cunningly named The Bona Wood Floor Cleaning Kit....the kit comes complete with a wide mop, extension pole and the cleaning solution all in the box, expect to pay between £20 - £25 for the kit, now i know this is quite alot of money but bear in mind that the material head of the mop is machine washable and the 1 litre of cleaning solution will last many months before a refill is needed.


Thanks for Reading.....