Oiled Hardwood Floors

Oiled hardwood floors are the most natural flooring you can choose, and they bring a warm feel to your home. We offer oiled White Oak flooring and Ash flooring, in a variety of deep colours that are not seen with stained urethane floors.

What Makes an Oiled Finish Different?

An oil finish penetrates hardwood flooring, hardening and sealing the floor as it becomes one with the wood. A urethane finish on hardwood flooring creates a barrier that covers the wood with a layer of protective coating.

People often choose oiled floors for their natural beauty and low luster finish that hides wear and tear. They look more authentic and feel like real wood, and don’t have a plastic-like coating.

It is important to know the difference between an oiled floor and a urethane-finished floor as they require different products. Oiled finished floors require you to wash with oil soap; this cleans the floor while adding a bit of oil to the wood surface with every wash. Once or twice a year, depending on the wear and abrasion in your home, it is recommended to refresh oiled floors by using a higher concentration of oil in the soap. If oiled floors are not maintained properly they become thirsty and dry. Your floors will start to stain and show some wear.

Maintaining an Oiled Hardwood Floor

Oil finishes look better with time and proper maintenance, whereas urethane floors look best the day they are installed.

One of the benefits of natural oiled hardwood floors is it’s much easier to fix the damage in one location. Small scratches can be cleaned with oil soap and deeper damage can be sanded and treated with tinted oil to blend it with the rest of the floor. There are even finished oil pencils and special wax crayons for minor repairs.

Oiled hardwood floors may need to be re-oiled if the floor receives a lot of wear and abrasion. Some floors will need oiling in the first year while other oiled floors will not need to be oiled for 8-15 years depending on the traffic. The difference is how much oil penetrated the wood during production and if the final coat of oil is UV cured. Lower quality oiled floors could potentially need to be oiled within the first year or even before moving in. If you purchase a quality oiled floor with a superior finish, like Hakwood Flooring, maintain it as recommended and in a low-traffic area, you may never need re-oil. With heavy wear and in a high-traffic area, the floor may need to be re-oiled around the 10-year mark. Oiled floors can be touched up as needed. With time, oiled floors become more rich and deep, making them truly unique. A natural oiled hardwood floor will last you years and when properly maintained oiled floors will look even better than the day they were installed.

Though oiled hardwood floors can take more maintenance than urethane floors, they will far outlast them! It is very difficult to fix damage to a floor with a urethane finish without it being visible. Urethane floors will gradually get more scratched up and the surface will dull until the entire floor is sanded and refinished every 10-15 years.

Choosing oiled hardwood flooring

We would be happy to discuss the pros and cons of oil finishes and show you what we offer for natural oiled oak and ash wood floors. Contact us today by visiting our showroom or booking an in-home consult!