Ask The Expert

Three strip oak floorings usually come with 3 mm top layers and unless it has been sanded before it should be possible to restore. Once the existing sealant is completely removed through the sanding process, is perfectly fine to change the sealant from lacquer oil.

Before you make the final decision on the most appropriate type of sealant for your engineered wood flooring restoration, bear in mind that oiled floors require more frequent maintenance and re-oiling to ensure long lasting protection.

Hi,

This example is shown on oak timber. This type of finish is achieved by application of Active Stain on top of oak timber, flollowed by application of white hardwax-oil on top - buffed in and sealed with another clear coat of oil on top.

Some active stains are available from Woca (Active stain 1, 2, 3 and 4) and white oils are available from Osmo, Fiddes, Treatex (and other brands). 

The process of active stain is slow - takes about a day and oils are slow-drying. It may be worth looking for a pre-finished product with similar appearance, instead of starting from scratch on bare wood.

Hope this helps.

You can achieve a durable whitewashed effect on your engineered wood flooring with both lacquers and oil-based products if you choose the right product and apply it properly. The choice of lacquer or oil will define the final appearance.

Achieving whitewash effect with lacquer will result in a more uniform colour. This is done by either by mixing a white colourant with a clear lacquer / primer, use ready-mixed primer, or by applying white stain on the sanded floors, followed by the application of multiple coats of clear floor lacquer on top. For our floor restoration projects where staining to whitewashed finish is required, we use mainly white pigmented primers by Bona or Junckers.

Oil-based products have ready-mixed stains and colours in various shades of white - available from all major brands - Osmo, Blanchon, Woka, Loba, Bona, Rubio Monocoat, Treatex and more. Hardwax-oils colours create more prominent grain than lacquers - main difference between the two finishes. Clear coat on top is required after the application of the colour, except for Rubio, which is a 1 coat system.

Solid oak restoration requires a careful consideration of the best applicable type of sealant. Once the flooring is sanded to a smooth finish, there are two options available – sealing it with either laqcuer or hardwax-oil. Both sealants offer different advantages and disadvantages and while we can recommend one or the other, it often comes to your personal choice.

Between the two, lacquer will give a better and longer lasting protection, without the hassle of re-coating and hardwax-oil, may give you more textured / natural appearance, however some areas with higher traffic will require re-oiling and waxing every couple of years.

Gap filling usually refers to a procedure part of the floor restoration process, which uses a mixture of clear resin and saw dust, collected from the initial sanding and is used to fill in the gaps between the floorboards or between the parquet blocks. It is a very common service that often goes along with floorboards restoration and parquet floor sanding services. Sometimes, bigger gaps appear between the wooden planks and they require the use of wooden strips to be filled. This is called strip filling.

Floorboards refitting and replacement is part of our regular floorboards repairs services. We work with local flooring reclamation yards and we can supply reclaimed or seasoned pine floorboards to replace your damaged planks. Pine comes in either yellow, red or orange colour and tends to change over time. Therefore, we will always try to supply the closest possible match to your existing floorboards to ensure a uniform appearance once the floors are sanded and sealed with hardwearing varnish.

While bamboo (as final product) is not exactly timber, it is possible to sand and varnish bamboo flooring. However, bamboo floor sanding needs to be done with extreme care and it requires a specific approach and highly skilful flooring technicians. We will not recommend sanding and varnishing bamboo flooring yourself.  Bamboo floor sealing, for example, requires the application of solvent based, rather than water-based sealants. Also, wood floor staining is not recommended on bamboo floors.

The short answer is lacquer. The timber of the original floorboards is pine - soft, porous wood, which is not ideal for a sealants, which rely on penetration. Hardwax-oil will leave a better protection on hardwoods and lacquer, which leaves surface coating layer is more universal and will provide better protection on any type of wood, including the original floorboards.

Sanding stairs and banisters is not an easy task and it requires a high level of skills and craftmanship. Most of the work involved is done manually and therefore it is very time consuming. We at FloorWorks would love to assist you with your stairs and banisters restoration as we have the required tools and the necessary skills and knowledge to bring their shine back. Stairs are usually exposed to higher levels of foot traffic, so hardwearing varnish is a recommended type of sealant.

It is perfectly fine to do staining on any solid wood areas, including wooden stairs. For our wooden stairs staining and stairs restoration projects, we use Morrells stains, which come in various shades and colours, which we apply on the sanded surface. This is then followed by the application of multiple layers of hard-wearing water-based wood floor varnish.