If you are in the market for a new wood floor and haven’t heard about oiled wood floors yet, it is time to take a serious look at the options. You can be assured that this new trend is already here and it will be here to stay. Today we want to share our own experience with UV-cured oil floors (baked-in oil floor).
Homeowners have started accepting the true wood look and feel of UV-cured oil floors. It comes as no surprise to many in the industry as many home and décor magazines have put them into the spotlight. They also embrace the features, such as finish penetrating into the wood, eco-friendliness, repair-ability including many successful commercial applications. However, extra maintenance has been the number one concern for oil finished hardwoods. The maintenance is simple but different than maintaining the more common urethane finished hardwoods.
Restoring The Floors
We recently renovated our showroom. First, we removed and disposed of all the original wood floors besides a small section of one hundred square feet. This section was part of the original floor installed in 2006 before oil finish floors became popular. After years of commercial traffic, this flooring was looking a little beat up.
Since we knew this flooring was originally finished using WOCA Master Oil, we decided to do an experiment hoping to rejuvenate the floor using Wood Cleaner and Master Oil.
First, we cleaned the floor with diluted WOCA Wood Cleaner and let it sit dry for 2 hours. Remember to use a damp mop and work out of 2 buckets; one with diluted wood cleaner, the other with lukewarm water.
Next, buff Master Oil Natural on it using a white buff pad, then a polishing cloth. The polishing cloth removes the excess oil with its soft lint-free cotton material. After the oil was applied, this floor looked as good as new. The deeper scratches which made indentations into the wood is still visible, however, small scratches have all vanished like magic.
Since then we were able to use the same floor at local trade shows as our booth flooring to showcase what magic we can do to an old floor! Oiled floors are best maintained when using a cotton mop instead of a microfiber mop. Here is a step by step summary on how to maintain your oiled floor using WOCA products.