Following are steps for a hardening oil finish.
Maintenance of linseed oil finished floors.
Requirements vary depending on the traffic and the finish but oil finished floors do require in addition to routine maintenance re oiling typically every two to three years for a residential job.
Most use linseed or tung oil or a combination of the two as a base but soy sunflower china wood safflower hemp and other oils are also used.
How to finish a floor with pure tung oil tutorial.
A wood floor finished with woca oil is resistant even to excessive wear and most liquid spills.
Linseed oil is one of the more common choices but because oils are a less common choice for flooring finishes you may be uncertain about how to best care for your linseed treated floors.
Cons of oil finished floors.
By not coating the wood or giving it a shiny appearance linseed oil presents the wood in a natural way while still giving it the darkened appearance of staining.
Standing water for any amount of time is not good for wood flooring no matter the finish type.
Linseed oil is not completely denatured so it can encourage rather than discourage mildew growth.
Important maintenance tips for oil finished wood floors.
Woca oil finished floor will last virtually forever and will never have to be sanded.
We d like an oil finish that doesn t keep making the floor look darker and darker every time it is touched up.
Combined with the more textured face treatments that are popular with oil finished floors even with repairs and years of use many believe that oil finished floors only get more beautiful with time.
Although the oil finish on a wood floor will bead up liquid spills and protect the wood from moisture it s important to wipe up spills right away.
I assume buffing would make the floor look a little more shiny closer to satin water based poyurethane finish whcih is the look we would like but we are seriouly considering going with the oil because of the ease of touch up.
At least by today s standards.
The primary downside of oil finished floors is the specific and critical maintenance they require.
Linseed oil is a penetrating finish on hardwood floors that does not form a sealant on the wood like polyurethane but instead acts as a stain that enhances the look of your floors.
Regular maintenance regularly vacuum or dust mop your floor to prevent sand or abrasive dust buildup that can scratch the floor finish.
Application for these finishes varies.
That said these finishes are not for everyone.
Linseed oil does not harden sufficiently to offer enough resistance to abrasion to be a suitable deck floor preservative.
The finish will tend to be a matte to satin.