{"id":1613,"date":"2014-09-02T11:15:42","date_gmt":"2014-09-02T10:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/?p=1613"},"modified":"2024-03-14T14:28:35","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T14:28:35","slug":"oak-floor-maintenance-top-tips-stunning-finish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/oak-floor-maintenance-top-tips-stunning-finish\/","title":{"rendered":"Oak Floor Maintenance – Top Tips for Finishing Oak"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oak floors are hugely popular, no surprise when the wood is so beautiful, durable and easy to work with. This week we thought it’d be useful\u00a0to take a look at \n\nOak floor maintenance<\/a>,\u00a0exploring how to tackle warped boards, fill gaps and finishing Oak\u00a0flooring to gleaming perfection.<\/p>\n

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How to maintain an Oak floor<\/h2>\n

Before we look at the real thing, here’s\u00a0some information about Oak laminate flooring, a product with an 8mm or so ‘skin’ of Oak glued to a core of HDF, AKA High Density Fibreboard. It’s Oak… but at the same time it isn’t.<\/p>\n

About Oak laminate flooring<\/h3>\n

Oak laminate is made using\u00a0advanced DPL (Direct Pressure method) technology, where the various layers are assembled first then squashed together into the right position. The best quality laminate flooring looks so good it’s hard to tell the difference between it and\u00a0100% Oak boards.<\/p>\n

Laminates are\u00a0scratch and mark-resistant, warm, durable and very easy to maintain. There’s \n\nan excellent guide on the UK Flooring Direct website<\/a>.\u00a0Some Oak laminates are guaranteed for as long as 25 years, and occasionally there’s a lifetime guarantee. But like all wood products, it’s all down to good ongoing maintenance.<\/p>\n

One very important thing to remember: before you do anything at all to your Oak flooring, find out whether it’s laminate or solid wood. Over sanding can potentially ruin laminate finishes.\u00a0Solid wood floors, on the other hand, respond beautifully to sanding.<\/p>\n

Plastic Laminate Flooring v Engineered Oak Laminate Flooring<\/h3>\n

Which type of laminate flooring do you have, real wood or plastic? Plastic or photographic laminate floors are also popular. Their quality varies greatly with the cheapest versions being\u00a0nothing more than a photographic image of wood glued and then sealed onto a core or base, usually made of compressed paper or wood fibreboard.<\/p>\n

At the other end of the spectrum, you have high quality synthetic wood, made from very hard and durable plastic coatings. These are quality graded and tend to be anything from 0.5mm to 2mm thick. The advantage of plastic laminate flooring is it’s completely waterproof, making it perfect for use in bathrooms and other high moisture areas. The disadvantage of plastic laminates is that although minor scratches, dents and gouges can be repaired with a wax filler stick, much the same as a wood repair, they can’t\u00a0be sanded and refinished like a solid Oak or an engineered Oak floor can.<\/p>\n

About re-finishing a solid Oak floor<\/h3>\n

Oak flooring maintenance and refinishing can be hard work. But if you’re fortunate enough to have a smart, real Oak floor, it’s the only real way to return it to its original glory. So gird\u00a0your loins and prepare for the long haul! Here’s how…<\/p>\n

Getting rid of curling and warping<\/strong><\/p>\n

If your floor has been wet and dried several times, or is very old, it might have warped or curled. No problem – solid oak planks are almost always\u00a0thick enough to take a really good, thorough, aggressive sanding to mitigate the effects of warping and curling. Be confident, have courage and sand ’til it’s suitably flat.<\/p>\n

If it’s severely wonky, you can make diagonal passes with\u00a0the drum sander, using a very coarse paper, until the levels look right.\u00a0Just bear in mind that one of the charms of real wood is its natural finish. If you want smooth 100% perfection, you might\u00a0be better off choosing\u00a0a laminate in the first place.<\/p>\n

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Filling gaps in a wooden floor<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can use Oak dust collected from sanding to fill the gaps in your floor. You mix the\u00a0fine dust generated during the floor sanding process with a wood filler gel to create\u00a0a paste, which you work into\u00a0the gaps a bit like grouting tiles.\u00a0Here’s a video showing you how…<\/p>\n