Advice on picking the right flooring finish

6 years ago

Are you struggling to choose the right flooring finish for your new solid wood floor? With so many options available it can be overwhelming and stressful trying to find the right one for your room – after all, a new floor is a long-term investment in your home and a decision you’ll have to live with for some time. Allow us to help you take the guess work out of floor shopping, with this guide on floor finishes and our expert advice on picking the right flooring finish for you.

Lacquered finish for Solid Wood

Pick a lacquered flooring finish for a protective, high resistance coating for your new floor – ideal if you plan to install it in part of your home where there’s likely to be a lot of traffic, like your hallway. It’s an extremely popular option due to its hard-wearing properties, and the lacquer also adds a smooth and glossy finish, making it look very stylish. If you want a low maintenance floor, this is also a great option as the lacquer finish makes it easy to wipe up spills, keep clean and wash quickly so that is looks great all the time.

Advice on picking the right flooring finish

Brushed and Lacquered

Similar to the lacquered finish, this solid wood flooring finish has all the benefits you would expect from a lacquered top layer, but before this thin protective resin layer is applied, the planks are brushed gently with a steel comb to add texture and a more natural appearance to the flooring. This also highlights the beautiful grain of the wood, so brushed and lacquered flooring ideal for larger rooms where you need the practicality of a low maintenance floor, but you still want to appreciate the beauty of it.

Brushed and Oiled

As we’ve just established, brushing your floor results in a stunning, authentic looking wooden floor, so some people don’t like to cover this over with a layer of lacquer. Instead, they choose an oiled floor finish which helps to keep the wood durable and protected from every day wear and tear, but also highlights the natural character of the wood. This technique is thousands of years old, and many customers who choose this finish do so because they appreciate the subtler sheen from the finished oiled floor – whereas a lacquered finish is much glossier.

Handscraped

Historically, floors had to be handscraped to remove old varnish before a new coat could be applied, and because this process results in a beautiful rippling pattern, lots of people want to recreate this look on their brand new floors. Despite the name, handscraped floors are no longer scraped by hand but done by machine, however because of the unique finish of this floor and the added manufacturing process required they tend to be the most expensive finish. For a floor with huge doses of unique character and charm, choose a handscraped finish – ideal for making a statement in a prominent area of your home.

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Advice on picking the right flooring finish

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