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kelvance_gw

Woca oil? hand finish?

kelvance
12 years ago

Hi, we are considering unfinished hardwood for our new home , leaning towards Woca danish oil. I have been getting some conflicting information on the finishing and matinence of these oil finished floors. Some say you need a buffer with the special pads, have to coat twice, you two coats of maintence paste and polish. Now by no means do I know much about flooring, but can we not just spread the oil on with a paint roller and rags? I mean there was no buffers or polishers in the old days, and you can do this with a countertop, so why couldnt we finish our floors this way? I talked to one man from a vintage lumber company and he said yes you could def do this it would just take alot longer than with a buffer, and you dont have to reoil the floors every year like some say, just clean it twice a year with the Woca floor cleaner, and reoil in any places thats needed. Any advice or opinins would be greatly appreciated.

Comments (5)

  • SBJOE
    12 years ago

    I am interested to. There was a salesman in Santa Barbara that had a store with these types of wood floors. Do you have any online sources for information? I am interested in a wax/oil finish to go over radiant heat.

  • chaparral
    12 years ago

    I am in the process of exploring this as well. We are putting in some mixed red/white oak flooring in one area and reclaimed oak flooring in another. I like the finish of oiled floors -- no plastic film like (our old) polyurethane finish.

    In this style of finish their seem to be too camps--

    1) penetrating oil-- Woca and Loba Impact Oil are examples of this
    2) wax/oil--Osmo and Rubio Monocoat are examples of this

    I spoke with the Woca rep who said that an advantage of a penetrating oil finish is that it doesn't leave a film on the top, and is less susceptible to "water spotting" than wax/oil.

    I spoke with a mill who make reclaimed flooring and they seem to have a preference for wax oils.

    These products have color options.

    I would recommend you buy some samples online in small bottles and try it on some scraps of wood or maybe in a closet to see what you think.

    I bought my Woca samples from:
    https://www.wocadirect.com/

    And my Osmo samples from:
    http://worldclasssupply.com/store/

    I bought Rubio Monocoat samples from a local supplier.

    There are lots of images and opinions on various flooring forums. Here are a few:

    At the moment I am leaning towards Woca, in part because I prefer the look without the waxy finish of the Osmo, and in part because our installer has used Woca before.

    Happy Osmo user:
    http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0312185413422.html

    Woca FAQ:
    http://www.floorsofmarin.com/woca_oil.html

    It's important that whatever product you use, to make sure the installer is either familiar with it or has support from a manufacturer's rep. You can call the US distributor's office for any of these products and others and they will let you know who the rep is in your area. Your rep can then put you in touch with installers or talk with your installer. The different products have somewhat different installation methods.

    Hope this helps, and that I'm reasonably on target.

  • angelight
    12 years ago

    I used the Woca on our unifinshed hardwood after spending literally hundreds of dollars on samples such as Osmo etc.
    I wouldn't have anything else for ease of application etc. I'm a senior and did it all myself after my husband installed the white oak flooring. I did use a Oreck buffer, but hand applied the edges/corners.
    I highly recommend the Woca products and maintaining it is a piece of cake.
    Naturally, this is one woman's opinion, but I LOVE it!
    :)

  • kelvance
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    angellight, thank you for your response, I am so glad to talk to someone who has used/applied this. Could you give me some detailed information in how exactly you applied this? Like, after you sanded the floors, how did you clean, them, how many times did you apply the woca finish? did you use the recommended paste? and what do use to maintain the floors? Honestly i have no idea how to finish flooring, we are building a home with 2400 sq ft of hardwood, with two young children. I don't mind hard work I have just never did this before, thank you for your response, Kelli

  • chaparral
    12 years ago

    I spent the last couple days applying Woca samples to oak flooring scraps. Even tried their lye-based pre-treatments on a couple. The walnut is really gorgeous but probably too dark for our application. Right now we're leaning towards the castle gray.

    angelight, did you use any of the Woca colors?