Lisa Bort I would love to know more about your experience with Du Chateau--which floor you ordered and by chance where you live. We are currently waiting on floors from them and I am a bit concerned now due to your recent experience. Supposedly our floor is in customs but the floor is holding up our project timeline for completion and I don't want to wait indefinitely. I would love to talk further if you would contact me at jlgear@verizon.net thanks Jennifer

Thanks Natalie A. I loved your floors and the slate color you chose by Rubio Monocoat--it does look very warm brown to me vs grey which is what I would think a slate color would be. I had decided on Du Chateau as they did have something I liked similar but due to a recent comment and some delays I am rethinking that decision. I have my contractor checking on white oak sources and rubio monocoat as it got some great online reviews.

@jenlgear,

Overall DuChateau is a great company to work with. IMO, they are one of the most innovative brands for EU oiled and hard waxed wide plank floors. They are going through some changes currently. The most prominent one is that you don't have to apply the last coat of oil on their floor any more after installation and before use. Please do check how soon they can ship out your order with the store you worked with. We have noticed some delay on delivery lately. Wishing you a smooth project!

Lisa, we are currently having a very large problem with Duchateau as well. And I have contacted a lawyer. Your story sounds similar to ours, would you mind contacting me at Whitneynmeyer@gmail.com? I am so sorry to hear about this and maybe we can get these issues resolved better together?

Thanks!

@jenlgear Let me find the name & contact info where our floors came from. It is somewhere in Ohio.

And yes, Jen, it is a warm brown with a hint of grey. They are so inviting. I loved walking on them barefoot.

@Natalie A Thanks! Did you by chance having your flooring person do any type of precolor underneath the rubio monocoat slate grey or just the slate grey directly on the white oak? My contractor did a sample and it looks washed out and no where near the rich warm brown of your floors from the photos which I loved. Would love a few more photos closeup if you have the time so he can see the color better if you would send to jlgear@verizon.net.

@jenlgear I just emailed you. I gave you my number - text me if you have questions.

Jen, if I can find a sample, I will cut off a piece & mail it to you. My storage unit is kind of crazy full but I can pop my head in this week & see if I can locate it.

I have the duchateau floors and I think they are beautiful but they are a disaster in my kitchen- every time something falls on the floor tbstains and when I tried to clean them like the website says it makes white spots on the floor or doesn't even work. I am in contact with someone to come professionally clean them to see if that works ($1000 later). I was actually wondering what you all thought about make them more user friendly and how to do that?

Also Lisa and Whitney, I agree duchateau does not have good customer service at all-

Well this is a long thread and I read it all so I'm jumping in with my experiences. OIl-finished floors- love the idea of them. We got GreenWorld Industries oil-finished engineered hickory (sold at our local "green" flooring store). I think they were $7 something/sq ft + install costs. Was not cheap to do my little townhouse and right away there were issues with certain boards. Though the surface is smooth, they get splinters on the sides of the planks very easily. If you spill a cup of water or have a potty accident (I have two young children that I stay home with)- even though I am RIGHT THERE to clean it up immediately, we have had several boards ruined by spilled water. They swell, we have horizontal cracks and splits, then they feel rough ever after. I had an evaluation done after complaining and they basically dismissed all of this as being a humidity issue even though my house was shown to be in the proper range when they came and did the evaluation. We live in a dry climate, not a moist one, FYI. So really I am not happy with them. But they are engineered and DH thinks that's a big part of the problem.

I always try to go the most natural non-toxic route, so as we are building our dream home we are again considering oil-finished wood floors. I am so so worried about them being in our kitchen and panicking over spilled liquids but for design reasons my husband will not budge on doing a separate floor in there. We found Hallmark Organic oil-finished floors in Tamarind Walnut and LOVED the distressed surface and uneven board widths, which all have different texture marks but still feels smooth and not rough/splintery on your skin as we don't wear shoes inside (the DuChateau and others too rough feeling for me). Most of all it's real wood and it looks and feels like that instead of the way engineered woods often feel. We decided to go with that but then I looked up the MSDS on the NuOil finish they use and was horrified. It was not a natural plant-based oil as I had been told, it is mostly petrochemicals and has some serious warnings about inhalation, skin contact, etc. The weird thing is they expect you to re-coat the surface of your floor every 6 months or so with this stuff....which I just cannot even comprehend. The rep got back to me saying it's safe when dry and is only hazardous when wet. On Amazon, the bottles of it are listed as "natural, organic, and VOC free". huh? I cannot understand it being VOC free with the warnings I read. I looked for VOC content on the MSDS but I think only saw it listed as less than 498 g/l maximum. The MSDS is hard to interpret though so might be missing something. Wondering if anyone has used this and what your thoughts are?

We've been so careful with other materials I just don't think I want something like that around my kids. I'm considering site-finish with the Rubio Monocoat on unfinished boards but I don't think we can find that lovely scraping and distressing we liked so much. Not sure what to do and definitely out of time to pick something at this point.

I have a sample of the DuChateau floor and a sample of Greenworld Industries floor. I was trying to decide between the two and now after reading these posts I'm not so sure about either. I've been looking since October. My sample of the Greenworld Industries floor is doing exactly what bdrhome describes . . . splintering on the sides of the planks. I visited Greenworld Industries myself (they are 10 minutes from my house) and they told me it's because when the samples arrive from China they are dried out and splinter. I wasn't so sure I believed that.

Now I'm curious about Castle Comb, as well. Anyone have any experience with these floors?

I just found this post from Nov. 2016:

1. I just had my flooring delivered. Castle Combe West End Collection,
   Whitehall color (Euro White Oak). Flooring does NOT look like the
   pictures on USFloors.com
   website. I completely understand that no two boards ever will look
   identical, but I bought this based on the "whole floor" picture as well
   as close up pics. What arrived is pretty, but not the finer/premium
   boards I was led to believe I was getting from the sample and pictures.
   They are pretty knotty and the appearance is far more rustic than
   expected. More importantly, they have a very "whitewashed" appearance
   when looking down on them. In fact, boards in front of the sliding door
   look washed out and very light already. The quality of boards is very
   realistic since some of the knots are actually indented, but be assured
   you might not get what you think you ordered. Same true of many floors
   though. Haven't called USFloors to see what I can do. Oil finish...
   maybe some hope. Didn't realize they were made in China either!

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November 30, 2016 at 11:00AM

If you want an oil finished product made right in Michigan, look at http://www.launstein.com/ . They aren't cheap, but they are beautiful and handcrafted in the USA.

I'll check it out. Thanks.

Has anyone found a line not using the oil finish but it maintains the natural non-glossy look? I know some are doing aluminum oxide but a dealer told me that was just poly with an extra coating on it, not sure if that's accurate or not. Maybe some kind of matte polyurethane finish would be better and less worrisome. Oh but the scrape marks....my parents already have them allover their new floors. Even from people moving appliances in and such...

I know of oil finished floors and aluminum oxide floors as far as engineered flooring goes. I don't really care for the plastic looking finish of the aluminum oxide floors which over time, I hear start looking dull due to scratches. I've been looking since October and I've found 3 floors I like. When I got ready to order, each of the 3 had been discontinued. So I've had a long time to learn about engineered floors. The more I learn, the more questions I have. It's been a frustrating process because it seems that I find something I kinda like and then learn it's not a good product . . . such as the comments above about the DuChateau and Greenworld. I'm about ready to say forget it and just put carpet down.

I have been searching for months as well. LM Flooring makes a line called St. Laurent. They have a polyurethane matte finish. There is a model home in Prosper TX that has these floors. I have heard rave reviews and very few complaints about these floors. They are 7 1/4 inch wide plank. I prefer the wider 10 inch plank of the Castle Combe Grande floors... but have found no good reviews... they are also oil finished. Here are some pictures of the LM Flooring color is Castellon.

Our floors are going in today on our new house. We will be going with the Rubio Monocoat again. We lived with those floors for 3 years & they were phenomenal. 7" white oak with a micro bevel edge.

This will be our color (same as before):

Wow, those floors are beautiful! We're also going to go with Rubio Monocoat. I'd encourage people to try and find a local mill in their area, if possible. We also went to our local flooring stores and were a bit depressed nad overwhelmed by the corporate options. All these multi-national companies with logs from one place milled in another place and then shipped to China for finishing before being shipped back here. Customer service issues, and high prices. Blech!

We did some searching and found a couple of local mils in our area that had amazing products at very competitive prices. Transparent supply chains and lots of info and options for finishing. We're going with a 1x6 wide plank floor in our local douglas fir, which will just have a final sand on site and then the monocoat. We're SO looking forward to living with them. They should darken with a lovely patina over time and be maintainable for decades.

Rhonda, I have looked at the LM St. Laurent line. I had considered this floor in the Windsor color but my floor guy tells this floor is overpriced for what you get. I do prefer a thicker veneer layer than this LM product offers. The more I look and the more I research, the more confused I seem to become. Wish I could do a solid floor but I'm on a slab in Houston so not a great idea.

Rhonda, have you seen bad reviews on the Castle Comb product?

We just installed wide-board pine, in our second floor this summer (see pic). The wood seasoned inside for 6mos, and during that time I did 3-4 coats of tung oil. I chose to tung oil, because our first floor is cherry with a poly finish. As hard as this wood is, it shows every scratch. We have a dog, cat, 10yrold boy and lots of inside/outside activity. I wanted to be able to refurbish a floor with minimal effort and knowing that scratches are gonna happen, I wanted a floor that would "hide" them fairly easily. So far any scratches that shows up on the pine, I just buff out with some Tung oil and they pretty much disappear. Granted the second floor doesn't get the hard traffic our first floor does, but the oiled maintenance is turning out to be its best feature. Not to mention it still looks really awesome. I am really happy.

Very nice floor. Which tung oil product do you use?

I used Hopes 100% pure tung oil. In retrospect, I probably should have cut it with solvents first to allow it to soak in more, but I didn't. The first coat soaked in nicely, with minimal wipe off and took a day to dry. but each consecutive coat had more and more wipe off, more days of dry time. I buffed after each wipe off and sanded between each coat. The last coat took 4 days to dry. This was a labor of love, otherwise I would have really minded that it took 8mos to get my floor in! Plus it really felt like my expensive tung oil was going to waste with all the wipe off. But I did a "stain" test on a sample board with water, and red wine, left it on for about half hour. Wiped off clean with no marks. I just bought a Disco floor polisher attachment for my sebo vacuum, and cant wait to see how it buffs out these floors and plus our well-worn and scratched polyed cherry on the first floor. I'm thinking the pine long term floor maintenance just got a whole lot easier with this oil and the buffer.

Also wanted to say that we bought this floor from a local mill thru a local flooring company. Our contractor hemmed and hawed about potential poor grade, and pushed for going with a larger known company such as Carlisle. But I relayed my concerns onto the mill and even sent them pictures of what was acceptable for knot size etc, etc. I did shop around, the mill was definately the cheapest and the riskiest (Carlisle the priciest, but best reputation). My contractor was sweating bullets before the install, but when the boards came in he was pleasantly surprised, and now he loves the floor, and probably found a new source for his clients. In all a happy ending!

Regarding Du Chateau colors. Each batch will have a difference in color. You need to get several samples from different batches from your Du Chateau rep, (not the local store) and decide which one you like and order from only that batch. This is what I did and I am very happy!

Problem with all prefinished samples is they may have been sitting on store displays for a year and more. They will change color. Some more than others.

Ken Fisher

3/4 Inch Unfinished Engineered Hardwood

Alexandra Altman, our DuChateau floors are a complete mess! We ordered the smoked version. And upon trying to wipe up a bit of mud off the floor with just a soft rag and some water, the color CAME OUT of the wood! White spots everywhere. I was afraid to mop. I was being told that it was not the floor but user error. So I did a little experiment. I took a soft dry rag and my finger and rubbed as hard as I could and sure enough, white spot. Clearly defective floors. DuChateau finally admitted perhaps a finishing step had been missed at the factory. But by now 2000+ sq feet were installed, two staircases stained to match and all baseboard and custom shoe mold installed.

So, they offered to oil it and buff it professionally. Complete wreck. It was blotchy everywhere and there footprints and tire tracks throughout the house. That is when I spoke with a lawyer. DuChateau did not want to put anymore effort into making it right and we were very unhappy with what we had. It's going to cost us well over 40k to replace these floors. We ended up settling for a different company to come oil our floors with a two part oil that I believe is called Rubio as well as a full refund of all the flooring.

The Rubio oil is nice but after one month of actually living here, the floors are dry and blotchy in high traffic areas and we are only allowed to use water and vinegar to clean. I'm not impressed. DuChateau is an awful company to work with and we will never recommend them to anyone.

Bridget, which floor did you end up using? And, are you happy with it? Thanks!

As someone pointed out above, different floors described as "oiled" have different types of finish chemistry. Wood finish products have always been hyped and mislabeled.

There are 2 true oils used in wood finishing, linseed oil and tung oil. Many (if not most) products labeled "oil" are not really oils, or contain only partly oil. True oils take forever to dry, as one poster above described using pure tung oil. So, these oils are usually "polymerized" or contain dryers. Tung oil has good water resistance. Linseed oil, by far more prevalent, has poor water resistance. So, "oil" finishes are usually modified with dryers or polymerized, and often mixed with resins (such as urethane) to improve protection.

The protectiveness of the wood finish to slow water vapor transmission (important for limiting warping, cupping, shrinking, splitting) and liquid water penetration depends mostly on THICKNESS of the finish layer. Polyurethane resin is tough and scratch resistant, by far the most protective for a floor (other than epoxy), which is why many floors have multiple layers of polyurethane building up a thick film. It's also highly chemical- and acid-resistant.

So if you buy an "oiled" (i.e., thin finish) floor, how can you predict how it will hold up? Nobody except the finish manufacturers know the chemistry of these "oil" finishes, and they're not telling. The only thing you can do is get a sample and test it. Apply puddles of water, oil, lemonade (for acid resistance), red wine, etc. See how long it takes for each substance to mar the finish. Scrape shoes, fingernails, etc. across. Make a deep scratch and see if you can touch up the finish.

If your "oil" finish holds up for hours to all the liquids, even acids, it's probably a mixture of resin (urethane) and maybe a little oil, probably polymerized or "modified."

A matte urethane finish should be more protective than a true oil finish and look more natural than a thick shiny finish. To me, it's probably a good compromise choice between the desired look and performance. The matte urethane achieves the matte sheen by adding silica, so it will not be as clear or pop the grain like a true oil.

To Whitney - the poster who was told to clean with vinegar: DON'T. Whoever told you this was wrong. Even with a urethane finish's good acid resistance, ALL finishes will be harmed by low pH such as vinegar. In addition, most soils on floors have an oily, greasy component, and vinegar does nothing to remove greasy soils. It's water-based, and oil and water do not mix. So, vinegar cannot remove the greasy soils and yet over time will surely damage your finish. Lose-lose. Microfiber is your best bet. I would occasionally use a diluted surfactant made for wood floors such as Bona. Of course, anything that can remove greasy soils from floors will probably also remove a little of a true oil/wax finish (that Rubio Monocoat might be).

To the poster concerned about toxicity/VOCs: there really isn't any finish chemistry free of toxicity when wet or curing, except possibly the 100% pure tung oil finish that one poster above used. But pure tung oil takes forever to dry/cure. It should be mixed with a solvent to promote penetration and reasonable dry times. The solvent will evaporate, releasing VOCs in the process. Some companies sell "plant-based" solvents, but petrochemical solvents are also plant-based (petrochemicals are plants that have been "processed" by nature into crude oil, then are further processed to separate them into their different components). Whether solvents are extracted from orange peels, soybeans, or crude oil, they are chemically similar. ALL finishes are safe after they are cured, so a prefinished floor is best for your site. The toxicity is shifted to the factory where it's finished, and/or the factories where the finish itself is manufactured.

thank you for the great info andersons21

You don't seem to dislike Rubio Monocoat as much as the others, I think, so that's a positive since that's what I've chosen to use. I do appreciate all the information you took the time to share.

Has anyone had experience removing stains from Hallmark Alta Vista? I have used the NuOil cleaner but cannot remove unknown stains near the sink and stove.

Natalie, if you are still on this thread, did you ever share where the floor was purchased? They are lovely! Sorry if I missed it.

I have Castle Combe Cotswold color 7 1/2 inch wide plank floors. They were installed 5 months ago. Immediately before even moving in on the floors, we got a white spot in the wood. The installer blamed us. Now that we live in the house there are 5-6 more white spots. These range from 3 to 8 inch in diameter spots. I've only used the manufacturer recommended cleaning products and nothing gets the spots out.

***can anyone help me figure out what we might be doing to cause the spots??The floors are in our living room and don't have food or water and only light traffic. Occasionally someone may wear shoes.

***any tips or ideas on how to get these water spots out??

They remind me of water rings on a waxed fine or antique furniture.

I've been searching for engineered wood flooring with a plant-based oil finish that is made in the USA from USA FSC wood. Is there such a thing? I sure have not found it. Sometimes when asking companies questions about where the wood comes from they act like I just asked them something deeply personal like what sort of underwear are they wearing! Sometimes I have to ask four or five times and still do not get a straight answer. The search is driving me nuts.

Hi Miranda, I guess I never updated with the info on our floors, I am sorry! I’ve used these floors 2x & they are awesome.

Here it is:

https://grafbro.com/

Has anyone used PG hardwood flooring out of Canada? Thinking of using there pre oiled flooring on main floor. Also, what about fading-is it easier to blend with re-oiling the faded area?

The EPA listed urethane as an respiratory irritant and a source of indoor air pollution. Extensive testing went into that determination. I'll take spots and having to re-oil. Also, I've seen urethane crinkle in areas where the sun hits it. Actually saw that in a store selling flooring! No thanks. Would love to do Swedish soap finishing, but I think that would be too dry for the arid climate where I live.

Hi all. This is all amazing info. So far the only floor I love is DuChateau riverstone- Danube. I’m worried though about the upkeep and realistically doing it. Does any one have have great polyurethane’d options that are similar in look and color?

Look at Craft Floors. They are stunning.

My two story farmhouse in mid Michigan had wood floors in it when I purchased it. unfortunately all but two rooms were destroyed by previous flooring layers. I would like to install 2 1/4 wood floors unfinished. Then finish them with oil I think. I would like the opinion of this well informed group on the best product to use as well as if the picture below looks like oiled pine or maple or it's it stained. The picture is of the remaining floor. The white spots is from my poor drywaller.

Tung-oiled pine flooring update. It's been a year since my last post in this thread, and a year and a half from the floor install, so I thought I would post an update. Some backstory: These pine wide-boards were sawn at a local mill, kiln dried and I think indoors for abt a year before we got it. The boards sat in our house for 6 months before actual install. During that time, I sanded each board and applied and buffed in 4 coats of Hope's Pure Tung Oil. They were installed on our second floor, all bedrooms. Once installed, I buffed in one more coat of tung oil.

Today. I am very pleased with how the tung-oil is protecting the floor, and how the floor is holding up. Not seeing much gap between boards, and any accidental spills are not leaving any stains, but I do get to them fairly fast. For clean up, we vacuum and when needed, use damp rag and elbow grease for any scuffs, or marks (dog paws), etc. I occasionally buff out scratches with tung oil (we have a dog and 11yo boy). Since the floor has gone thru one dry winter, this summer I plan buff in another coat of tung oil for more durability. Because it is pine, we do not allow shoe traffic on the second floor or food, but that rule was same when the flooring was carpeted.

I love this floor! The patina is becoming quite lovely, it has been really easy to keep. I expect the floor to age gracefully and develop more character as the years go on. I do not regret going the all-natural route with using only the tung oil.

Have Duchateau antlier burnt oak, beautiful product but the company is horrible to deal with, 10% of the boards were defective which they agree, getting them to replace is a nightmare.

bdrhome, what flooring did you end up choosing?

We have pre oiled maple floors for 4 years. We are very disapointed in the results. It is high maintenance and had to reoiled because marks would appear easily (when walking in socks, child sirtting on floor to play, when wiping a spot, you see where a cloth was passed on the floor to wipe a spot etc ) ...the floor nevers looks clean....we did every thing the manufacture told us but with no good results.....I do not recomend oiled floors and we do regret buying that type of wood floor

We have DuChateau wood floors, the Vintage Remains European Oak collection in Burnt Rafter. We have recently come to realize that our builder did not follow through with maintenance and oil the floors yearly during the 3 years our house was a model home. Within 2 or 3 months of moving in we started dealing with boards appearing dry and splinters all through the house. Friends, family and even those who have come to work on our home have all experienced deep splinters. Expecting DuChateau to come out very soon to follow up on this issue. Would love to hear from anyone else with a similar issue.

We used American walnut - solid wood- locally milled and - this is very important for us in Colorado- kiln dried and conditioned to be in a dry climate. Part of my issue before I think was I bought wood floors from Texas and put them in in CO. Even though the installer waited the requisite amount of time and tested the humidity levels in the wood before putting them in, the engineered wood in the old house did not hold up. I think if you are going to do oil-finish you should stick with solid wood and make sure it's coming from nearby. We finished with Rubio Monocoat and are happy with the results. The area under the dining table gets all oil-blotchy from my daughter dropping foods but that's easy to wipe down and repair. We have not had any damage from accidental spills though we've had some scratches but nothing that can't be mended with sandpaper or oil. It's a very soft warm look and perfect for our home.