What is the difference between an oiled and a lacquered finish for wood floors?
An oiled finish is comprised of solid, hard wax or UV oils, which are in general made of natural oils such as vegetable oils and waxes. These oils will nourish, seal and protect your floor. The oils saturate your floor, putting lost moisture that could cause shrinkage back in the wood floor, and give your wood a very natural look and feel. Oiled floors are hard wearing, but if you do get any scratches or marks on your floor they are very easy to spot repair by lightly buffing and applying a coat of maintenance oil to the damaged area. Oiled floors must be cleaned with only specific products as cleaning them with standard cleaning products can discolour and wash away the oil. They also need to be treated with specific maintenance oil every six to twelve months to keep the wood nourished and moisturised., Under floor heating dries out wood faster than usual, so if you have underfloor heating we recommend maintenance oiling your floor more frequently, especially before the winter period.A lacquered or varnished finish leaves a protective coating that feels almost like plastic on wood. It requires less maintenance than an oiled finish, and can just be cleaned and polished your floor when required. It works well with underfloor heating as the moisture is locked into the board by the lacquer which stops your floor from drying out. Lacquer can sometimes look and feel synthetic: the coating sits on the surface, reflects light and is extremely smooth to the touch. Once the lacquer is damaged or broken you cannot spot fix it and the entire area must be sanded and resealed. Trying to spot fix will end up in visible patches across the floor.