Oil or Varnish on Wooden Floor + Advice

gravitytolls

Hi,

Have sanded an old wooden floor with a belt sander, but can't get the edges clean of the stain and varnish. Tried a heat gun, whihc helped, but only with the removal of the varnish. Parts of the boards are quite pitted, and varnish and stain is trapped in there. How best to finish it off do you think? I don't expect it to look new, the rustic look is fine, but I want to be coating the boards with new stuff not coating old gunk.

Also, I'm thinking Danish oil. We've used it in our old house, on a new floor, and I loved it. We used varnish on another floor previously, and despite many coats, it quickly looked worn in high traffic areas, whereas the oil looked great till we moved out ~ probably still does.

Someone suggested Teak oil, which is certainly better on the pocket.

Anyhoo, any advice for the final finish to the floor and what we coat it with would be much appreciated.:D

DVardysShadow

I would be inclined to use paint stripper for the last bits and finish off by sanding manually with sand paper on a block of wood, using a piece of sheet metal to protect the skirting.

Varnish is a surface product and IMO a bad choice for applying colour - colour should go into the timber, hence use an oil

Hintza

OP I think you have highlighted it very well yourself.

Have a look at Woca and This Woca page

When we had our new floor put down I bought this, haven't used it yet I'm sorry to say.

The one thing you will want I guess is quick drying so think about that too.

cox377

http://www.sadolin.co.uk/professional/products/timbersflooring/pv67/index.php

Amazing stuff, expensive but well worth the money. I used it on my whole downstairs a year ago.

GT60

What about using yatch varnish, hard wearing and water proof?

gravitytolls

Yacht varnish is what we used, looked fab, but very quickly became drab!

cox377

PV67 will give the look and keep the look

Hintza

Am I the only one that thinks varnish on a home floor is really not very nice?

abankerbutnotafatcat

I used watered down white emulsion and matt varnish on top. It's in low traffic areas and still looks great after 10+ years. I just didn't want the pine boards turning that orangey colour in the sun.

Ionkontrol

I used Osmo Polyx Oil. Looks great.

Mayflower10cat

Neigbours have had the same problem when they sanded their wooden floors to redo the finish - big industrial sander left several inches untouched by the skirtings. They just used a small orbital hand-held sander and it took them ages and ages to do. There is a slight 'join' even with their best efforts, so this must be quite a common problem! They varnished their floors, we used http://www.ronseal.co.uk/products/diamond-hard-floor-wax and three years on it still looks good.