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The wood floor finish you choose plays an important part in the care & cleaning of your wood flooring. It also is crucial to its overall durability and beauty. There are many hard wood floor finishes available today. Although there are many qualities and variations which we will cover later, by far the most popular hardwood flooring finish today is a multicoated polyurethane with aluminum oxide.
In simple terms it is a compound that is used in one or more layers of a floor finish to make it more resistant to scratching. This finish is currently the industry standard for quality pre-finished wood flooring. Aluminum oxide is also becoming more available in site applied finishes as well.
Be sure you realize that just because the floor you are looking at says it has an aluminum oxide finish, does NOT make all aluminum oxide wood flooring finishes equal! The amount of aluminum oxide, the number of layers that have it, and where in the series of layers it is placed all play an important part in the overall performance of your wood floor. Be sure to do your homework, and study The flooring professor consumer flooring guides and you will do just fine!
This is a timeless battle that we certainly do not want to take definitive sides on, like most available options for wood flooring each has it's pros and cons. As a rule except for in circumstances where you want an extremely "custom floor" with logos, inlays, etc... or if you want a particular species, and/or color of wood floor finish that is unavailable in a quality pre-finished wood floor it is our opinion that you work with pre-finished wood flooring products.
Wax finishes are the wood floor finishes of years past, like our grandmothers used to have. They are still available and serve their purpose on rare occasions that the newest technology in finishes available just does not get the job done. These are often used in commercial settings where there is a maintenance staff that can regularly maintain them. Most consumers do not wish to do the old "wax and buff" routine like grandma did!
Oil wood floor finish is a rare breed and again has it's place. This is sometimes also referred to as hand rubbed oil finish as well. It is where the wood flooring is installed in an unfinished state is sanded in place and then a premium oil finish is applied (usually by hand) This is really an art to get it right, but the true finish masters can really make a wood floor finish knock your socks off!! Oil rubbed finishes give almost an instant patina to your wood floor, like it has always been there and many people are looking for that.
Again oil has it's pros and cons as a wood floor finish, it does require more attention in upkeep, and it definitely will be substantially more expensive than mainstream finishing methods. The most common use of this finish is when a "character" floor is desired.
As you can see, there are many wood floor finish options available today. We have touched on the basics of the most popular on this page, more in depth information is available in other areas of this site as well as in our wood floor finish section of our consumer flooring guides. In most cases the traditional polyurethane with aluminum oxide is the best choice, but it is IMPORTANT that you read and understand the differences in even those finishes before you buy! And don't forget (because this is a biggie we see every day) Do NOT get caught in that age old trap of buying a warranty! Do your homework with us and you will make the right choice and end up with a quality floor that you can enjoy for years to come!!
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