Special
Coloured oil and coloured hard wax oil
TAKING ACCOUNT OF THE DETAILS TIPS & TRICKS FOR MAINTAINING WOODEN FLOORS TREATED WITH COLOURED OIL OR COLOURED HARD WAX OIL In the previous edition we considered at length the treatment of a wooden floor with oil and with hard wax oil. In the main, we considered firstly when you use (coloured) oil and secondly (coloured) hard wax. In this edition we consider at length the maintenance of floors finished with those oils. Before you can speak of maintenance, you need to realise how oil and hard wax tackle the wood. The rule of thumb here is that you yourself should be aware that oil saturates the wood and therefore makes it waterproof, but that hard wax does a little bit more. Indeed, hard wax also fills open pores. Filling open pores gives you a floor which both attracts less dirt and is easier to clean. With general maintenance, there is little difference, if any. For instance, not only can you vacuum clean a parquet floor, but also you can mop it using not too much water. You need to work carefully to avoid scratches and distinguish between oiled and varnished parquet to avoid stains and damage.
Oiled parquet A general rule of thumb with oiled parquet is that for cleaning it is essential not to use clean water. That might sound strange, but clean water tends to affect the protective coat of oil in the parquet and, as a result, this may give rise to stubborn stains in the parquet. The trick is to mix that water, which should be at room temperature, with a nutritional parquet soap and to make sure that your mop isn’t excessively wet. At the same time it is important to ensure sufficient air circulation so that the water can evaporate quickly and the wooden floor doesn’t have time to absorb it.
combination with a mopping detergent recommended for the type of floor used. Subsequently, it is important to apply maintenance oil two or three times per year. If there are signs of wear and tear or foot tracks, you should apply maintenance oil more frequently.
Varnished parquet There is a bigger difference between varnished parquet and both (coloured) oil and (coloured) hard wax oil. Indeed, you certainly can mop varnished parquet with clean water at room temperature, although we should add a note of caution. It is certainly advisable to add a little parquet cleaner to the water. Moreover, for extra protection and to maintain the colours, it’s best to apply a conditioner to varnished wood at least once per year. This fills in small scratches and prevents the floor from ‘peeling off’. Obviously, if we are talking about a newly laid floor, it is also best to apply a conditioner to the varnished parquet. Some more helpful advice for removing scratches: Avoid applying lacquer in patches to a parquet floor. The reason for that is quite obvious. It could result in a difference in colour from the rest of the wooden floor. That’s why it’s best to try to fill the scratches with a floor polish first.
What’s on the market ? Blanchon
Remember, too, that a wooden floor requires extra treatment with a conditioner immediately after the fitting and you should repeat that treatment at least once a year. First of all, you mop as we have explained and then you apply the conditioner without the addition of water. It’s best to do the latter with a micro-fibre cloth and then leave the floor to dry for six hours. One other point with oiled parquet: It is basically quite easy to remove scratches. To do that, you lightly sandpaper the damaged spot with a fine grain and then spray the floor. The latter gives the pores a chance to open, and then you fill them with oil. You then remove surplus oil with a micro-fibre cloth.
Hard wax parquet The procedure is largely the same for cleaning parquet treated with hard wax. Besides the standard cleaning for any floor, the big difference is that you can mop a floor finished with hard wax oil with more water than is usual for an ordinary (coloured) oil, but, obviously, without reducing the floor to a mound of ‘suds’! Here, too, you mop in
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The French producer Blanchon is launching ‘Huile Environnement Blanchon’ (oil with respect for the environment) on the market. They have told us from France that this is a real technical revolution in the field of applying oil to parquet. ‘Huile Environnement’ is a fast-drying and non-gloss impregnation which is used to protect parquet, floors,
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