Pre-Oiled floors
 
An oiled floor is an environmentally sound choice, as the penetrating oil is absorbed in the wood fibres and cells and hardens the floor to a considerable depth. It is surprisingly resistant to impact and, importantly, easy to maintain. Unless there is substantial mechanical damage (individual planks or sections can be substituted), the oiled floor will not require re-sanding to restore it to its original condition. This means that your floor can literally last a life-time.
 
Buffing and maintenance
 
Buffing: before using a newly-laid floor for the first time, it must be cleaned and buffed. Buffing makes the surface more hardwearing. This treatment can be carried out either by hand or with a polishing machine. Wait for a few days before cleaning machine-polished floors; floors polished by hand may only be cleaned after a week. Make certain that during this period the floor remains water-free since it is necessary for the oil to harden completely.
 
Refurbishment and maintenance
 
Oil-treated floors need to be treated with maintenance oil at regular intervals. This is annually for floors subject to normal wear and more frequently for floors subject to greater wear. Maintenance should ideally not be restricted to just those areas which are subject to the greatest wear, but should be treated on the whole surface.
 
Regular maintenance with soap (natural or white)
 
We recommend that during the first month you give your floor a soaping once a week. Natural soap, formulated for wooden floors, dissolved in water removes dirt and provides all floors with a protective surface. Use as little water as possible when cleaning the floor and remove water that has not dried after 5 minutes. Do not walk on the floor until it is completely dry (about 15 minutes). Subsequently, you can soap it as need arises, when the floor is dirty or has a dry look. In between, you can sweep or vacuum-clean the floor. Never clean your oiled floor with only clean water!
 
Stain and excessive soap residue

Special cleaners are available for particularly stubborn stains such as grease, red wine, blood, coffee stains etc. Occasionally (about once a year) a wood cleaner is needed to remove excessive soap residue as well as stubborn dirt spots. Afterwards apply a coat of maintenance oil and then treat with natural soap for wooden floors, ref. above.
 

Pre-Varnished Floors
 
Varnished floors are extremely easy to deal with as the hard coating is a combination of anti-scratch properties as well as elastic layers (overall 5-7 layers) which provide great resistance against the day-to-day activities. The quality of the coating today is so good that extended warranty is provided. With simple precautions and maintenance, a varnished floor will stay beautiful for a long time. Should damage occur, individual boards can be substituted and if required, after prolonged usage and wear and tear, the floor can be sanded and a new coating can be applied. A new varnish can be clear or stained, matt or gloss or, if desired, the whole floor can  ...