Back in 2015/16 we extended our modest end of terrace family home. We decided to commit to where we live for the long-term, making it work better for us, rather that overstretch ourselves with a bigger mortgage and the upheaval of a move.
I wrote all about that process, in what was to become my most read blog post of all time -
One of the most transformative details of the extension was the engineered oak flooring. This was laid throughout the ground floor and it really helped to pull together all the separate rooms, creating a flowing, boundaryless space. The new floor gave a greater sense of cohesion and design to our home.
We didn’t for a moment think that, only 2 years on, we would already be seeing damage and feeling beyond disappointed with the Osmo products we had used to finish the wood.
What is the best engineered wood flooring to use?
We opted for the best quality flooring we could afford at the time, choosing an untreated engineered oak, with a 6mm wear layer. Keeping longevity in mind when making decisions, the thicker the wear layer, the more times the wood can be sanded over its lifetime. I was imagining it needing refinishing 10/15 years down the line. You can read the blog I wrote about the floor transformation at the time here. This was written before the surface properly started to fail and we realised we’d make a mistake with what we’d chosen to seal it with.
- fyi, the layout of that old blog post isn’t as it was written, some content got muddled up when I moved from Wordpress to Squarespace. I’ve never gotten around to editing/ moving images back into place & probably never will!
Osmo Woodcare, at the time, came highly recommended by those I asked. We opted for untreated wood, as all the finished samples I’d looked at had a fake look to them, the lacquer made them appear like laminate, the soul of the oak was lost along the way.
Fast forward several years, a lot of continuous projects around the house - the garden, the creation of the deck, the ceiling in the hallway falling down, the cowboy decorator who didn’t use anything to protect surfaces when sanding back damaged plaster, our cat, who had liver disease and would be sick at least once a day…it became very apparent that -
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In an ideal world, laying the new floor should have come after many of these jobs, but that wasn’t really an option, as we’re slow renovators, undertaking jobs as and when we can afford it or have the time & we needed a floor in the meantime.
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The Osmo we had used REALLY wasn’t up to the task of a busy, light and bright family home, with it’s failings starting to show, even before the floor got a bit of a hammering from ongoing improvements.
We had used Osmo Polyx hard-wax oil in matt. For the first year or so after application the floor was incredibly slippery. My youngest actually broke her elbow, in a freak Christmas stocking ice skating accident! Other issues were -
How much the oil changed the colour of the wood.
The surface wasn’t as water repellant as you would expect, despite several layers.
There seemed to be absolutely zero UV protection, so the wood started to turn orange very quickly.
It became one of those things where it needed professional attention, but we were stuck in fast forward, too busy with work and other things to give it what it needed. I had even resorted to photoshopping it a bit in my images, as the damage was so distracting, then Reels came along and I couldn’t disguise it any longer.
Around this time Bona, a Swedish founded hardwood floor treatment specialist company, saw some of my Instagram posts, lamenting the rapidly declining state of our floor. They were confident they had the products and knowledge to bring our engineered oak back to life and proposed using our home as a case study. After doing some research on the brand, adding up all the positive things I’d heard about them and speaking with the lovely Leanne, who’d reached out to me, I was reassured and excited to have an answer to our floor woes.
Summer 2023 was a rather full on time for us, with so many projects underway, including the renovation of several areas of the shop, it was incredibly reassuring to know we had professional help at home…
Who to use to refinish engineered wood flooring for you?
Bona contracted Strippers Flooring for the case study, wood floor restoration specialists & Bona Certified Craftsmen. Andrew & his team undertake work in Cornwall, Sussex and sometimes London, with over 25 years experience, we were in very good hands with this collaboration.
I felt listened to from the off, with Andrew visiting the house to take a look at the project a few weeks before the start date. We talked through our options and discussed how the process of bringing our floor back to life would play out. One of the things I particularly liked was that I didn’t have to commit to the finish of the wood at that point, instead, we could wait until the floor had been sanded and I’d get to view the Bona products applied directly onto our wood. As someone who is very detail orientated, this was a huge bonus point to the whole service, sample boards never give a true sense of the end result, with wood type, grain and environmental influences having a huge impact.
Can you stay in your home whilst wood floors are refinished?
At the start of July we moved the entire contents of the ground floor of our house out, squeezing furniture upstairs (where we were already in complete reno hell!) and stashing things whereever we could - garage, van.... The fridge had to live in the garden for a week and with that, the restoration work could commence.
I’m sure it would be possible to stay in your home, whilst the work is done, you just need to factor in where you’ll move all your stuff. We opted to move out, as we have family close by who we could stay with.
Without the distraction of our belongings it was quite shocking to see how bad the floor looked.
It was very exciting how quickly we could see what we were working towards. I was back and forth for filming, looking like an exhausted, paint covered mess, as ironically, my husband and I were laying a wooden floor at my shop, at the same time, as well as cladding, painting and so much more. We were racing to get that ready for an important magazine photoshoot the same week, with me pulling some 20hr days, it was seriously bad timing on my part!
I never want to repeat how much we had going on all at once last summer, it was ridiculous and if I’m honest, it had a huge impact on my well being, but at least the floor was being well taken care of at home.
Is refinishing engineered wood flooring really messy?
In my mind I assumed it wasn’t really possible to overhaul an entire floor without making a fair bit of mess, it would just be a part of the process, surely?! I needn’t have worried though, I was very impressed to see Andrew and Jamie of Strippers Flooring at work, with the Bona machinery. 99% dust free sanding technology meant we wouldn’t have to undertake a huge clean-up process afterwards, especially reassuring considering how open plan the house is.
Can you change the colour of engineered wood flooring?
It’s always nerve wracking committing to big decisions, I’m the kind of person who agonises over these things for weeks or months on end but after a thorough consultation with Andrew and Jamie, where I got to view the options applied to our floor & discuss how these would look over a greater surface area/ after a period of time, I didn’t need to worry, excitement was really kicking in. I decided on Bona Craft Oil in the Misty shade, overcoated with two layers of Bona Traffic HD Extra Matt, which achieved a perfect balance of style and functionality. The subtle pigmentation of the Misty Craft Oil 2K produced a lighter, fresh appearance whilst showing off the Oak grain beautifully.
Once the products were decided upon, the magic could really begin. Gone were the water marks, black spots and overpowering orange tones, instead we finally had a floor that matched my vision for our home and not only that, I knew I could be confident that it would be up to the task of family life in the years to come.
The colour is completely different to how it looked when we first treated it ourselves. The wood tones feel raw, true to the natural Oak. It’s absolutely wonderful.
It’s now been over a year since the floor was renovated and it looks as good as the day we moved back in.
The difference of before and after is still astonishing to me and it’s really wonderful when we welcome visitors into our home and they remark on how beautiful the expanse of wood is. The first thing you notice as you walk in is how the floor leads your eye through through the house, to the garden at the back. The floor is the link between all the spaces, a warming, welcoming, taking you on a journey around our home.
Our home isn’t as big as sometimes images may lead you to believe, even with the extension (it appears bigger in photos than real life), so the impact and importance of the look of the floor cannot be over stated.
In high traffic areas there’s no sign of dirt being ingrained like before, spilt water pools and can be wiped up before any damage is done.
Bona’s low to no VOC content in their products means we can rest assured that we are not living with damaging chemicals, something I’m more and more aware of these days.
How much does it cost to refurbish damaged engineered wood flooring?
It will cost approx. £80 per square meter for your floor to be professionally sanded back, colour treatment applied and recoated.
Naturally I wish we had treated our new floor with Bona products to start with, as I’m confident we wouldn’t have found ourselves in the situation we did, so soon. This said, if you were buying a home and it had pre-existing wooden floors that were damaged, or the colour wasn’t as you’d like, how brilliant to know you could have such an impact on the look, without ripping up and replacing being the only option.
It was a real pleasure welcoming Bona and Strippers Flooring into our home and experiencing such a high level of service. I would wholeheartedly recommend the products and professional services used and would love to encourage others to think about renovating an existing floor, instead of rushing into replacing with new. If you are laying a new floor though, Bona are definitely top of my product recommendation list We’ve also used Bona products at the shop, as well as our wood lined window reveals in the bedrooms.
Our stairs are on the renovation wait list and I won’t hesitate in knowing what we’ll be using to bring that area up to standard, when we finally find the time to do it.
Ad - This was a collaboration with Bona Pro, an exchange of their expertise and services for the use of our home in their case study, as well as a feature on my social media platforms. This blog post is an added extra, so I could share the outcome with you. I am always honest and transparent in my recommendations and would never promote a service or company I didn’t wholeheartedly endorse.
