Engineered Wood Flooring Finishes (Updated May 2022)

Find The Perfect Floor Finish For Your Home With Our Expert Guide...

The beauty of Engineered Wood Flooring, Parquet, and Solid Wood Flooring, is that they're available in a wide range of colours and finishes, meaning there's a floor to suit any style and budget. The problem is, with so many different options on the market, it can sometimes be a headache trying to understand them all, let alone figuring out which is the best for you!

Lacquers, oils, brushing, hand scraped? What do these seemingly technical terms even mean? Don't worry, we're here to help. Our flooring experts have put together a complete guide to engineered wood flooring finishes, designed to help you make the right choice, the first time...

Engineered Wood Flooring Finishes (At A Glance)

 

Engineered Wood Flooring Finishes Explained

Lacquered Wood Flooring

Our Customers Favourite Floor Finish

The most popular finish for engineered wood floors is definitely lacquering, which creates a protective surface layer, keeping your floor looking its best, even against spills and the usual tests of daily life.

Whilst there are a number of lacquer finishes on the market, they can generally be split into two types; gloss (which is often just referred to as ‘lacquer’ as it’s considered the standard finish) and matt, which offers a low sheen appearance.

Why Choose A Lacquered Floor?

• Easier Maintenance: When compared to unfinished floors, for example, lacquered finishes are much easier to maintain on a daily basis, needing nothing more than a regular sweep and clean.
• Enhanced Water Protection: As lacquering creates a surface layer it stops liquids and spills from seeping into the wood grain, meaning your flooring will be less susceptible to water damage (although, not 100% immune).
• A Longer Life Span: Lacquered finishes help lengthen the lifespan of your engineered wood floor; by creating an additional protective layer against daily bumps and scrapes; ideal for a busy home.
• Added Sun Protection: As lacquer adds a layer of UV protection to flooring it can reduce fading from sunlight and, whilst not making your floor entirely ‘sun-proof’, it will keep it looking its best, for longer.

Protecting Your Lacquered Engineered Wood Flooring

Clean Up Spills Quickly

As with any flooring type, it pays to clear any spills on your lacquered floor as quickly as possible, minimising the risk of surface layer penetration and staining. 

It goes without saying, cleaning spills quickly on any wooden or LVT floor is a must, especially in busy family homes; where kids, pets, and wet floors are a recipe for disaster.

Avoid Scratching Your Floor

Don’t worry, your lacquered floor will put up with a lot of wear and tear on a daily basis, but it does help if you can avoid risking deeper scratches.

Be vigilant when moving furniture, for example, taking care not to drag items across the floor, potentially removing surface lacquer and leaving your floor more susceptible to damage.

Protect Heavy Areas

Again, we need to stress that, as with any engineered floor, lacquered floors will stand up to typical daily use and last for years. However, if you have particularly heavy traffic areas, such as a busy lounge, hallway, or stairs, you’ll benefit from a few well placed rugs and other furniture.

Does your porch or entrance hallway already have lacquered flooring? Consider a welcome mat to reduce the chance of scratching or staining your flooring even further.

Adding New Lacquer To Your Flooring

Whilst lacquer does offer pretty much unrivalled protection, compared to unfinished or oiled floors, it's worth keeping in mind that it can be slightly more labour-intensive to resurface, or to 'spot fix' scratches or stains.

If you are looking to treat a particular problem area on your flooring, the chances are you'll need to sand the whole floorboard before re-lacquering, rather than sanding and repairing smaller patches (which is often achievable with oiled floors, for example).

VIEW OUR LACQUERED WOOD RANGE

 

Oiled Wood Flooring

The Perfect, Deep Protecting, Grain Enhancing Choice

A close second in popularity, oiled floors offer a good level of protection, whilst achieving a stunning finish, often favoured for the ‘natural’ finishes, which make wood grains pop. Oiled floors are also popular with customers looking for an ultra-matt or low-matt finish too.

So how do oil and lacquer finishes differ? Essentially, oiling seeps deep into the wood grain of a solid wood or engineered wood floor, meaning a deeper level of coverage and protection (as opposed to lacquer which creates a ‘surface layer’). This deeper protection offers a more long-term protection but it doesn’t protect as well against spills, as there’s no barrier on the surface for liquids to sit on; meaning they too will seep into wood grain if not quickly dealt with.

Why Choose An Oiled Floor?

• Long-Term Protection: Oiling a floor means that the entire board will be protected, from top to bottom as it seeps into the natural grain of the wood, this means your flooring will be protected even as layers are worn away.
• A Natural Complement: Although lacquer offers plenty of options when it comes to enhancing the natural look and feel of wood, we’ve got to say, we have a soft spot for oiled flooring as the process really does work with the wood to bring out its best qualities.
• Less Dust: Oiled flooring is anti-static which (in theory) means less dust gathering; definitely something to consider in busy homes or those with pets.
• Spot Repairing: Spot repairing problem areas such as heavy scratches or particular dark stains is much easier on oiled flooring, as it’s possible to work on smaller areas, rather than having to sand and refinish entire boards, or worse, entire floors!

Protecting Your Oiled Engineered Wood Flooring

Keep On Top Of Spills

We’ve already mentioned the importance of cleaning up spills on any engineered wood flooring but with oiled floors, it can be doubly so. Unlike lacquered flooring, oiled finishes do not create a 'surface layer'. Therefore any liquids that are left will begin to work their way into the wood grain. This can create long-term staining or the need to repair deeper spots.

Don’t worry though, you don’t need to go overboard with every little drop, a quick wipe with a cloth will do the trick. If you fancy some cleaning products that are a little more thorough, take a look at our range of cleaning kits.

Cover Heavy Traffic Areas

Whilst oiled wood flooring will stand up to even the busiest of homes, it can’t hurt to add a little decoration here and there for added protection, especially in the form of rugs, welcome mats, or furniture.

Covering areas where you’d expect the highest footfall, such as the hallway or stairs will help your flooring age evenly and last for years.

Be Mindful Of Scratches

Thankfully, scratches on oiled floors are relatively easy to treat, as smaller areas can be fixed with sanding and refinishing. That said, it’s much easier to avoid scratches in the first place!

Take care when moving furniture or heavy items over your flooring, to keep deep scratches to a minimum. If you’re planning a more intensive DIY or decorating project, think about covering your floor with temporary protection too.

Adding New Oil To Your Flooring

As we’ve already discussed, oiling your floor means a deeper, even coverage, so there’s less need to refinish your flooring as upper layers wear. If you do want to add new oil to your engineered floor, however, it’s a relatively simple process that can be done in small areas, through to entire floors.

Either way, lightly sand the area you’re looking to treat, ensure it’s clear of debris and simply apply your new oil following the manufacturer's guidelines.

VIEW OUR OILED WOOD FLOORING

 

Brushed and Lacquered Wood Flooring

Enhanced Beauty And Protection, The Perfect Flooring Combination

Brushed flooring, whether that’s lacquered, oiled, or unfinished, is all about maximising the natural features of the wood grain. During manufacture, brushed engineered wood flooring is lightly ‘brushed’ with a ball of wire wool, gently removing micro layers from the surface, enhancing wood grain appearance and texture.

Although some customers imagine all brushed flooring to look ultra-rustic (it that’s your preference, we have plenty of options available) it’s usually a more subtle finish, simply working with the wood material to get it looking its best; with colours and lacquer (or oil) choice affecting the style much more heavily.

Brushed and lacquered flooring is one of our best-selling finish combinations as brushing provides a greater depth of natural beauty, whilst lacquer provides the added layer of protection. As we’ve already discovered, with such a wide variety of lacquer finishes available, there’s definitely a brushed and oiled floor out there for you.

VIEW OUR BRUSHED AND LACQUERED WOOD FLOORING

Brushed and Oiled Wood Flooring

All The Features Of Brushed Flooring, With The Protection Of Oil

As with brushed and lacquered floors, brushed and oiled engineered floors have undergone the same, light ‘wire wool’ treatment during manufacture to bring out the grain and texture of the real wood top layer.

Oil adds the levels of protection we’ve covered above, whilst also maximising the natural beauty of your flooring. In our opinion, brushed and oiled floors are one of the best looking flooring types we sell.

VIEW OUR BRUSHED & OILED WOOD FLOORING

 

Handscraped Wood Flooring

Characterful And Organic

Handscraped surface textures can be anywhere between subtle and extreme. The board surfaces have a wave-like look on top of the board created with a wood scraper. Handscraped hardwood floors definitely bring an additional casual look to a room, adding warmth, comfort, and a homely atmosphere. The more handscraped texture a hardwood floor has, the more likely it'll hide scratches and dents. Many homeowners that own larger dogs usually pick a handscraped textured floor simply because wear and tear can be easily concealed and hidden.

If you’re after a more natural and ‘lived in’ flooring that really elevates the features of wood, then handscraped flooring has to be a top contender. As the name suggests, the floorboards are ‘handscraped’ during manufacture to really dig into the grain and texture of the wooden top layer. The result? A characterful, quirky, and beautiful finish that works well in any home, especially for those looking for that traditional charm.

Have pets? Often, customers opt for handscraped flooring in dog and cat households as it’s a little more forgiving in its appearance. Thanks to its added level of character, scratches, bumps, and scrapes are less noticeable on handscraped floors.

VIEW OUR HAND SCRAPED WOOD FLOORING

 

Distressed Wood Flooring

Unrivalled Texture For The Lived In Look

Want a floor that looks like it's been laid for years? A distressed finish is definitely for you. 

By embracing dents, scratches, and wear, distressed wood flooring goes one further than scraped or aged finishes, creating an established look that can't be bettered.

Favoured by customers looking for a mega-rustic, lived in, traditional look, our distressed engineered wood flooring is also popular with busy families and pet households, where daily damage is more common.

VIEW OUR DISTRESSED WOOD FLOORING

 

So How Do I Choose The Right Finish For Me?

We're hoping our guide helps you decipher the differences and hopefully, you'll now know your brushed planks from distressed and your matt lacquers from oils; but what if you're still unsure?

If you're considering engineered flooring and really still can't decide on which finish you'd prefer, here's our advice; try them, before you commit. A new floor, particularly in the lounge is always a major decision, that will be around for years to come, so it's worth being thorough in your research.

Order as many samples of each as you need, to ensure you find the right colour and finish. We offer unlimited, free samples on all engineered wood flooring, so you've got plenty of options.

 

engineered-wood-flooring-finishes