Refinishing Oiled Wooden Floors

This guide is meant for refinishing an oiled wooden floor only. If your floor has a lacquered finish, please see our lacquered guide here.

When should you refinish your floor?

It’s best to refinish your oiled floor more often than a lacquered floor. How often you do it depends on how heavily the floor is used, but twice a year is good practice. You can also give localised maintenance if there’s a particular area that gets more traffic than the rest of the room.

Preparation

Before you start, make sure to vacuum, clean and dry your floor as thoroughly as possible. This is an often neglected but incredibly important part of the process. Remember when cleaning to avoid excessive moisture – the floor should be dry within 1 minute.

Oiling

One the floor is clean and dry, simply apply the oil to the floor and spread evenly with a paint roller. It's important to spread it as evenly as possible

• After 10-15 minutes, you can apply the second layer with a new roller. Two thin layers is much more effective than one thick layer, and applying too much oil in one go can leave a sticky finish
• After 5 hours you should be able to move around the room with care
• After 12 hours you should be able to reintroduce light furniture
• After 24 hours, carpets and heavy furniture can come back in