Durability of oak floors

[JimmyMcNulty]

Can anyone tell me what oak flooring is like to live with? It's in a house we're thinking of offering on (entrance hall so high traffic area). We have 2 dogs and I was wondering if it would get horribly scratched and look rubbish? I don't want to have to tell people to take shoes off etc. and we are quite a clumsy family . I'd be happy with a bit of wear and 'character'.

I have no clue as to the different types of oak floor/finish etc. so if someone could enlighten me I'd be grateful!
TIA

Oak is a hardwood and is fab. We love ours, had it now for about five years. It will scratch if you drag something heavy along but not as badly as pine, etc.

It washes well but you need to wring the mop well and I recommend a special floorwash for wooden floors which contain liquid oils (?) to protect and consition the wood.

We also deepclean ours once a year, no make that every other year by applying a product neat.

If you do get a bad scratch, you can sand it down and reseal but we don't bother with minor ones.

Not good if you are walking around with stilettos

bienchen - what are the products that you use? We need to do something to our oak kitchen floor and I'm not sure what to use!

OP - oak is great, but you will end up with a 'rustic' look, not a highly polished perfect looking finish!

Thanks for the reply Bienchen. Sounds like I won't necessarily have to wrap the dogs' claws in cotton wool.

and thanks Littlefrog! Went to make dinner before I pressed post!

we have oak in our hall and living room and i LOVE it. its fine with loads of kids ( we have no dogs) but does get scratched if you are not careful when moving furniture. You might want to put down rugs in the hall to take the worst of the wear and tear. Not posh ones, i mean ikea cheap ones which you can replace every couple of years.

we bought this house 7 years ago and having never had wood floors before, we didn't take good enough care of it. we had workmen in and just put down dust sheets and it got damaged, so we have had it resanded already and it looks brand new. so now we are more careful

We have oak in our hall and sitting room with major traffic - including an 8 stone dog and it holds up really well. Dog does leave minor scratches but kind of gives it a nice lived in look. Also as said above you do have the option to sand down and reseal.
We actually take our pooch to doggy beauty parlour(ridiculous i know!) every 4 or so months to have his nails trimmed which is a help.

Littlefrog, it's made by Osmo and is called wash and care. That's the one for washing, obviously. If you google, you get some good links. Was recommended by the people who sold us the floor boards. Can't remember what the once in a blue moon cleaner is called, wood restorer possibly.

Fab products, not cheap but wonderful and environmentally sound.

Also, I would second mats or similar to catch most of the muck!

Polyx Liquid wax cleaner from Osmo.

Thank you bienchen, I will go and look for them! We oiled the floor with the Osmo stuff first time round, so good to know it's the same family.

Are those two different products, or the same thing (ie is one the once in a blue moon one)? Sorry, just wanted to be sure!

It depends on the finish

If you wax it with hard wax oil then any marks fade when you re-wax periodically. You get a nice weathered look eventually. You do have to be careful with water on it though (ie mop up big spills fast)

If you lacquer it, it is waterproof but any scratches will show more.

NB if it is already lacquered you will have to strip it first before waxing

I've got an oak floor in my hallway. It's a Kahrs lacquered one and it looks fantastic more than 3 years old now. There are six of us in the house and my small children scoot and cycle up and down the hall.

In my last house I had waxed oak in the kitchen and family sitting room off the kitchen. I used to wax it every couple of months. It wasn't particularly onerous and the Briwax I used was lovely stuff. I used to put the tin on the warming plate of the aga until it went lovely and soft and almost liguid then rub it in with a lint free cloth. Then buff to a shine with another cloth. Briwax smells gorgeous.

B & Q do a lovely vintage looking solid oak flooring which has bumps and lumps included. It looks like an old school floor and I love mine!

i DONT DO ANYTHING WITH MINE [BLUSH]

(Ooops sorry about the caps ...)

And 5 years on it still looks great.

ours is varnished as its lower maintenance and we are lazy

Littlefrog, they are different products. Look at my other post earlier on.