Revisited – Pallmann Magic Oil in 2024
It’s hard to believe it’s been 11 years since we wrote this blog post: Pallmann Magic Oil review. The response we received from that series of articles has been incredible. A lot has happened since then. At that time, not many people had heard about these types of finishes and only a select few hardwood floor refinishing companies were offering them to their clients.
11 years down the track and hardwax oil finishes have become extremely popular. They are now a very serious contender among mainstream finishes. It’s been fun watching their progress. We have completed over 150+ hardwax oil projects in that time… almost half of them Magic Oil.
So I guess the big question is: What do we think of hardwax oils now, 11 years down the road? How are they performing? Are we still using and recommending them? Are there any issues to be aware of?
What Color Should I Stain My Wood Floors?
One of the biggest questions we get here at Tadas Wood Flooring Inc. when it comes to staining floors is: Should I get my floors stained and if so, what color should I go with?
It’s easy to see why this can be such a dilemma for some people, your floors will have a huge impact on the look of your home and if you get them wrong, you’ll be stuck with them for a long, long time.
The answer isn’t as hard as you might think. There are a number of factors that will affect whether you should stain your floors and what stain color best suits your home, all of which need to be taken into consideration before making a decision.
How To Decide on a Final Stain Color
In our last blog post, we went into great detail about choosing stain colors. If you haven’t seen that post yet you can read it here.
One of the hardest decisions you may have to make when it comes to your hardwood floors is choosing the color you will eventually stain them. This is an important decision because you will have to live with your choice for a long time.
If you’ve followed the advice from that post, you’ve probably narrowed your choice down to 2 or 3 of your favorite colors.
So, in this article we’ll show you the steps we can help you go through to finally decide on a color that you’ll be completely 100% happy with for your hardwood floors.
Silver Grey Rubio Monocoat in Chicago
Recently we were called in to sand and finish a floor in a brand new complex in Chicago. The client wanted to use Rubio Monocoat, but the company installing the floors didn’t have experience with the product. So they got in touch with us here at Tadas Wood Flooring.
The other hardwood floor business in Chicago did a wonderful job with the install, which made the project much easier for us. Once the installation of the wide plank Red Oak was finished, we got stuck into sanding and finishing it.
Rescuing a Botched Rubio Monocoat Fumed Floor
For this project we were called in to rescue a failed attempt at a Rubio Monocoat floor. It was in a downtown Chicago apartment thirty eight floors up overlooking the lake.
The original company that had installed this beautiful 5” engineered white oak quarter sawn floor realized that the ‘fumed’ process was beyond their skill set. So they did the right thing and passed along that part of the job to (a business they thought were) hardwood floor finishing professionals.
Hardwood Floors After a Clean, Screen and Recoat
Recently we were called in to have a look at a very scratched up floor in a house in Lemont. The floors themselves weren’t that old… but they sure had seen better days. The finish was scratched up to bits and looking pretty worse for wear.
We were asked if there was anything that could be done… without having to start from scratch and re-sand the entire floor all over again. Thankfully in this case we could.
One of the services we offer is called a ‘Clean, Screen and Recoat’ (sometimes known as a ‘buff and coat’). It’s a process where we rejuvenate the floor by applying a fresh coat of finish over top of the existing one. This floor was the perfect candidate for this procedure.
Water Popping Hardwood Floors
One of the procedures we go through with every single hardwood floor that we stain is called “water popping”. It’s also called “grain popping” or “raising the grain”. Basically, water popping is a process used to open up the grain of wood flooring.
Why is it needed?
Well, once we’ve completed several sanding passes with various paper grits – from coarse to fine – the hardwood floor naturally becomes extremely smooth. The hardwood floors grain has become closed and tight, or in other words, it isn’t always open or porous enough for it to accept stain properly and evenly.