Solid oak floor
A natural and robust look, time-worn wood with knots or lacquered oak floorparts. With a solid oak floor the possibilities are endless. An oak wooden floor is loved because of its diversity. The look and feel of a wooden floor can determine the atmosphere of your home interior, and because of the durability of an oak wooden floor the chances are high that your floor will last at least 30 years, or even a lifetime. When buying a solid oak floor it’s advisable to orientate and carefully make a decision.
What is solid wood?
When speaking about solid oak floorparts it means that the boards are all from the same kind of wood. Which means that they are actually solid.
Oak floorboards are usually between 18 and 21 mm in thickness. The width can vary between 6 to 60 cm. With a herringbone or parquet these parts are usually 6, 9 or 12 mm in thickness and 5 – 12 cm wide.
Solid oak floors are suitable to be installed lineair or in a herringbone pattern.
A really nice collaboration that resulted in a beautiful floor (including skirting boards throughout the whole house)! Very friendly, flexible and cooperative. Highly recommended!
Feiraco H
Amsterdam
Customer-friendly, service-oriented and pleasant people to have over. Thank you really much for your help!
Paul Dijkhoff
Amsterdam
Working wood
Wood is a living material, even when it’s processed into solid oaken boards it still ‘works’. With ‘works’ it means that the wood shrinks, expands, serves and twisting. This mostly happens under the influence of a changing humidity. The most ideal humidity for solid oak floors are between the 45% and 65%. Solid wooden floorparts need to be able to acclimate in the same space a few days before they are being installed. How much the oak floor will ‘work’ also depends on the quality of the floor.
Different kinds of oak
When you choose a solid oak floor you have the option to choose from many different kinds of oak.
Conventional oak floorparts are being made from European oak, American oak, red oak or Russian oak. Oak wood is available in different grades. A grade says something about the size of the knots and the coarse structure of the wood. A coarse grade with big knots and cracks on the wood gives the oak floor a more old and worn look. But there are also more refined grades available with finer knots or even no knots at all. The more classic lacquered herringbone floor with inlay and strap is often from a more ‘neat’ grade.
Different floor finishes
Besides the options in wood and grades there’s also many possibilities in wood finishes and the treatment that comes with it. The aging look is popular with a solid oak floor. This aging look can be achieved by brushing the floorboards. This brings up the grain pattern of the floor. With brushing the softer wood between the wood grain is being washed away. Because of this the wood grains are even more visible and give a clear grain pattern. In addition there are many more possibilities to treat your oak floor by smoking, dubble smoking, stone wash and many color options by lacquering and oiling. Read more about floor finishes
Different floor treatments
Oak floors are often finished with lacquer, wax or oil. The decision to go with lacquer, wax or oil can be based on a number of variables:
- the type of wood
- the wanted look and feel
- the intensity of use
Wood has an open structure and the pores need to be protected against dirt and humidity. Oil is being absorbed and fills up the pores while lacquer creates a protective layer onto the wood. You can also choose oil and lacquer to create a certain effect on your floor. Nice cool tones with an aging look by applying chalk grey or white wash effects. Feel free to ask us about the possibilities