Timber floor finishes compared

At a glance

Makers’ data sheets for one product of each family, read 7 Nov 2026 (dates 2018 to 2025). Not a ranking: each figure is the maker’s, for its own product and conditions.

Where the protection sits

The choice between an oil and a lacquer is first a choice about where the protection sits. The drawing shows three of the four families the master question asks about; the two-pack in the title is a lacquer with a hardener, so it sits with the waterborne film here.

• Hardwax oil soaks into the wood and leaves a thin surface. The data sheet describes natural plant oils and waxes and a microporous finish that will not crack, peel or blister. It enhances the natural tone of the wood, and the maker says oils give a permanent ‘wet effect’.
• Waterborne lacquer, 2-component. A hardener is mixed in just before use (8 parts in 100 by volume on one sheet; 1 part in 10 on the other), and the mix has a pot life of 4 hours on one sheet and 2 hours on the other. The system is a primer then two coats on bare wood. It forms a film on the floor. One maker describes it as clear and non-yellowing.
• UV oil is applied and cured by ultraviolet light on a production line. The data sheets we found are for industrial use, and a UK floor supplier describes it as applied in seven coats on its line. We found nothing that describes a UV oil applied and cured on a finished site floor, so treat it as a factory finish.

Our wood floor finishes article covers colour, texture and the choice in plain terms. For finishes on joinery, which are not the same system, see finishes on timber joinery.

What the data sheets say

Every figure below is a maker’s, for its own product, under its own test conditions. Different makers use different methods, so the numbers should not be lined up across the products as a ranking. The point of the table is the kind of information to ask the partner for.

The data sheets are dated 2018 to 2025 and some are distributor copies. The partner should give you the current sheet for the product it will use, and the batch or version it applied.

Refreshing and repairing

The practical difference between a film and an oil is what you do when the floor looks tired. The routes in the drawing are those the data sheets themselves print.

• Oiled floors. The maker’s maintenance oil is made for refreshing the finish: dull and matt flooring is refreshed by applying the oil at the right time, so that time-consuming sanding and renovation can be avoided. It is applied thinly to a clean, dry floor, and the maker says a trial application is always needed. The data sheet calls it highly recommended for public interiors such as restaurants and museums. If the wood is raw or greyed it has to be sanded and treated as new.
• Lacquered floors. The sheets say clean with a microfibre pad, and that floors can be overcoated at intervals with additional coats for maintenance. The maker’s overcoating note calls this a cost-efficient way to extend the life of the floor and avoid major renovation: deep clean, abrade the surface lightly, apply new lacquer. It asks that the floor is in sound condition without deep damage or big gaps, and makes the point that preparation is the key to adhesion. The same maker says tape can damage dry lacquer.
• Patch repair. The oil sheet says oiled floors can be refreshed, and our journal article says worn areas can be touched in locally. Neither says a lacquer can be patched without showing, and none of the sheets promises an invisible repair for either finish.

No interval is sourced. The data sheets say ‘at intervals’ or ‘at the right time’, and give no schedule for a hotel or restaurant. Retail guides we saw disagree with each other and are not for hospitality, so none is quoted. Agree the intervals with the partner and the operator’s housekeeping, and write them into the handover pack (see handover and O&M pack).

Slip, sheen, colour and emissions

• Slip. Slipperiness belongs to the finished floor, not the product name. HSE says it can change with installation, cleaning, polishing, maintenance and wear, so the test should be on the floor as finished and maintained, wet where the floor will be wet. Two makers list an anti-slip variant of their products, and one lists a dry-condition slip result to BS EN 16165:2021 for its lacquer, which is not a wet result and is not relied on here. See slip resistance for floors. A maintenance oil or a refresh coat is a new surface, so ask for the slip result on the maintained sample too.
• Sheen. Sheen on one sheet is 11, 20 and 40% at 60 degrees for extra matt, matt and silk matt, and the other lists three matt grades without values. Gloss scales and meters differ by maker, so specify the gloss reading on an approved sample, with the angle and the meter, rather than a word.
• Colour. Oil deepens the tone of the timber and the maker calls this permanent. The lacquer is described as clear and non-yellowing. Colour can still change in light (see the journal article), so approve the finish and the timber together, on a sample from the delivery batch.
• Emissions. One lacquer sheet gives VOC at 52 g/l including hardener and an EC1 PLUS emissions classification; the oil sheet gives up to 500 g/l and a solvent base; the UV oil sheet gives 30 g/l. These are makers’ claims, and we did not read the labels’ terms. See formaldehyde and VOC emissions for the questions to ask.
• Where the floor sits. Humidity swings move boards (see seasonal movement), and one lacquer sheet sets a limit on how much the room humidity may swing across a year because water-based products have a gluing effect between boards. Ask the partner what the maker asks of the room.

Matching a finish to a question

The sources do not rank the finishes, and nor do we. What they let a specifier do is match a finish to a question:

• Is the floor to be refreshed on site by the operator or its contractor? Oil and film have different routes (the drawing). Ask who will carry them out and with what.
• How fast must the room reopen? One lacquer sheet gives full use after 12 hours and another light traffic after 8; the oil sheet gives 2 to 3 weeks to full cure. A factory UV oil arrives cured. Check the programme against the sheet, not the headline.
• How much will the look change with age? Oil can develop a soft patina (our journal article); a film is intended to stay as laid until it is renewed. Write down which the client wants.
• Is the floor a board with a factory finish or a floor finished on site? A factory line finish and a site finish are different processes with different controls. Ask what the partner proposes and who holds the data sheet for it.

For grades and species see wood flooring grades; for a high-traffic checklist see specifying timber floors for high-traffic interiors.

Timber floor finish to [room or area]: [hardwax oil / factory UV oil / waterborne 2-component lacquer], applied in [ ] coats [with primer] to the maker’s data sheet [reference, version and date], on [timber, finish and texture], to the approved sample. The partner shall name the product, give the current data sheet and safety data sheet, and state whether the finish is applied in the factory or on site.

Sheen [ ] gloss units at 60 degrees on the approved sample, measured with [meter]; colour and texture to match the approved sample from the delivery batch. A [ ] m² mock-up, finished by the proposed method and cured as the maker states, to be approved before the floor is finished.

Pendulum test value of the finished and cured sample, wet, by [BS EN 16165] with [slider], to be issued before approval and again on a sample maintained to the regime below. Result not less than [ ] [HSE low slip potential band].

The partner shall issue a written regime for the finished floor: daily cleaning products and method, the periodic refresh product and method [oil: maintenance oil; lacquer: abrade and overcoat], intervals [ ] agreed with [operator], what must not be used, who may carry out repairs, and the maker’s warranty terms [ ]. Leave [ ] spare litres [if agreed] with the batch number.

Standards and sources

• Makers’ data sheets: a hardwax oil and its maintenance oil; two waterborne 2-component lacquers (one with an overcoating note); a UV oil for industrial use: read 7 Nov 2026; makers named in the notes file, not on the page.
• BS EN 16165:2021 (Current per BSI Knowledge, published 28 Feb 2022; replaces BS 7976); BS 8201:2011 (Current; published 31 Oct 2011): BSI listings, 7 Nov 2026. Named, not read.
• HSE, Assessing the slip resistance of flooring (GEIS2): cited through our slip resistance sheet.

Questions we are asked

Is hardwax oil or lacquer better for a restaurant floor?

The data sheets do not rank them. The oil maker calls its maintenance oil highly recommended for public interiors such as restaurants; the lacquer makers describe their products as for heavy wear commercial floors. Both claims are the makers’. Choose by who will care for the floor, how quickly the room must reopen and what the slip test says on the finished sample.

Can a lacquered floor be refreshed without sanding?

The maker’s overcoating note says so for a floor in sound condition: deep clean, abrade lightly, apply new lacquer. A floor with deep damage, or worn through to bare wood, is resanded and the full system applied again. That differs from our journal article, which says lacquer needs no recoating in normal use; both can be true, and the care regime should say which route is planned.

What is UV oil?

An oil applied and cured by ultraviolet light, normally on a production line. The data sheets we found are for industrial use only, and a UK floor supplier says it applies seven coats on its line. We found no durability data and no method for applying or curing it on a finished floor on site.

What does 2-pack mean?

A product with two components, a base and a hardener, mixed shortly before use. The two lacquer sheets we read give a pot life of 2 to 4 hours, after which the mix must not be used. We did not read data for solvent-based or acid-curing two-pack systems.

Does the finish change the colour of the timber?

Oil deepens the tone and the maker calls it a permanent wet effect. The lacquer maker describes the film as clear and non-yellowing. Light still changes timber over time, so approve finish and timber together on a sample from the delivery batch.

Which finish is best for a pale or herringbone floor?

We found no source that answers this. Pale colours depend on the timber, any pigment and the finish together, and herringbone shows every edge, so approve a full-size mock-up of the pattern, finished the proposed way. See our parquet pattern atlas for pattern choice.