You might think that choosing a flooring product for your home – picking out a species of wood and a tone that suits you – is the hard part of buying wood flooring. However, you also need to choose a finish for your floor, and this can be a bit more complicated.

There are two main options available:

Lacquer

Lacquer is a very popular wood floor finish, and this is because of its impressive durability and resistance to wear. Lacquer sits on top of the wood, unlike other finishes, and protects it from scuffs, scratches and other marks, thereby making the floor relatively low maintenance. However, even if you choose a matt lacquer, the coating on the surface of the floor will be very visible. This is not ideal for everyone, particularly those wanting a more natural finish. Justwood recommend Bona Kemi floor lacquers.

Hardwax Oil

Oil finishes are the modern-day equivalent of wax for wood floors. They sink into the wood, unlike lacquer which sits on top, and nourish the wood from within the grain. This keeps your floor in great condition, but it doesn’t provide quite as much protection as lacquer. However, a huge benefit of hardwax oil finishes is that they can be easily topped up/patch repaired if necessary to reduce the visual effect of surface scratches, unlike lacquer which all has to be taken off at once if patch repairs are needed. Justwood recommend Fiddes hardwax oil.