Osmo hard wax oil on sanded boards...now I don't like it!

Heyho74 · 30 Aug 2015

Long story short...this time last year I sanded the boards in our lounge and treated them with 2 coats of Osmo hard wax clear. The boards were probably put down in the 80s, and are still quite new looking.

Applying the Osmo has resulted in that awful orangey ducal type look, which I was really hoping to avoid. I've been trying to convince myself over the past 12 months that it's not that bad, but it's a fairly old house, and it really doesn't fit.

I'm thinking that my options are a darker hard wax oil, or to paint the whole lot white. What would I need to do in either instance? I guess another coat or 2 of wax would need less prep, but would I need to totally strip back to paint?

getitdone · 8 Sep 2015

Best bet would probably be to sand back to bare wood and apply either the Polyx Oil Effect Raw to keep that bare pale look, or as you say, some other darker oil that will better mask the orange effect that occurs from exposure to sunlight over time and from contact with solvent based products.

Or indeed, just lightly key the surface with some 100 grit sandpaper and use a heavy duty white floor paint - much quicker though you'll loose the character of the grain!

JohnD · 8 Sep 2015

paint will not stick to wax.

getitdone · 8 Sep 2015

You'll find that a Hard Waxoil is not the same as wax. Were it just wax, I would agree with you - wax, even residual traces of it in sanded wood, can affect adhesion of subsequent coatings of a great deal of other products.

But when it is Hard Waxoil that has cured (generally when it is over two weeks after application), it is perfectly inert and can be lightly sanded and over coated. In the case here, obviously worth checking with the manufacturer of whatever floor paint gets chosen but that is why I said a 'heavy duty' floor paint - many these days will bond to stable, sound surfaces much like a cured HWO offers.

Heyho74 · 22 Nov 2015

Thank you getitdone. The floor surface was coated over a year go, and now has the feel of dry satin varnish, not at all waxy. I suspect with minimal sanding it will take paint without a problem.

As there appears to be no definitive answer, I'm going to try a small area and see how it goes.

chappers · 22 Nov 2015

A couple of things to look out for if painting your floor, if you have gaps in your floorboards they completely spoil the look of a painted floor, when we stripped all of our floorboards back we painted one room and it just didn't look right with all the dark gaps, also it started to look quite shabby quite quickly. Eventually we stripped it all off again.

Heyho74 · 22 Nov 2015

chappers said:
A couple of things to look out for if painting your floor, if you have gaps in your floorboards they completely spoil the look of a painted floor, when we stripped all of our floorboards back we painted one room and it just didn't look right with all the dark gaps, also it started to look quite shabby quite quickly. Eventually we stripped it all off again.

Thanks for the advice, I'll keep it in mind. Still undecided... It's between painting white or trying a darker wax/oil, which I don't think will work well now that the surface is sealed.

chappers · 23 Nov 2015

To apply a different coloured oil would almost certainly mean stripping the other oil first, but to be fair you have already done the hard work sanding the board, removing the HWO should be a much simpler operation.
Probably a hands and knees job with a belt sander rather than a full scale floor sander.

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Osmo hard wax oil on sanded boards...now I don't like it!

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