stain or wax parquet flooring?

[daddynige]

After several months i am almost ready to sand my reclaimed parquet floor.I have used a stretcher bond pattern after discarding the idea of the herringbone which on a dry run made the room look smaller .I have started to plane the high spots and have exposed a new layer of beautiful mohogamy ,my concern is what choices do i have once the sanding phase is over? Please tell me the merits of oil against wax or /stain.To get this far in such a job then mess it up would be hard to take

 

[savvles]

Surely a stain is literally only doing that; staining the wood a different colour, but not necessarily offering much protection?
I'd do the wax, or even better, oil or varnish.

 

[Daisy-Lea]

I would actually use yacht varnish it looks gorgeous ......... very very high protection and last 10 years or more. I didnt like the wax look, and it seemed to trap dust a bit.

 

[pollybird]

It depends what sort of look you are going for and how high traffic an area it is. I have all wood floors in my house and I have tried various finishes.
Varnish will wear and scratch so if you want a shiny finish you must be prepared for regular revarnishing and wash the floor and apply a floor polish regularly.
If you want a soft lustre look this comes from proper wax. I have a oak floor in my bedroom and also an oak staircase. I used the Liberon system of floor sealer and floor wax as per manufactures directions and the result was lovely. Bedroom floor still looks newly laid after 7 years although the wood has darkened naturally with age. The stairs have so far lasted over a year without a touchup. I buff the floor very occasionally with a machine (bought from John Lewis). I think that if I waxed and buffed the floor more often the floor would look even better.

My kitchen floor was varnished and is washed and polished regularly but the finish wears out very quickly, so I would say that the wax lasts longer than the varnish but of course it isn't a washable surface.

 

[WoodYouLike]

My kitchen floor was varnished and is washed and polished regularly but the finish wears out very quickly, so I would say that the wax lasts longer than the varnish but of course it isn't a washable surface.

It can be, if you use a proper 'cleaning-soap' on it, before applying a maintenance wax layer again.