Using pine tongue & groove for hall, kitchen, dining room, living room

[drpepe]

Building a ground floor extension (kitchen, living room) which is being finished in chipboard to match the existing level of the house (including dining room hall) which is flat edged original boards throughout (1901 terrace).

Given that we have 2 tiny boys, i was thinking of flooring throughout on top of the flooring described above in pine t&g. The advantage is cheap will 'age' well, in that it can take dents, chips and damage and go a bit 'rustic'. My inlaws have an expensive engineered floor that dents and they cover it in blankets whenever the grandkids are around - they basically arent allowed to play on it.

If I went for t&g (cheap?) floorboards, and used something like osmo polyx oil (i used this in a previous house living room on naked pine boards), do you think it will stand up to the rigours of the above rooms - ie. wet in the kitchen, high foot fall in the hallway etc?

 

[getitdone]

Osmo is a definitely a good choice in most instances but can in my experience cause a slightly more pronounced 'orange-ing' effect that can be more apparent on pine, which is just a little bit more susceptible to this effect than other species like oak. Other hard waxoils by manufacturers like Ciranova or Treatex tend to have a lower effect, but really worth checking by just doing a sample board first. You may not be too fussed about this since over time exposure to sunlight (UV) will contribute to that orange-ing effect anyway.

In terms of protection, best to look at this from two different angles - impact resistance and stain resistance. impact resistance is only as tough as the wood fibre that the hard waxoil is coating. Denser hardwoods thus offer better impact resistance and will dent less than softwoods like the pine you are thinking of.
Stain resistance is where your choice of hard waxoil comes more into play. Osmo is great but you'll see its thicker viscosity does leave it just marginally more perceptible as a finished floor coating. The oils from Ciranova and Treatex have a thinner formulation which can be easier to work with (especially if you haven't applied a hard waxoil before) and the Ciranova ones in particular provide almost the identical level of stain protection to Osmo's oils. If you try a test board coating half with Osmo and the other half with Ciranova, once cured drop some lemon juice, wine etc on both halves overnight - You'll be hard pressed to see either failing to resist more than the other the following morning! All said, you could almost let your preference of tint/colour determine which manufacturer you go for among these three (if indeed you are going for a pigmented hard waxoil as opposed to a clear one)

Beware the cheaper generic hard waxoils and those from manufacturers like Blanchon. They may seem a couple of quid cheaper per litre, but when in a couple of months you see how they stain with astonishing ease, you'll regret not having payed just that tiny bit more now!