Friday 22 May 2015

Alternative site

Hi there

Welcome to the alternative site of Wood You Like Ltd - this site will act as default when our main site is - for what ever reason - offline.


Here you'll also find our online shop for everything your wooden floor needs to be healthy and beautiful for the longest time.


Thanks again for visiting!

Saturday 5 July 2014

Why stain a tropical floor?

Sometimes a question arrives which we truly have to anser according to our own principles:
"We got a reddish coloured floor in our house and want to lighten the colour - how do we go about this?"
 To be honest, more often than not we tell them it would be a shame to change the wonderful natural colour of the wood-species. Once we inform them of the nowaday prices of tropical wood floors most are then (although some reluctantly) changing their minds.
 Merbau mosaic, tropical wood

Restoring a original tropical wood floor will add value to your property and we can highly recommend Saicos Tropical Combo as the best finish.

For those still wanting to change the appearance of their tropical floor: think about adding a light rug to the floor which keeps the value of your floor intact (for instance when you sell your property the new owners could appreciate the original floor more than a stained one) and gives you more of the "design-style" you were after at the same time.

Don't use cork strips top fill the gap!!

Some issues keep recurring in our inbox, on flooring forums: cork strips among them.
A few days ago we received the following email:
"I realise the importance of leaving an expansion gap around a wooden floor (oak parquet in my case) but can you tell me why we are told to insert cork strips around the edge? Surely the cork is only taking up valuable expansion room. Is it ok to  just leave a 10mm gap all around?" 
This was our (recurring) answer on this subject:

Thank you for your question. We are trying so hard do tell everyone exactly that: DON'T use cork strips to fill the expansion gap.

These were used many, many years ago to divide design parquet pattern and the block border and somehow ended up in the expansion gap. 
So, you are absolutely right. Leave your expansion gap 'empty' to cater for any natural seasonal movement of your wood floor."
The reply:
Many thanks, it's nice to be right for once!
Of course he was right, we still don't understand how the old-fashion cork divider strip ended up as recommendation to fill your expansion gaps.
Looking for more tips and tricks of the trade to install your own natural wooden floor like a pro? Look no further than the "Wooden Floor Installation Manual"

Wood You Like Wooden Floor Installation Manual

Which floor finish is the best?

Which of these two wood floor finish options would be best: Oil or lacquer?

One of the hardest questions to answer is: what makes a better finish, lacquer or oil/HardWaxOil?
First of all it’s down to personal taste and secondly to what is expected of the floor, e.g. easy maintenance, shiny look or natural appearance of the wood.

BrushHistorical the wax floor is still seen as very labour intensive to maintain, who doesn't have memories of caretakers buffing away endlessly week after week after week (be it your “Gran” or the school caretaker). Then came the ‘modern’ lacquer (and synthetic and affordable wall-to-wall carpets) and the original wax floor almost became extinct.

For many decades most of the wooden flooring in the U.K. were pre-finished lacquered or lacquered/varnished on site. Maintenance became simple, buffing on hands and knees a thing of the past and there is a choice between high gloss and matte appearance. The newest innovation in lacquer even has the same appearance as an oiled floor to make the wood look more ‘natural’.

The biggest disadvantage of a lacquered finish on a wooden floor is that it ‘sits’ on the floor.
When damaged with a sharp object or due to the long term abrasive effect of dirt (‘dirty’ shoes ‘sanding’ away in heavy traffic areas or under chairs, tables) the lacquer doesn't protect the wood any more and dirt/moist will make the wooden floor look ‘grey’ regardless of maintenance efforts. In fact, cleaning damaged areas with a moist cloth will make things worse.

The only proper solution would be to sand the complete floor and to apply a new finish. Applying a proper lacquer layer is a job for the specialist, lacquer is not very forgiving to mistakes made.
The labour intensive maintenance of the old-fashioned wax-floor has now become a thing of the past:
oils replaced the many layers of wax. The oil penetrates the wood deeper than lacquer and makes it moist resistance, but allowing the wood to ‘breathe’. A hardwax layer is applied afterwards to make the wear and tear layer water repellent.

Nowadays most oiled floors are pre-finished (or finished on site) with HardWaxOil, combining the natural oil (long term protection) and the carnauba or bees hardwax (wear and tear layer) in a two-in-one product. It’s very easy to apply and a very forgiving product when some mistakes are made, in fact an ideal DIY-finish (but we strongly recommend you read the instructions thoroughly and use the right equipment).
It has a great surface density and therefore very resistant to abrasive movements. Besides that, any (small) damages are very easily repaired with some wax or maintenance oil without the need to sand the whole floor.
The appearance of the finished wooden floor is satin-mat with the advantage of making the floor look warmer, deeper in colour over the years.
Easymaintenance

An oiled-waxed or HardWaxOiled wooden floor requires slightly more maintenance than a lacquered floor, but not on the level of the old-fashioned knee and backbreaking wax floor, the modern maintenance products have taken care of that.
And on the other hand: wet shoe prints (think rain, Autumn, incoming traffic in hallways) don't show up immediately, like it does on a varnished or lacquered floor.

You can request our maintenance tips by popping in your name and email address in the form below (we hate spam as much as you do and your details will never be forwarded to any one else!)

Have we answered the question of what makes a better finish? No, sorry we still can't. Ultimately it is still down to personal taste, we're afraid.

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Tuesday 17 June 2014

World Cup 2014 discount

During this years World Cup football, you can purchase the E-guide
"Wooden Floor Installation Manual" 
EmanualCat
Valid up untill 13.07.2014
The E-version: instant access to the exact same content as the the paperback, plus includes all colour images and drawings.
This version can be:
  • viewed online with multiple search-options,
  • downloaded (PDF) and printed, and
  • gives you even the opportunity to ask your own questions underneath every section, every chapter even.
Wooden Floor Installation Manual, everything you need to know about DIY wooden floors

This 160 page manual in plain English contains all the tricks of the trade we and other professionals use which will make your wood floor look like it was installed by a professional too.

Let the sun shine, but protect your floor

Enjoying the sunny weather we're having of late? I'll bet you do!

The intens sunshine however resulted in a panicky email:

"I hope you can help us. We had an Oak floor installed which was finished with UV-oil. Now with all the sunny weather of the recent weeks, the part of floor that gets the sun all afternoon long is still changing colour! How is that possible, we thought with the UV-oil the floor was protected against this???"

An UV-oil finish is quite common nowadays. but is sets most people on "the wrong foot". UV-oil means the oil in the factory has certain particles in it that assists the quick factory drying of the oil with UV-light. It does not mean your floor is now protected against the effects of the UV-light of the sun.

Any wood floor reacts to light, by turning darker or lighter - depending on the wood-species. The best way to protect your floor (and its colour) is to shade it from intense sunlight during mid-day when the UV rays are at their strongest. Awnings, screens or even soft curtains will reduce the UV effect on your floor.

Plus, as you would (should!) do with your own skin to protect it during the most intense sunshine, you can also protect your floor - no matter if it is treated with UV-oil or not - by applying a regular maintenance regime which keeps the surface healthy and will reduce the effect of the sun's UV light.
Ecoline Pflegewachs Spray 1 GB

A regular maintenance regime means nothing more than applying a polish or a wax every 5 - 6 months (do avoid treating your floor in direct sunshine, the high temperature of the surface will dry out the polish/wax too quickly and result in a patchy result).

The simplest way to treat your floor - and protect it better against the sunshine - is using Saicos EcoLine Wax-Care Spray. Simply spray it on your floor, spread it out with the polish applicator and within 10 minutes the job is done!

Treat your floor regularly, enjoy the sun and don't get burned!

Wednesday 4 June 2014

Non visible finish, new from Saicos

Often we are presented with the following question:
"We've sanded down our Oak floor and like the pale colour the wood has now. How can we keep this colour?"
Before we had to tell every one that even a natural finish (such as Saicos Premium HardWaxOil, available in 4 sheens) would "darken" the wood to its natural characteristic. With Oak this tends to be honey - or yellow, and not the pale(r) colour you see right after sanding. Doing the "wet-finger" test on sanded Oak will show you this authentic colour the boards/blocks will get after oiling.
However.......!
Saicos Coating Systems has just launched a new "sheen" in their Premium HardWaxOil (the quick drying product) which will keep your Oak wood the paler colour you saw after sanding:
  • Saicose pure 4 (3)Another innovation from Saicos to keep the wood looking as natural as possible. It’s a Non visible finish.
  • After completely sanding the floor, and you would like to keep the same appearance, you should apply two coats of Saicos Pure Hardwax Oil.
  • Does not yellow over time and easy maintenance with Saicos wash care.
  • Coverage 14m2 with 2coats per litre
  • Available in 0.75 litres and 2.5 litre
  • Also ideal for Kitchen worktops, doors and furniture as well.
 Available now in our secure webshop:
Saicos Premium HardWaxOil 0.75 ltr - select the "pure" option
Saicos Premium HardWaxOil 2.5 ltr - select the "pure" option
If you are looking for a pale look on your tropical floor - for which we highly recommend the Tropical Combo - two coats of HardWaxOil staight on the sanded surface will create a patchy look, due to the fact the tropical wood is oily of its own and the oil in the HardWaxOil will have trouble penetrating to wood as it should. Therefore we do not recommend the pure on these wood-species, use the Tropical Combo and apply the single oil first!