Modern hardwood flooring finish systems consist of several layer of urethane and aluminum oxide (AO). AO is the same material that is used to make sandpaper. It is a very tough and is added to the finish system to extend the durability of the urethane. After the finish system is applied it is baked on to the hardwood in a specialized UV oven. It is very difficult to walk through the AO layer but it does have one flaw. If the finish is scratched deeply the AO will show as an unsightly white line. This is often perceived as a scratch in the wood flooring, but that is often not the case, it is merely showing the presence of AO.
Because of the specialized nature of the application process there is currently no easy fix when it comes to AO scratch repair with one exception, ORANGE OIL.
Any product that contains orange oil will work including commonly found wood polish (e.g. Orange-Glo) products at big-box stores.
This simple repair process, along with some pics illustrating the deliberate mutilation of an AO flooring finish system on strand woven bamboo, is detailed in the following pics.
The first pic shows the damage done by a hammer and a nail to the left of the black line. The area to the right of the black line was wiped with Orange Glo.
In this pic, both sides of the board were wiped with Orange Glo. Notice that the pic is a close-up of the bamboo flooring. If this damaged board was in the middle of a floor you would be hard-pressed to spot the damage.
As soon as I was reassured with hearing from the reps how much better the finishes are today, with AO, to protect the engineered wood from splitting/buckling under spills, I find that it scratches white! They certainly do *look* more durable.
ReplyDeleteOn the Orange Oil. It certainly does seem to hide them well so it looks like a wood floor again. A note of caution by someone who posted elsewhere that baby oil hid them, is that if you ever want to refinish the floor, the oil might become a problem. There isn't a lot of top layer on the engineered floors to sand off if the oil absorbs and interferes with a new finish.
I am so disappointed in these finishes which I read are used on 99% of today's flooring. They not only cover and destroy the beauty, luster and texture of real wood but they aren't even very durable either.
You have to wonder if these developers test well or use these products in their own homes under real life conditions -- kids & pets for one!
Still searching and hoping to find a real wood floor and finish that can be used on a slab in the main stream consumer market (not high end) and to get away from the AO finishes now : (
I've looked everywhere for a solution and this is the only one that I've been able to find.
ReplyDeleteIi agree with the previous comment, although the AO makes the floor extremely strong, those white marks appear with the slightest movement of something on top of the floor.
I've my finger crossed hopping this works.
Well, found the Orange-Glo tried and nothing happened.
ReplyDeleteI'm using it on a Armstrong Premier Performance Walnut.
RW
Thank you for sharing such great information. It has help me in finding out more detail about oak flooring company
ReplyDeleteOrange oil did not work on our white scratches. We are looking for flooring without aluminum oxide to replace our current stranded bamboo.��
ReplyDelete