# Wooden floor finishes - France



## dedee (26 Apr 2008)

Can anyone offer me any advise or recommendations for brand names of a good quality wooden floor finish (and where to buy) here in France? 

I have a two solid oak parquet floors (in bedrooms) that as soon as the decorating is finished will be sanded down and refinished. 

I am somewhat confused by the different type of floor finishes available here and as I have never finished a wood floor before I'd like to get it right first time. 
I guess I would like something easy and quick to apply, 1 or 2 coats only, as the floors are in bedrooms they are not hard usage areas. 


Cheers

Andy


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## christoph clark (27 Apr 2008)

You should be able to get all you need from Leroymerlin. 
If your staining I would go with a 3v3 stain rather than the " Teinte bois LES ANCIENS EBENISTES " I have have some funny green results with this range.

Next I would use a primer like the 3v3 Primaire avant vitrification
This will also give a good indication of what the final color will be like.






Then I would go with a 3v3 Vitrificateur haute performance which is a polyurethane 2 pack varnish ie varnish + hardener which sets rock hard. I wouldn't go for the glossy "brillant incolore" like I did for my worktop as it's too shiny and shows all the dust and inperfections.. a "ciré incolore" which is a wax look or satin finish or a "mat incolore" which is a mat finish..







Hope this helps.
I have used this before and I am very happy with the results the only this is the price.. not cheap..... :shock:


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## christoph clark (27 Apr 2008)

There is also a guide on floor finishing although in french you might learn something.
Je vitrifie parquets et escaliers (Format PDF 161 Ko)

here


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## dedee (27 Apr 2008)

Merci Christoph,

mon français est mauvais mais s'améliorant mais j'ai une très bon traducteur. 

Are you aware of any good french woodworking forums?

Cheers

Andy


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## Perry (29 Apr 2008)

I prefer to use a liquid wax on flooring - I had some great results with Spado Cire Liquide (which was called St Wandrille until recently) - it is about 1/3rd the price of Liberon and widely available in nearly all the bricolage outlets. Having said that, I'm going to try the Liberon liquid wax on the floor I'm putting down next month just for a comparison.... 3L (or maybe it was 5L - the big tin!) of Spado easily finished a 25m square bare oak floor* and is very easy to apply, I use a huge paint brush to cover the floor, wait 15 min with a cuppa & then rub it off with some old towels under my feet. Repeat as often as you like. The brush can be cleaned with water & it smells really nice too. It comes in 2 colours, light oak (basically transparent) & dark oak which I haven't tried.

Hope this helps

*the tin says 1L will cover 30 M Sq


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## andy brookes (30 Apr 2008)

We have oak parque throughout our house and used Osma Poylx-Oil, used to be called wax-oil. http://www.osmouk.com/osmopolyx.cfm?chapter=21 . Not sure if you can get it in France. But would fully recommend as our floors still look new 4 years later. Also very good for repairing areas as it blends in when recoating a spare area.


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## dedee (1 May 2008)

Perry, I have considered wax but am worried about water stains especially as this is for a childs bedroom.

Andy, I am not quite sure why but I'd always thought that oil finishes would take ages to build up. Or is this just the case with oil based furniture finishes. Is this OSMA finish a one coat application?

Cheers

Andy[/i]


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## andy brookes (1 May 2008)

Just two coats, which dry overnight. No worries with water stains.


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## Smudger (1 May 2008)

dedee":1liquwc7 said:


> Merci Christoph,
> 
> mon français est mauvais mais s'améliorant mais j'ai une très bon traducteur.
> 
> ...



The Complete France forum has a woodworking section, but it isn't very well patronised since several of us fell out with the moderators ( :roll: ). Could do with a bit of revitalisation.

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/TopicsActive.aspx

Speaking of French Forums - Christophe, are you also known as Clarks in France?


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## Smudger (1 May 2008)

We gave up on French floor varnishes, and in the end we imported some Ronseal diamond hard. Worked OK.


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## CWatters (2 May 2008)

I have Osma hard wax oil in several rooms including a loo. Got two 6 year old boys as well. Their aim isn't allways great but the Osma seems to stand up to the abuse. 

I've been told it's easy to repair as worn patches don't discolour when new wax is applied. 

If you not used this before...it's more like a varnish than say a furniture or shoe wax.


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## Perry (5 May 2008)

dedee":2en6kp0r said:


> Perry, I have considered wax but am worried about water stains especially as this is for a childs bedroom.
> [/i]



I had no problems with the oak floor I did - I imagine it would stain if water was allowed to rest on the surface for a while, but I mopped my floor from time to time with no damage done.

I've just found the tin - on the back there is a note saying it is possible to reinforce the wax protection with 'Spado Emuslion' which renders the floor impermiable to water staining... however, you'll still have something more 'rustic' looking and probably less durable than a modern day finish. Depends upon your needs and ideas I suppose.

Just like to add for anyone reading this, please, please do not varnish your beams.....


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## Smudger (5 May 2008)

Perry":95m2e4fq said:


> Just like to add for anyone reading this, please, please do not varnish your beams.....



Quite. For an authentic French look, paint them cack brown...


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## dedee (9 Jul 2008)

After much debate and input from the missus I ended up with wax. My preference would have been for the OSMO Hard Wax Oil but could not find it around here nor on mail order. So instead used an off the shelf liquid floor wax

I stripped back the old wax and then sanded out the deeper scratches and marks.

For anyone who has ever wondered is a ROS will do the job of sanding floors, well the Metabo SXE450 sure can. Hooked up to my shop vac, a Numatic NVQ, both bedrooms each 9m2 were done it about 1 hour each. I also used the ROS with a polishing mop to polish the wax. The missus is happy so job well done.

Sadly it only took 2 nights before one of the twins lost entire stomach contents all over the refinished floor. :evil: 

Cheers

Andy


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