OSMO oils are effectively a 5 star product range in a market where we have yet to see a rival oil that even gets close to 2 stars.
OILS FOR FLOORS
The Osmo range is the coating of choice when you want to use a durable, hard wearing oil on your floor. Proven for over a decade in Australia [Its been here since 2000] the coatings are clearly better in many definable areas than other oils. The mono-systems approach taken by some manufacturers simply cannot compete with OSMO in wear, appearance, ease of use and spot maintenance.
Sometimes a specification may use the expression ‘use this product or similar’ but this doesn’t apply with OSMO. There is no similar product on the market. [To suggest that all oils are the same would be the equivalent of saying that all cars are the same. Clearly ill informed.] OSMO products are unique formulations that offer unique benefits. Typical German thoroughness has resulted in a highly durable and consistent floor oil. OSMO have options in oils that include special products for all areas where timber is used. They even make UV protection oils to resist fading as well as anti-slip products to meet requirements for safety both internally and on decks. OSMO offers the most complete and easy to use range that we have ever seen and they enhance the beauty of our local timbers substantially.
They are stand out products.
Older Style Oils Fail the Durability Challenge
Oils usually offer low durability. For years we have run tests on oils and determined that they needed to be recoated often. Products such as Tung Oils, Linseed and Fortified oils fall into a category of product that require a lot of re-coat work and we mean often! Don’t expect a long life. We have seen plenty of oiled floors in these types that have needed to be re-coated or fully re-sanded in under three years.
As you can appreciate this impacts on lifestyle choices because you have to pull all your furniture out of the house regularly. This is part of the reason that oils in general have a poor reputation. The rise in plastic polyurethane coatings is linked to the poor durability of older style oil finishes. People have had to settle for plastic when what they really desired as a natural looking finish.
OSMO Break the mold
OSMO Offers a natural look and a durable hard-wearing surface. There are many instances of floors around WA that have been coated in OSMO since 1994 and have not been re-coated because they simply don’t need it. Think about this: if they had been coated in Tung Oil or some other mono-typical oil they would doubtless have been re-coated two to three times in that period. This is a level of wear that is far beyond the level offered by any other oil system. These owners did their research and made sure that they got a durable oil.
The Natural Look
Most people prefer the look of timber finished in oil. It both looks and feels more natural. The grain isn’t obscured under a plastic coating. Like it or not plastic adds its own unique synthetic character to a floor: oils retain the more natural warmth of the floor. Solvent-based polyurethane introduces the colour yellow because it is naturally made from a product with a straw yellow colour. Waterborne acrylics add the colour grey as do to a lesser extent waterborne polyurethane formulations. They each add a synthetic appearance which you either like or don’t like. More people warm to the natural tones of an oil finish then do people feel attracted to the synthetic looking surface in the polyurethane choices. Coatings that allow the timber to breathe naturally are clearly better to look at.
You Get What You Ask For
If you ask a floor sander to apply an oil you have very little control over what you get. Since the market is flooded with monotype oils then in most cases that is what you will receive on your floor. In other words you will get a floor that is not durable. If you want a durable finish then you need to ask the sander to apply OSMO oil. It must be a two-coat system and the sander must sand your floor appropriately for the oil.
Don’t settle for a two star oil when you paid for a five star floor.
As you can see on the site there are three main OSMO options. At VCS we are always happy to oblige with information regarding the choices.
Natural Options
What could be more natural than Thistle Oil, Linseed Oil, Soybean Oil & Sunflower Oil? Candelilla Wax and Carnauba Wax are equally natural products. These are the ingredients in OSMO oil.
Standard floor coatings require petroleum derivatives and plastic in one form or another. There is clearly a difference between solvent-intensive plastic finishes and OSMO natural finishes.
Spot Maintenance
Only OSMO offers the benefit of spot repairs.
This saves you time and money and you can have a good looking floor for longer.
Imagine that you have a scratch on your floor. It is coated with OSMO so you simply wipe the area clean and rub in a little fresh oil to the area. No need to mask off board, no need to sand the floor, no need to get a workman in: you simply apply a little oil and stay off the area for 24 hours. Done. Cost of a small tin of oil for repairs is $73.00 and you can keep using that same tin for the next 5-6 years. Compare that to the standard scenario shown below at over 30 times that cost.
Imagine the same scratch in polyurethane or Swedish finish. In this case you need a full recoat of the floor to fix the scratch. After getting the quote you would probably just live with the damaged floor until such time that you had to have work done. At an average house cost of $2300.00 for the recoat [based on 80m2 in 2014] it is costly to fix up the scratches. [By the way – Spot repairs cannot be effected on polyurethane without masking off the boards, sanding and coating which also gives you a completely different finish to those areas. The repair is often more obvious than the scratch was.]
Maintenance Products.
At best you get a mop from some coating suppliers though most will just give you a recommendation on how to clean the floor and send you off to the hardware store. OSMO don’t do that. They actually supply many different maintenance products so that you don’t have to guess about what you should use. OSMO recognize that a floor is a thing of beauty and value and that you will want to keep it in pristine condition. At the same time you want it to be simple. OSMO provide everything from custom maintenance kits through to sprays, additives, pads and sweeping mops. No guesswork required.
Family Friendly Oil
Many people who have switched to OSMO floors have said the same thing. “Where was this product when we were raising our family?” They loved their timber floors but with little ones playing on the floor they had to live with scratches. Play areas became obvious wear areas on their floor. As they point out, “If we had had this in those days we would have been able to keep our floors looking great.” Yes, OSMO is extremely family friendly.
Heritage Floors.
Australia is blessed with some amazing buildings with amazing floors. But like it or not you cannot simply go on re-sanding them At some point you will lose the floor as you sand close to the old tongue and groove. Consider too that the floors were not designed to be coated in some plastic looking surface. Traditionally floors were oiled and waxed: this approach was labor intensive in the day hence the change to plastic in the 1970’s.
OSMO is the obvious choice for these floors. Not only does it restore the look of the floor from the early history of flooring but it also takes away the need for re-sanding. In the future you can simply spot apply oil to heavily used areas and when the whole area needs some attention you just clean and apply an extra coat. It is that simple. You preserve the heritage and save the floor at the same time. Again OSMO is simply amazing as a floor coating. This is a huge saving in time and expense.
Saving Money
Upfront costs in flooring [unless you do the floor yourself] are similar for a lot of finishes. After that the costs can mount with plastic floor coatings as these wear. However since spot repairs are something that you can do yourself you can significantly extend the life of your floor. And since the recoat is something that is aimed at the handyman you can even apply any future recoats yourself or else get in a tradesman who, can often recoat without any sanding work. Think about the potential savings.
The OSMO approach has been well thought out.
Australian Hardwoods.
Depending on where you live they are called many things: exotic hardwoods, amazing timbers etc. Most people agree on one thing: Australia has some of the hardest and most beautiful timbers in the world. They truly are amazing.
Many oil products simply cannot penetrate these timbers. This is the reason that many oils don’t do as well here as they do elsewhere. The key to OSMO’s success is that they don’t just accept failure: They keep going and innovating to produce excellent oils. As a result we have oils that will penetrate timbers that are incredibly hard from IRONWOOD & RED MAHOGANY through to the legendary West Australian WANDOO timber. [WANDOO is around the hardest timber that can be dried in Australia and is extremely heavy and dense. If you are reading this and you aren’t from Western Australia then think of the heaviest timber that you have locally and, imagine something that is twice that, and you will be heading in the right direction. It is an astounding tough timber.] Many timbers require some specialized primer but not OSMO: OSMO oils will adhere and penetrate to protect from within even these hardy species. At VCS we have developed instructions on sanding work. Sanding must finish at nothing finer than 100 grit to allow some openness in the grain to absorb the oil. This is essential.
For Example:
Brushbox is an amazing hardwood with rich pink tones and a huge natural oil content. It challenges all of the traditional solvent and waterborne finishes but OSMO 1101 goes on easily.
More Suited To Environmental Change
Another concern with plastic coatings is their inability to move with the timber in many instances. Examples of this occur when timber floors are coated with plastic/polyurethane and the boards move a little which in turn stresses the coating. As the coating stretches you get strong white lines between the boards. This completely takes away from the appearance of the floor. These white lines are stretched polyurethane that has been fractured. OSMO works in a completely different manner because it does not form a hard coating that cannot stretch. While each board is coated, each is allowed to act individually. If there is any board movement as a result of a change in atmosphere, temperature or environmental conditions the boards can move freely without affecting the overall look of the floor. This is a valuable benefit as over the years we have often seen floors where the timber has shrunk a little. (Expansion and contraction are natural features of timber floors that are naturally occurring and this is not a fault in the timber floor. It is natural motion and needs a natural solution.)
It can therefore be seen that Osmo oils are especially suited to the changing climate. The bureau of meteorology has pointed out that the average temperature in Western Australia as risen by 1° on average in both summer and winter and this has caused some movement in timber floors. It is worth noting the advantage of OSMO OIL in this situation. The boards are allowed to move as they would naturally without the risk of unsightly white lines appearing between the boards.