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Oiled or Lacquered Wood Flooring

This is the choice people agonise over and it comes down to one thing: oil soaks into the wood, lacquer sits on top of it. Everything else — how it looks, how you clean it, what happens when the dog puts a scratch across it — follows from that.

We stock 82 oiled floors, 48 lacquered and 4 unfinished. Supplied on their own or supplied and fitted by our own fitters across South East and South London.

See the range ↓

What the Difference Actually Looks Like

An oiled floor reads matt and slightly open. Light lands on the timber rather than on a film, so the grain looks deeper and the colour looks like wood rather than like a photograph of wood. In a room with a glass wall at one end this is the finish that does not glare.

HerringboneChevron
Block shapePlain rectangle, cut squareCut at an angle at both ends
How it meetsEnd to side, steppedPoint to point, continuous V
FeelTraditional, informal, forgivingFormal, directional, more modern
Waste10–15%More — the angled cuts throw away more
CostHigher than plankHighest of the three
Best inAlmost any room; the safe choiceLong rooms and hallways, where the V has somewhere to go

A lacquered floor carries a thin film with a slight sheen. It looks cleaner and more uniform, which suits a modern room, and it reflects more light — useful in a dark hallway, less useful where the sun comes in low.

The Difference That Matters in Five Years

Scratch an oiled floor and you can repair that patch: clean it, re-oil it, blend it in. The repair is invisible because there is no film to show a join. A busy family hallway — or a shop or restaurant — can be kept going this way for years without a sander in the house.

Scratch a lacquered floor and the film is cut. You cannot patch a film without seeing the patch, so the honest answer is that you live with it until the floor is due a full sand and re-lacquer. That is a bigger job, done less often — which is exactly the trade.

Upkeep: Little and Often, or Nothing and Then Everything

An oiled floor wants a maintenance coat every two to five years depending on traffic. It is not sanding; it is cleaning the floor and rolling on oil, a weekend job in one room. Skip it for a decade and the floor goes dry and grey in the walkways.

A lacquered floor asks for nothing at all until the film wears through, which in a domestic room is commonly ten to fifteen years. Then it is a full sand and re-lacquer, with the dust and the disruption that implies.

Day to day both are the same: sweep, damp mop with a wood floor cleaner, never a soaking wet mop, felt pads under furniture. The finish does not change the daily routine.

What Each Costs, and Which We Keep More Of

Our oiled floors run from £22.00 to £62.40 per m² excluding VAT with a median of £47.99. Lacquered run from £25.99 to £83.99 with a median of £41.95.

So lacquered is, on the median, the cheaper of the two here — which surprises people who expect oil to be the budget option. The spread is about what is underneath: 56 of the oiled floors carry a 3–4 mm wear layer, while the lacquered range splits evenly between 3–4 mm and 2–3 mm. The grade you choose moves the look further than the finish does.

We lean oiled: 82 against 48. That is not a judgement, it is what sells in London houses, where most people want the floor to look like timber rather than like a surface.

Shop Oiled and Lacquered Flooring

130 finished floors — 82 oiled, 48 lacquered — in engineered oak and walnut. Three samples free, and samples are the only honest way to judge a finish.

Showing 97–130 of 130 results

Floors We Have Finished Both Ways

Oiled rustic oak through a Honor Oak family house where scratches were a certainty and spot repair mattered more than a perfect surface. Lacquered natural oak in a Dulwich extension where the brief was a clean, even floor under a lot of glass.

More of these, with photographs, are on our recent work page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which finish is more hard-wearing?

Lacquer resists the first scratch better, because the film takes it — which is also why it is the only finish we specify for a cloakroom. Oil recovers better from the hundredth, because you can repair it. Over ten years in a busy house, oiled floors usually look better — not because they scratch less, but because the marks get dealt with.

Can I change my mind later?

Yes, in one direction easily: an oiled floor can be sanded and lacquered. Going the other way, lacquer to oil, needs every trace of film sanded off first or the oil will not penetrate. Possible, but it is a proper sanding job.

Is oiled flooring harder to look after?

Day to day, no — same sweeping and damp mopping. The difference is the maintenance coat every two to five years. If that sounds like something you will never get round to, choose lacquered and be honest with yourself now rather than in year six. In a kitchen that is the usual answer.

Which is better over underfloor heating?

Neither has an advantage. What matters there is the board, not the surface: 41 of our oiled floors and 22 of the lacquered are approved for underfloor heating, and the full list is on our underfloor heating page.

What about unfinished floors?

We keep four, and they exist for one reason: you want a colour or a sheen nobody sells ready-made, and you have a finisher who will do it on site. They cost more by the time they are finished, not less.

Can I see the difference before deciding?

You should. The two finishes look nothing alike under real light, and no photograph conveys it — the same is true of colour. Order three free samples, or come to the Forest Hill showroom where floors are laid out in full boards.

What Our Customers Say

★★★★★

“We had some herringbone flooring fitted recently. It was a great experience from start to finish and we couldn't be more happy with the result. Ruslan is a…”

— Dave Thompson

★★★★★

“Beautiful job, I’m so pleased. Ruslan is very knowledgable, flagged any potential issues early and advised me on what I could preserve from the existing f…”

— Rosa O'Mara

★★★★★

“I went to visit Wood4Floors to see some samples, and had a super helpful man show me some things and gave me a few full sized samples of herringbone flooring.…”

— Drew Theunissen

See all 101 reviews on Google →

How do I get a price for a finished floor?

Send your room sizes for a price including waste and fitting, or order free samples and look at an oiled and a lacquered board side by side in your own room.

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