Once you’ve invested in high-quality, maple hardwood flooring to make your home more elegant and comfortable, you may want to consider applying Danish oil to protect your hardwood flooring from moisture (which can cause unsightly discoloration, rot, and deterioration). Using Danish oil on maple flooring is one way to be proactive about protecting the shine and beauty you so admired when your new hardwood floors were first installed.

What is Danish Oil?

Danish oil is an excellent product for finishing wood, comprised of tung oil or polymerized linseed oil. Because Danish oil dries hard to the touch, it provides a satin finish that is water resistant. Often it is used as a primer coat applied to bare wood before paint or varnish. Danish oil on maple flooring gives a lustrous sheen to hardwood without being glossy or slippery.

How to Apply Danish Oil to Your Floors

Applying Danish Oil on maple flooring is a relatively simple operation. It is similar to using a coat of varnish. Vacuum the floor first, then wipe it with a dry mop to remove any additional dirt or dust particles. You should avoid cleaning it with water or other liquid as this will prevent the wood from adequately absorbing the oil and may even change the color of the wood.

Soak a dry cloth in the Danish Oil so that it is damp, but not dripping. Apply it first to a small corner section of the floor as a test to see the results. Then rub your oil-soaked cloth into the maple wood, using a steady back and forth motion that goes with the wood’s grain. Use caution not to rub the wood flooring against the grain as this may cause unwanted rough spots on your floor. Wait about five minutes for the danish oil to be thoroughly soaked into the wood before removing any excess with a clean, dry cloth.

Go across the room, applying the danish oil plank by plank. Lighter sections of maple flooring may need additional applications of oil to better blend in with natural dark sections. When finished with your initial application, wipe up any oil that the floor has not fully absorbed. If can be helpful to use a buffing machine to assure uniformity of oil across all of the flooring surface. Do not walk on the floor or use the room for at least 24 hours, allowing the oil to dry completely. If you want a darker surface to your maple flooring, apply an additional application of Danish Oil.

The Benefits of Danish Oil on Wood Flooring

You’ll need approximately 1 gallon of danish oil to cover 600 square feet of maple flooring. But by following the above tips, your reward will be a maple hardwood floor that has cured to a hard satin finish. Applying Danish Oil does a beautiful job of preventing liquid and other spills from ruining your delicate maple hardwood flooring.