How durable is fumed oak floors?

[amsbam1]

I need to put down an oak floor, and I don't want to have to top up the stain in years to come when bits of it wear off, so I was wondering about ammonia fuming instead of dye staining.

Will that wear off in the most walked on spots like standard stain or does in seep deeper into the wood?

I think i'd prefer not to stain at all then to have issues with stain wearing off.

 

[custard]

You get 2 to 3mm long grain penetration with Oak or Chestnut full strength fuming (much more on the end grain), so way deeper than with any liquid stain.

But it's a pretty horrible process. I've only ever fumed small furniture sized components and that was bad enough, the idea of doing an entire floor really does not appeal! Incidentally, you would have to fume before installing the floor, you couldn't fume in situ. Also the colour of fumed Oak, well it's difficult to describe and photos don't really capture it, but it's a bit lifeless and old fashioned. Personally I wouldn't fume, in fact I wouldn't stain at all. Natural Oak is a much more cheerful and contemporary look, staining to the same sort of level as fuming just looks like a Victorian mausoleum. Only my opinion of course.

Good luck!

 

[amsbam1]

The colour of fumed Oak it's a bit lifeless and old fashioned. Personally I wouldn't fume, in fact I wouldn't stain at all.

Yes, the oak seems to go a dull greeny gray colour after fuming. However when I coat with danish oil, the yellow in the danish oil brings it to quite a pleasant colour in my opinion. I think I prefer this colour than the unstained oak.

The supplier can fume and oil the boards for me, so I won't have to go near ammonia thankfully.

 

[custard]

You're the one living with it, so yours is the only opinion that counts! And if the supplier's doing all the smelly stuff, then you're golden.

One last bit of advice, there are ammonia fuming shortcuts that won't penetrate as deeply. Explain to the supplier that you want wear resistant, deep fuming. Cross cut a sample off from the boards he sends, make sure this is at least 75mm from an end (fuming penetrates a long way down the end grain very quickly), and check you're getting the 2-3mm of fuming penetration on the long grain that you need.

Good luck!

 

[dickm]

............ or find an old-fashioned stable and stick the boards in there for a few months

 

[Beau]

Another way to chemically stain oak is using potassium dichromate crystals mixed with water. This also penetrates below the surface like fuming but easier to do.