Bringing Back the Beauty of Hardwood Flooring

Brazilian Walnut Hardwood Floors

We recently wrapped up a project in Chapel Hill that had the Fisher Hardwood Flooring team completely sanding and Rubio Monocoat finishing the first floor and stairs leading to the second level. The main challenge to the five-day project was that the homeowners’ floor had an excessive amount of “gapping” throughout the floor.

I suspect this was most likely the result of improper acclimation of the hardwoods when they were initially installed. Since it would have been extremely cost prohibitive to remove and replace the entire Brazilian Walnut hardwood floor, we decided to sand, finish, and trowel-fill all the gaps. We ended up trowel-filling the entire floor twice to ensure the numerous—and oftentimes large—gaps were properly filled. Matching the filler to the hardwood also proved a challenge because this particular grade of Brazilian Walnut isn’t uniform in color.

When we apply the Rubio Monocoat finish, the team needs to do a slightly more intensive sanding job. We use a range of grit—from 36 to 150—and then vacuum the entire floor before cleaning it with Rubio Monocoat raw wood cleaner. Brazilian Walnut hardwood has a lot of natural oil, so cleaning it properly is an essential step to ensure the Rubio Monocoat oil bonds to the floor. The finish produces a more natural look than traditional “film-based” finishes and is also extremely durable. Also important to the Chapel Hill homeowners, and to many of our clients, is that Rubio Monocoat is eco-friendly as it contains zero VOCs.

If you’d like to learn more about using Rubio Monocoat, please contact me to discuss your flooring needs.

“Matt Fisher and his crew were able to transform our distressed Brazilian walnut flooring into a beautiful piece of modern art! I can’t believe how well they turned out.”