There's been some discussion awhile back about Osmo Polyx Oil finish, but not a lot of tangible information from people who've used it. I finished a new oak floor using Osmo have lived with it for a few weeks, I wanted to report back on my experience.

The finish is a dream to work with. The odor is the lowest of any paint or finish I've ever used. Really quite amazing in that regard. It's also quite beautiful. I applied my finish by hand using the Osmo natural bristle brush (which shed quite a lot, causing me a lot of extra work removing the loose bristles from the floor). The instructions said to use two thin coats, but I found that this had pretty close to zero sheen. A third very thin coat gave me the sheen I wanted. I applied this 3rd coat with a hand buffer and wiped off any excess and swirl marks with a rag. I am really pleased with the beauty of the finish.

After letting it cure for about 2 weeks, we moved into the house. I put down building paper in the high traffic areas to protect the finish while bringing in the furniture.

After living there for a few weeks I'm finding this finish scratches exceptionally easily. We're not strangers to hardwood floors, having lived on them the last 12 years in our old house (finished with Glitza) and this definitely scratches easily. The scratches aren't deep, but they're quite visible because they turn white. Using the Osmo Liquid Wax Cleaner hides these scratches pretty well, but it really does appear to be a softer finish.

Greg

Greg,

What types of things are putting scratches into the OSMO? I've been applying OSMO to one room at a time in my house. Some parts have had OSMO down for several months, other parts for just a couple of weeks. If I'm not careful in the new sections, I'll get a scratch or two. But on the older sections, I haven't noticed anything. I've got a ~90 pound dog and two young kids.

I couldn't agree with you more on the odor and the ease of applications.

Ted

Hi Ted,

The scratches are pretty much all from moving furniture around on it. Everything we put in there had either felt or plastic pads on the bottom and didn't cause problems in our other house (finished with Glitza). I found that the plastic glides scratched the Osmo pretty easily, so I've replaced almost all of them with felt, which does better. Chairs and ottomans are particularly bad, but we slid some bookcases around (empty) and they scratched the floor too. Our dog doesn't seem to be making too many scratches, or the children, so I'm happy about that.

I expect that after we get settled in the house and stop moving the furniture around so much, we can polish out the scratches with the Osmo Liquid Wax Cleaner and it'll stay pretty nice.

On a positive note, I also meant to mention in my original review the fact that the Osmo finish appears to be virtually impervious to liquids. It doesn't discolor or spot even if something sits on it for awhile. I did a couple of different tests on this, I poured coffee on the oak board finished with 2 coats of Osmo. It immediately beaded up. I left it for 30 minutes and it was still beaded. Wiped the coffee off and it left no mark whatsoever. Results on the actual floor have been similar, water drops bead right up and leave no mark even if they're left to dry instead of being wiped up. This is very impressive to me.

Overall I'm pleased with the finish, it's just not as hard as I thought it would be. The scratches do polish out, so it's not too bad. If I were doing this for a living, however, I might think twice about using something like this on a customer's house (unless they understood it's limitations thoroughly). I think most people would rather have something with a higher scratch resistance, even if it meant being more susceptible to water damage.

Greg

Greg,

I re-read your original post and was reminded about your putting a 3rd coat down to get more of a sheen. That could be part of the scratching problem.

You may have more OSMO sitting on top of the wood surface than is typically applied and the excess is scratching easier than a 2 coat application.

The cans I used said "Satin-Matt". I've got a little sheen on my floors, but I think they are closer to a matt finish(I get a very subtle sheen across the floors when the sun comes in the front windows). I prefer my floor this way, but I know that isn't the look that many people go for.

The Liquid Wax cleaner says it can be buffed after it dries. I've got some old samples I was testing with. I'll try putting the wax cleaner on it and buffing it out. For someone who wants more of a sheen, that may be the way to get it.

One of the big sellling points to me was the repairability of the finish. I've already had to utilize this aspect of the finish. After a couple of weeks, I can't even see the spot on the floor that I had to repair & refinish.

Ted

That could be. It doesn't appear to have a significant build from that 3rd coat though and with 2 coats, I'd used significantly less then the coverage information from Osmo indicated I'd need, and it had virtually no sheen, almost completely flat. So I thought it needed more finish. Perhaps what it really needed was some of the wax and a good buff.



This was also one of the big selling points for me. I've also done a repair (to an area I misapplied) and it's pretty much impossible to see. Living in the country with 4 kids, a dog and cats, this is a big thing for me.

Greg

Anyone have any experience with Osmo on Ipe? Is there any issue with the oil penetrating the wood?

I don't have experience with Ipe, but when I was researching OSMO, I remember something about them having a finish that had a thinner consistency for dense or oily woods. On their website was a chart that listed different wood species and which finish was most appropriate.

After living with the Osmo finish for several months now, I'm pretty impressed with it.

It's excellent at resisting water and cleans up nicely. We live in the country and the kids are tracking in a lot of mud and snow this time of year and it's taken it without any issues at all. Plus, this finish looks beautiful, really brings out the grain in the wood.

Greg

I actually tried OSMO on my Ipe floor. We tried some sample boards first, which seemed OK, so we went ahead and did about 1000 sq ft. We used a floor buffer and really worked that stuff in. Taming that buffer at times was a adventure (you could have perfect control over it, guiding it with the pressure of one or two fingers, then BAM, the buffer will buck wildly). We waited about a week before walking on it, then we noticed it looked "dirty". The wax was never fully curing, even after a few weeks. While the sample boards looked good, walking on the floor put these impressions of our feet in the finish. You could buff them out, but then the next time you walked, you would get more impressions. It drove us crazy, so we stripped and sanded all over again and used Waterlox. Waterlox stunk to high hell, but it went on so nicely. It's protection against scratches is not that great (but I would guess a little better than OSMO), but after a few days of my dog laying down some nasty scratches (which so far has never damanged the Ipe, just the finish) I've learned to "let it go" and worry about more important things. As far as OSMO, I would caution using it on really dense, oily woods. Waterlox really seems to be a great fit for that type of wood.

Just checking in again with a report on the Osmo PolyX Oil finish after living with it for about a year now.

I am extremely satisfied with this finish. We have four children, a small dog, several cats, and live in the country where there is lots of mud, dirt, and grit. In addition to that, we've been doing a lot of remodeling over the last year and have used the living room for a makeshift kitchen, so there have been lots of spills and messes on the floor.

The floor finish has held up very well. It is extremely water resistant and has not developed any discernible dulling from foot traffic, even in very high traffic areas like near the front door. It cleans easily.

As I reported before, it seems to scratch a bit more easily then the Glitsa finish we had in our last house, the scratches are easily obscured using the Osmo cleaners. I was never able to really cover scratches in the Glitsa finish, so this is very nice. Now, that said, I haven't noticed any significant scratching from foot traffic, only from furniture scrubbing around on it.

I've done a couple of minor repairs with the Osmo finish itself and you really can't see them after the first week or so.

So all in all, I'm very happy with this finish. I believe that for my family and home, this was an excellent choice.

Greg

I would agree with the assessments above. As a DIY homeowner, I installed 400 sq ft of strip white oak flooring last year and finished it with OSMO Polyx Oil. Very easy and pleasant to apply. I did three coats, as the second coat still did not look uniform, but I did not exceed the application rate given by the manufacturer. The surface seemed a bit sticky for a few weeks, but then settled in to a nice uniform satin matte. After 14 months, it still looks brand new.

The finish is remarkably resistant to liquid spills, in our case, our cats whoofing up hairballs. It is somewhat more prone to scratching, however. I find the same white marks around heavy furniture, and the occasional small rock under a shoe will cause a scratch. The liquid wax or the application of more OSMO with a white synthetic pad usually does the trick.