Untreated wooden floor

Hello,

I am moving into an apartment where all the rooms have floors made of old wooden planks. The owner has completely renovated the apartment, including sanding down the wooden planks.

The whole thing looks absolutely great! ;-)

Now he told me that the floor is only sanded and not further treated. He doesn’t want to treat it either, because the coloring and grain would change with treatment using oil, wax, or lacquer. That means the floor is not sealed, and I am not allowed to do so.

According to him, the floor was laid between 1890 and 1900. He says the boards are now so dry that they can no longer absorb any moisture.

For cleaning, he said to occasionally wipe it with a barely damp cloth and some soap, but mostly sweep and vacuum!

I don’t really know much about this. Of course, it makes sense that sealing would generally be better, but it’s also true that it affects the appearance.

My question now: Could there be problems if, I’d say, once a month I really only wipe the floor with a barely damp cloth and otherwise sweep or vacuum? Or is there any other tip for maintaining an unsealed wooden floor without oil, wax, or lacquer?

Great floor!

What problems could there be? At most, it could get dirty☺ if dirt is brought in from outside. We only vacuum our oiled parquet and if needed, we use the (slightly damp) Fischer. Oiling with an uncolored oil does not harm the floor and does not discolor it – for that, the surface is a little less protected.

This is rather a question for a carpenter and woodworking forum. Such questions are discussed there at length and often controversially.

Oiling or any other treatment changes the color impression of wood. How much depends on the wood and oil, but it hardly ever goes without change. So don’t do it either.

The wood now has equilibrium moisture. This fluctuates with the humidity and therefore also between summer and winter. Accordingly, the gaps will also change. If you wipe it when damp with fog, you will see a color change that disappears again after drying.

Regards Michael