Walnut Stairs and Engineered Floors - Wearability??

BMD

Hi,

I am interested in installing walnut stairs and 1 engineered floor in my new build.

I just want to enquire about its wearability? A few people have warned me against walnut as when it scratches (e.g., stone on your shoe), it comes up as a very visible white scratch.

I really would like to go with the walnut as I am not a fan of having oak everywhere in the house but at the same time I dont want to regret it.

Any advice would be appreciated.

galwayrush

I find Walnut shows up any scratches and dust more than almost any other finished wood.

slowburner

Oak is harder than Walnut too. French Oak 508 kg/cm2, American Black Walnut 459 kg/cm2. Oak is traditionally used for staircases for good reasons. The only way to minimise the wear and tear on a Walnut staircase would be to investigate some kind of highly resistant finish - epoxy perhaps?

jprboy

We have an engineered walnut floor in our sitting room which we are quite happy with.

Yes, it is prone to scratching and has picked up a few in the 3 years that we've been in the house but I'm philosophical about it and regard it as part of life in general. Your car, walls, even your own body, will inevitably get scratched from time to time.

If you don't want them to get scratched, you will need to apply the following rules:

• No footwear, apart from socks or slippers.
• No kids EVER on that floor (that's where our scratches came from).
• No visitors on that floor (unless they obey the No footwear rule).
• Furniture only to be moved with extreme care.
• Workmen and delivery men - do you need to cover the floor for them?

Re slowburner's suggestion re a resistant finish, I'd advise testing a sample before going that route.

I'd also be interested in hearing if there's any way to treat scratches. I'm aware that I've indicated I'm prepared to live with them. However, if it develops to a point where it's more scratch than walnut, it would be nice to know something can be done ....:)

paddy147

Wallnut is a bitch to keep clean and it shows up scratches like theres no tomorrow.

I opted for white oak engineered wide plank flooring,after seeing 2 houses with wallnut in them,both floors are only down in the last year and they look like 10 year old floors allready.

Not my cuppa tea tbh,but thats just me.

slowburner

jprboy wrote: »

We have an engineered walnut floor in our sitting room which we are quite happy with.

Yes, it is prone to scratching and has picked up a few in the 3 years that we've been in the house but I'm philosophical about it and regard it as part of life in general. Your car, walls, even your own body, will inevitably get scratched from time to time.

If you don't want them to get scratched, you will need to apply the following rules:

• No footwear, apart from socks or slippers.
• No kids EVER on that floor (that's where our scratches came from).
• No visitors on that floor (unless they obey the No footwear rule).
• Furniture only to be moved with extreme care.
• Workmen and delivery men - do you need to cover the floor for them?

Re slowburner's suggestion re a resistant finish, I'd advise testing a sample before going that route.

I'd also be interested in hearing if there's any way to treat scratches. I'm aware that I've indicated I'm prepared to live with them. However, if it develops to a point where it's more scratch than walnut, it would be nice to know something can be done ....:)

Walnut tinted floor wax?

jprboy

slowburner wrote: »

Walnut tinted floor wax?

Thanks for that, slowburner

1chippy

seen someone spray the lighter scratches with wd 40. it was one of those emergency cases but it took them back (:) temporarily i presume).

Paul.C

Personally I prefer Walnut, IMO its the nicest finish, Wenge is nice too, and if you know a good supplier, zebrawood is a quality finish.

Oak is nice too and theres a lot of different shades of it to pick from.

If your looking for a nice floor Pick walnut

If your looking for a durable floor pick ash

Oak is in between. As for scratches your gonna get them, its better to accept them and move on. Once you have a few then they blend into each other.

Its like anything, brand new and its nice and clean. After a while you get character.

The other advantage to walnut is when it is slightly aged, the joints dont show up black lines as they do in light shades.

Gra10

Hi guys,

Were thinking of getting walnut floors through our back room through hall to front room so quite a lot. We have oak in our diner area. Where us the best place to go to get good deals on wood flooring. We got our oak floors in glen in glasnevin but someone else suggested space in sallins in Kildare. Any suggestions were to get a good variety at good prices. Also were lookin at getting new bannisters/stairs. Anyone recommend good joiners or stair companies that do a good job? Cheers

slowburner

Paul.C wrote: »

Personally I prefer Walnut, IMO its the nicest finish, Wenge is nice too, and if you know a good supplier, zebrawood is a quality finish.

Oak is nice too and theres a lot of different shades of it to pick from.

If your looking for a nice floor Pick walnut

If your looking for a durable floor pick ash

Oak is in between. As for scratches your gonna get them, its better to accept them and move on. Once you have a few then they blend into each other.

Its like anything, brand new and its nice and clean. After a while you get character.

The other advantage to walnut is when it is slightly aged, the joints dont show up black lines as they do in light shades.

Cheers Paul
I was about to post up that you were wrong about the strength of Ash versus Oak (I was going to be polite;)) but then I thought I'd better check my facts and this is what I found;

Max.crushing strength/ Toughness/ Weight
(psi) / (inch-lbs/in3) / (lbs/ft3)

Ash: 6877, 21, 41
Oak: 6718, 10, 31*

I was gobsmacked by this. I would always have thought Oak to be harder than Ash. In fact, I have always been told this too. How I wish Ash was a durable timber outdoors, then it would be the most perfect timber:rolleyes:


*I tried several times to sort this out in a nice readable form but the software decided to mince it on me - I hope you can make some sense of it! I am sure you will get the gist.

Paul.C

Yep, Ash has some fine qualities, If only it were a shade brighter it would be perfect. The nicer colour and grain is why most go for oak.

As for the form detail, I got it in one. Nice to know the exact variables. I know what you mean by not having a cubed squared or even degrees key. Im sure theres a way of doing it with ctrl. ah well!

Edit: found way to do it

ALT 0176= Degrees symbol °
ALT 253= Squared symbol ²
ALT 0179= Cubed symbol ³

Loads of alt keys for symbols apparently ☺☻♥♣♠♦♀♂

Anyway, I thought ash was good outdoors, Not really used it externally yet(usually use larch outside myself). Is it(Ash) vulnerable to bad weathering? I presume it would need light treatment of some kind so? I might learn something new today:)

Paul.C

1chippy wrote: »

seen someone spray the lighter scratches with wd 40. it was one of those emergency cases but it took them back (:) temporarily i presume).

LOL About 7 years ago an old boss melted crayon into a very large scratch he made in a brand new oak floor:rolleyes: He was a cowboy. Worked a treat till he got payed, Unfortunate for the owner as im sure it didnt last. The day he handed me red rawl plugs to hang solid white oak door+frames was the day I walked.
I have seen some corners cut badly in my time:(

slowburner

Paul.C wrote: »

Yep, Ash has some fine qualities, If only it were a shade brighter it would be perfect. The nicer colour and grain is why most go for oak.

As for the form detail, I got it in one. Nice to know the exact variables. I know what you mean by not having a cubed squared or even degrees key. Im sure theres a way of doing it with ctrl. ah well!

Edit: found way to do it

ALT 0176= Degrees symbol °
ALT 253= Squared symbol ²
ALT 0179= Cubed symbol ³

Loads of alt keys for symbols apparently ☺☻♥♣♠♦♀♂

Anyway, I thought ash was good outdoors, Not really used it externally yet(usually use larch outside myself). Is it(Ash) vulnerable to bad weathering? I presume it would need light treatment of some kind so? I might learn something new today:)

CººL
(I'll have to do more fiddling to figure it out on the mac)


Ash won't last piddling time externally. And I think it might be resistant to treatment too - not 100% sure of the resistance part though.