Brushed and Textured Finishes

Textured finishes for your wooden floor

Wood is a beautiful material. It is recognized worldwide because it is beautiful to look at and provides lots of atmosphere and makes a home come to life. But wood is much more than just the visual aspect! It also adds a texture that feels comfortable and which give the decoration of your living rooms lots of extra character.

 

There are several ways to align the texture of wood to the look of your interior. Lalegno SA has the in-house machinery to offer you the various textured options.

 

BRUSHED FLOORS

What is brushing?

Brushed wood gives a pleasant tactile sensation. When brushing a hard wire brush is used for removing the softer wood fibers from the wood. That way, the harder wood fibers that remain are emphasized. This is done by machine at Lalegno South Africa.

 

Especially open-pored wood, which is wood with clear grain, such as Oak for example, is treated that way. When you brush Oak, you do it in order to emphasize the wood structure. The grain in brushed flooring is much more visible. Because the surface of brushed boards is rougher to the touch, they will also have a very natural, aged appearance.

Saw marks

In floors with saw marks, band saw marks are made on the oak top layer of your floor. These markings are perpendicular to the wood grain and are applied to the surface haphazardly and in varied depths.

 

It is exactly that random effect of saw marks that brings balance to the wood. They lead the attention away from the grain and emphasize the shape and the aesthetic lines of the wood itself. Perhaps that is the reason why designers massively fall for the beautiful design of flooring with saw marks, and why this is now a very popular look. In any case, wood with saw markings has been around a long time and will surely continue to be very popular in the future.

 

Despite the modern design character of this type of flooring with 3D effect, these floors still offer an appearance that recalls the good old days. They create a weathered, authentic atmosphere, but also a very exclusive appearance, but also practical.

In addition to the aesthetic aspect of this structure finish, there is also a functional advantage. Studies have indeed shown that wood surfaces with saw marks are easier to finish because the finishing and protective coatings adhere better to the structure.

 

Lalegno floors with saw marks are designed to withstand the challenges of everyday life. Thus, they can easily and quickly be cleaned.

 

The effect of the saw marks may be partially lost when you re-sand your floor, but with proper maintenance they will make you proud for very many years to come before that happens!

 

Finishes and Coatings

 

One of the most significant decisions you will be faced with when buying engineered wood flooring is the type of coating to be used. Careful consideration needs to go into this decision because the level of maintenance and care depends on the type of coating used. It is also essential to understand the difference between pre-finished and unfinished floors so that you know what you’re getting into when you make your purchase.

 

It is possible to purchase unfinished engineered wood with the option of having it finished after installation, and while this is an option, we recommend avoiding this route in most cases. Flooring that is prefinished at the factory, according to precise specifications in a controlled environment is a much safer bet than having the floor coated on-site where many variables could cause errors in the final finish.

 

At Lalegno, we can offer you a range of coatings including oiled, lacquered and UV oils. Let’s take a closer look at these options.

 

Unfinished

This is the raw state of wood flooring before any coating has been applied. It should be understood that the flooring cannot be used in this state, and a coating needs to be applied before use.

Oiled, Lacquered and UV Oil Finish

Oiled Finish
Oil is the oldest protection used on Timber flooring, going back hundreds of years. With technology oils become a popular choice again due to its natural appearance. Oils penetrate the surface of the timber, nourishing and protecting at the same time. The only down side to oil is that regular maintenance is required to keep your floors looking new.

 

Lacquered Finish
Lacquer has a far superior protection for your flooring. Its resistance to scratching and staining is excellent, and with technology today the look and feel is very close to a naturally oiled floor. Learn more about our innovative Ecostar 2K lacquer finish by clicking here.

 

UV Oil Finish
UV oil is the latest coating technology for timber flooring, with many different possibilities of finish, from matt to glossy, with the best protection one can buy. UV oils are based on natural oils that become UV curable due to chemical modification which in turn gives us/you the best possible scratch and chemical resistance.

 

Wood Grades

Engineered oak flooring is available in multiple grades that describe the type of wood used. The grade of the wood affects the overall appearance of the floor when installed, and is an important consideration when choosing a product. Higher grades are cut from the centre of the oak logs and offer more uniform finishes while the wood that is cut from the outer layers provide more natural looking results. Lalegno South Africa offers Classic grade, also known as Rustic, and Prime grade as standard.

 

Classic Grade

Classic grade will display a broad range of colour variation and will contain knots and fillers which delivers a lot of character and a very natural wood look finish. Classic grade is by far the most popular choice in the South African market due to the natural look and feel, and the lower price tag compared to Prime grade.

 

Prime Grade

Prime grade is Lalegno SA’s the higher grade of wood flooring readily available in stock. Cut from the centre of the log, this grade of wood has little variance in appearance and has very few knots which are small and unobtrusive. The sap content of Prime grade is also very low. A Prime grade floor will have a more uniformed look and does not offer the same character of Classic grade. Prime grade is also more expensive than Classic grade.

Taking care of your floor

Lalegno’s Engineered Oak floors are really easy to keep clean and generally only require daily vacuuming. They don’t need to be damp mopped every day, and spot cleaning using a damp cloth after vacuuming will be sufficient in most cases.

A good clean every 2 weeks can be done using one of the LALEGNO CLEANER floor cleaning products we supply, using a microfiber mop.

Oil floors need to be re-oiled on average every 24 months depending on usage. This can be done quickly by a professional or DIY using a buffing machine and a clear oil. In between these re oils it is possible to buff surface scratches and dry spots with clear oil and or neat LALEGNO CLEANER and a microfiber cloth.

Lacquered floors don’t require any periodic maintenance. Between 5 and 10 years the floor can be re-sanded and sealed, depending on usage and ware. The floor does not need to be lifted. Sanding and re colouring takes place onsite.

Engineered floors can be sanded to rejuvenate and to change the colour. 3-4 times with a 4mm veneer, this is colour dependent.

 

Solid Oak Trims, Reducers and Skirtings:

We manufacture in house to suit all applications, these trims will be supplied with orders and color matched.
We import our own high quality kiln dried oak which is used to manufacture all trims.

Technical Datasheets

• 8-CLASSIC-250-BRUT
• 10-CLASSIC-150-BRUT
• 14-CLASSIC-190-BRUT
• 15-ABC-122-BRUT-VG
• 15-CLASSIC-90-BRUT-HP
• 15-CLASSIC-122-BRUT-VG
• 15-CLASSIC-180-NOV-BARN-DESIGN
• CLIC15-AB-189-BRUT
• CLIC15-AB-240-BRUT
• CLIC15-CLASSIC-189-BRUT
• CLIC15-CLASSIC-240-BRUT
• CLICK15-CLASSIC-260-BRUT-GHV-B
• 20-CLASSIC-80×80-BRUT-VERSAILLES

Certifications

All Lalegno floors fully comply with CE standards. The European Union strives to ensure that products sold in Europe meet some strict requirements regarding safety, health, environment and consumer protection.

The standard relating to wooden flooring is CE norm EN 14342. This standard requires that floors are tested and comply with the conditions imposed on reaction to fire, formaldehyde emission, VOC emission, the presence of PCP and biological durability.

 

Reaction to fire: Dfl – s1 of Cfl – s1

By the term “reaction to fire”, those properties of a floor meant that might influence the onset and the development of a fire. The reaction to fire classification for construction products is described in the standard EN 13501-1. This is a European classification. The European standard defines seven classes (A1fl, A2fl, Bfl, Cfl, Dfl, Efl and Ffl). Classes A1fl and A2fl are used for non-combustible products such as concrete and steel. Class Ffl is used for flooring with the least good performance in terms of reaction to fire or for floors that have not been tested.

Wood is, by its nature, a combustible material. Without wood fire retardant treatment it is classified in Class D under specific conditions. Also, the Lalegno multi-layer floors with a thickness of 10 and 15 mm have a class D rating.

 

Formaldehyde emission: E1

Formaldehyde is a gas that is sometimes used in the production of Ex. Chipboard, MDF, insulation and textiles. It is therefore all around us in the indoor air. However, high concentrations of formaldehyde may irritate eyes, nose, throat or skin and trigger headaches. Therefore Europe adopted strict standards on formaldehyde emission. All Lalegno floors meet the highest standards. In Europe, this is currently the E1 norm.

 

VOC emission: A+

Relatively new to the CE standard is the focus on VOC emissions, emissions of volatile organic compounds that can affect the healthy indoor environment of homes. The problem of VOC emissions has only recently emerged, by our concern for energy saving and environmentally friendly building. VOC is the generic name for a lot of substances that are present in all materials in our environment and that evaporate easily. These substances themselves are not new, they have always been there. However, when building or renovating these days, we try to avoid that air comes in or goes out of our home unchecked. That is why VOCs dwell in our houses for much longer than they used to. Some of these agents (e.g. Formaldehyde) are known to have harmful effects on human health. These VOCs can be released from certain varnishes, adhesives or finishing products. Therefore it is essential to ventilate the room properly when installing or finishing a floor. In Europe, there is no uniform test system to determine VOC emissions. Lalegno did however test its products in Germany and France, two pioneers in the field of VOC emissions. Since for the production of our flooring we only use adhesives and finishing products with very low emissions, our floors have achieved the Ü-Zeichen by DIBt in Germany and in France were assigned the A + label.

PCP < 5 ppm: No PCP

PCP (Pentachlorophenol) is sometimes used in wood impregnation and as a pesticide against bacteria, fungi and insects. It is a substance that can be carcinogenic in high doses. Lalegno floors don’t emit PCP.