What you should expect out of a wood floor finished with Rubio Monocoat will be different than having a wood floor finished with film-building floor finishes. This is due to the products being, well, different products..

Film-building finishes vs. Rubio Monocoat

For this article, we only provide a brief summary of how each finish works. If you want to dive deep into this topic, read our in-depth article on hardwax oil vs. polyurethane.

Rubio Monocoat

Rubio Monocoat's hardwax oil utilizes a completely unique molecular bonding technology where the wood finish bonds to the wood fibers. No film is built up on top of the wood surface.

Film-building finishes

Film-building finishes utilize multiple layers of synthetic/plastic material that is built up on top of and covers the wood surface.

 

Now that you have a basis to understand how Rubio Monocoat is unique, we can discuss what to expect regarding wear, care & cleaning, and maintenance.

Wear

The oil floor finish by Rubio Monocoat wears extremely well. Many customers even claim their floor looks better with age.

The matte sheen means that light blemishes like surface scratches are not easily visible. This is in stark contrast to film-building finishes that typically leave white lines when scratched.

If blemishes leave raw wood exposed, fresh oil can be introduced and will only bond to the exposed wood fibers, making quick localized repairs possible. Film-building finishes are nearly impossible to repair and often require the entire area being sanded and refinished.

Care & Cleaning

Caring for a floor finished with Rubio Monocoat Oil Plus 2C wood floor finish is simple and not that different than the process for traditional film-building floor finishes.

• Vacuum and sweep as needed.
• Wipe down with a microfiber mop or rag damp with water.
• If a cleaner is required, use Rubio Monocoat Soap or Surface Care Spray (which is the ready-to-use version of Soap). This is the only Rubio Monocoat recommended cleaner.

As with all finishes, it is important to wipe up spills immediately to avoid penetration into the wood. Liquids will bead-up on the surface for easy cleaning.

Maintenance

Maintenance of a Rubio Monocoat floor compared to a film-building finish is completely different.

Rubio Monocoat finished floors can be maintained using Renew. Renew does not require any sanding and can even be done without moving all the furniture out. Once “Renewed,” the surface can be used after only 4-6 hours.

Maintenance should be done as needed with typical intervals in a residential setting being years.

When maintained properly, you should never need to sand and refinish the floor unless you want to change colors.

This is fantastic news if you are used to film-building finishes that require being sanded or screened and recoated to remove the wear on the floor, often a costly investment that is time and labor intensive.

Conclusion

Rubio Monocoat hardwax oil finished floors wear extremely well, are simple to clean and care for, and have significant advantages when it comes to maintaining them. Plus, they look amazing and can even look better with age.

A little additional up-front care is required but the tradeoff is having a floor that looks and performs great for a lifetime without ever needing to be sanded and refinished.