You will need to tell us the name/brand of your wood floor (you should have a box or two left over) AND the MOST IMPORTANT THING = the FINISH.

We have seen issues with oil staining OILED hardwoods (the one's with the matte finish). The box will often say: UV Cured Oil finish. We need to know the FINISH before we can offer a solution.

A photo of your flooring would also be a way to generate suggestions.

Oak Bennett bridge , Okanagan collection, brand timeless floors. Finish it says is matte aluminum oxide. Is not oil finished. Is a natural looking white oak with some wire brushing. Thanks!

I haven’t had success uploading photos to Houzz. Not sure why

here is the first oil stain, the new one is currently under baking soda in the background. (Bowl is do the kids don’t kick it around). I can also send a pic of that later.

Urethane/polyurethane finishes (with or without Aluminum Oxide) are not water/moisture proof. They are resistant, but not 'proof'. The wire-brushed finish is what is creating MORE surface for the oil to coat. The more surface area the oil can grab, the more likely it will be to pass through the finish. And if the finish does NOT have the appropriate level of coating (as G & S points out) then the oil is MORE LIKELY to pass through areas where the wood is poorly protected.

Oil on these floors needs to be cleaned up within minutes.

I'm going to guess your previous hardwoods had a traditional finish (smooth and flat). That's what gave your old floor the 'bullet proof' feeling.

@SJ McCarthy and @G &S Floor Service, that’s very helpful info. I had no idea that a smooth floor would present less problems for getting a good finish. So many open floor plan homes are designed with wood floors in the kitchen. They look great. Do you think this is a big mistake? Would you put wood in your own kitchen? Is there any finish coating that you prefer above all others for wood floors in a kitchen?

I have engineered wood floors with aluminum oxide-no wire brushing and it’s been easy to maintain so far. I really liked the look of the UV oil finished floors but we’re not the type that could handle that in our kitchen. Good to know about the oil clean up too SJ McCarthy...thanks

I prefer cork flooring with 2 coats of Loba 2K Supra AT in a kitchen. Again, the finishes are not water proof but they are water resistant. And that normally gives you enough time clean things up.

The manufacturer wrote back that oil dropped on the floor won’t stain if wiped up after one minute but will stain permanently if left 10 minutes. Since oil looks the same as water spots from hand washing, I cannot keep up with what the children or my husband do. I am also now nervous to have a party with snacks. It’s an open concept great room. I can imagine people wandering into the couch area and a carrot with dip on it rolls off their plate. They give it a quick wipe with their finger, And voila I now have an unsightly stain in the middle of the livingroom too. They are so dark and noticeable! I’m not sure how far to take it. I want others to be comfortable in my home. I don’t want to tell everyone that comes in to please wipe up after dropping food. But now I feel like I’ll be scanning the floors the whole party. All it would take is someone standing and eating nachos not completely over their plate, and some cheese oil drips onto the floor. This feels so rediculous!

And yes my old floors had a traditional finish

@Lana Benge, Your floor is beautiful. The way floors are marketed, I never would have anticipated that stain “resistant” means I have one minute to clean the stain. Given that answer from your manufacturer, I have a feeling that if you told them you wiped up the stain in 50 seconds, they would have told you that was too long to wait and it would have disappeared if you had gotten to it in 30 seconds! Now I don’t know if I should abandon the idea of wood floors in my kitchen/dining/family area or get them and write off the inevitable stains as my wood floor “patina.“ Flooring Pros out there—- would this be the same result (stain) if I use 3 coats of Bona Traffic HD or the top quality Loba product?

The smooth finishes have less chance of staining but any oil left on a wood floor will eventually seep through the finish. It all depends on how long things hang around.

I would suggest working with THREE (3) coats of the FINISH (not 1 primer + 2 coats finish). If you need a primer then it becomes the 4rth coat. The THICKER the finish (3 coats) of the tough stuff would certainly go better on a smooth floor than a wire brush finish.

The issue: wire brushing (and the light gray colour....but I won't go there).

@SJ McCarthy, your answer is very helpful. Before this discussion, I had narrowed my choices to two wood options. Now, I’m eliminating the one with the wire brushed finish. So, it looks like I’ve made a decision, thanks to you! Now, it will just come down to picking the sealer or stain.

@Lana Benge, I have the same issue with my floors (matte aluminum oxide finish) and I've had zero luck with baking soda. The only thing that works for my oil stains is baby powder. I sprinkle and coat the spot and use my finger to press the powder into the surface. I leave it on for about 1 hour. After it sits, I rub the spot vigorously with a dry soft cloth and sweep up any excess powder. I hope this helps…it also works on old stains.

I would not put wood in the kitchen in the first place. Too much risk of water spillage affecting it, or worse, getting underneath. There are so many water leak sources in a kitchen: sink, dishwasher, ice maker. My sister in law put a gorgeous solid hickory floor in her kitchen, bought a new fridge with an icemaker, and the contractor left a slow leak behind the fridge. Months later the floor started to buckle out in front. It had seeped under the wood and ruined a large area before they knew what was happening.

No wood in bathrooms, either. At least for me. Just asking for trouble.

@lana benge from the looks of your pictures, I have a very similar, if not the same, floor as you. I am also super frustrated with these oil stains. My floor is 2 years old and I didn’t have this problem when the floors were brand new (unless we just didn’t have any grease spills which is highly unlikely with my 3 kids 5 and under at the time) I did just find out that these floors are supposed to be re-oiled once a year as maintenance. I just had that done today and I am hoping that will help a little! Have you found a solution?

It sounds like you have an oil finish? mine are not oil finish ,but the other hard finish... poly something or other finish. I did learn the oil finish floors need to be re oiled regularity. To maintain the waterproof effect I think. but I had not thought about how those floors would do with oil. I have not found a solution. I try to be careful, Ug. But most of the stains look like dark streaks of wood. So that’s ok. But I wonder how it will look in a few years time with much more dark patches in the kitchen than elsewhere. I also avoid rinsing the dishes before they go in dishwasher as that caused the largest mark. I’ve tried to embrace it as adding to the natural patina of the wood As others have said. I do also think they faded slightly with time. And as more spots have appeared, the first spot does not jump out as much. I think baking soda left on a new spot overnight might reduce it ever so slightly, so I do that to new spots. Wish I had better news for you. Thanks for sharing.

Yess. Sadly, I purchased Compass Materials "Napa Oak Sierra Collection" for over $10k and install $ and my kitchen is a disaster. The place I bought it from (Hernandez Wholesale Flooring in Commerce) won't help, and neither will Compass. Blamed me for using Bona, when that's what their website suggests. The wire brush finish just absorbs the tiniest flecks of oil and then it spreads. The product has a 25-year residential guarantee but they can just say you failed to follow maintenance instructions and tell you to f off. Shame on Compass Materials.

I'm so sad.

I was successful in getting grease stains out of a pair of leather shorts. Suede leather!! spilled a container of not yet defatted chicken broth Iw as carrying....so you know it was bad!

I blotted with paper towel.....then spread on corn meal. Rubbed it in and vacuumed off. Repeated, eventually ending up with corn starch and brushing and vacuuming that .It all came out. Might try it on your floors.

Hmm glad I found this thread, it really liked the look of engineered hardwood flooring and couldn't make my mind to go for Vinyl Planking. So bye bye engineered hardwood, I'll happily go with Vinyl Planking and have parties peacefully without worrying about stains in the floor.

I got samples of Compass Materials engineered oak in Napa and Azure. Both have a raw, wire brushed appearance, which is what I love about them. Before pulling the trigger on purchasing, I did a test stain of wine, ketchup and oil and left it overnight. I figured if I have a dinner party and food falls on the floor, I may not be able to clean it until the next morning. Well, the next day I wiped off the stains, and cleaned it with soap and water. The oil stains were the worst! Deep, penetrating oil stains…ones that I won’t be able to live with. I don’t want to be a slave to my flooring, and I certainly don’t want to stay up late washing my floors once all my guests have gone home. Sadly, I will have to pass on thIs type of flooring for my first floor.

Yup you have 10 minutes yo wipe it up. i should uodate witt a pic of what the fkoors look like 1 1/2 yrs in now fhr a sense of reference for others to judge fhr tgenselces wgerher or not it’s a deal breaker

Update: here is salad dressing spill that hubby cleaned right away, who kniws how well. shiwn from two angles. only one angke you see it.

Dishwasher area after living here two years and husband is not very careful.

Cooking area after 2 years.

hope that helps others decide if that’s a dealbreaker or not for you.

hi . wish i had seen this post last month!! just installed my oil enginerred floors and have oil spots in several spots only a couple weeks in . so disappointing . did anyone find any solutions?

I have found in less than a year, that my oil finished French Oak engineered wiod not inly stain eadily, they scratch! so disappointed!! Torn out all our natual Oak and carpet throughtout our entire home and now have a maintenance nightmare!

Same!! Had 2 months and have already had them recoiled to see if that helps -- maintenance nightmare is right on!!!

I have the same issue with my floors.

i’ve been thinking about trying to oil the whole thing with linseed or tung oil. I figured, if oil stained it in one spot, maybe oil will stain the whole floor and make it all look even in colour. has anybody tried that?

The oil stains just happened on my floors. The original question was what to do?

So please what to do? Did HU-598382466 apply the linseed oil /tung oil?

I have engineered wood in the kitchen & added a runner on it below where the sink/dw/cooktop are. Good protection from water & stains.

I did apply tung oil on the whole floor.

i changed the overall colour of the floors, but no oil stains anymore. it also made the floor very water repellent. i’m very satisfied with the results.