The way I learned to do it - is to apply lye only once to chemically treat the wood as the first thing (remember the lye solution will not work if it at any point get under 5 degrees Celsius). This chemical process is quite hard on the wood which is why you only do it once. The lye will stop the process of yellowing that happens when UV light from the sun hits the floor and will also harden the surface of the floor as crystals form inside the capillaries of the wood. Then you lightly sand it. Then you start the soap treatment. You do this with a lot of soap (as you described). You then keep using the soap when you wash/clean it and do this casually as you would any other kind of floor. If you get stains and spots on the floor don't scrub it of, this will start removing the protective layer of soap. Instead you put soap on the spot and let it pull it up (yes it does this by itself!), then you wipe it of. Don't sand it! You will ruin the treatment. Remember that you want to keep building the protective layer of soap over the years to make it stronger and stronger, and leave the top layer of the wood underneath that was chemically treated by the lye alone, not ruin it. You can finely adjust the tint of your floor by adding white pigment to the soap. Remember there is two different lye solutions, one for hardwood and one for softwood (by it locally, shipment might cause the lye to come under the 5 degree limit making it chemically useless). I use it on softwood, but can ask more about the treatment of oak at my sawmill - they are experts.. I'm not, just trying to learn like you guys.
Wow, this is super helpful information! Thanks so much for sharing! I've tried to find information on the lye process and what it achieves but it's difficult to track down. These are great ideas for someone to consider who might be thinking about soap finish. Thanks for watching!
I live in Norway, i use this method on our balcony wood floor, so it works outside too! here its called “grønnsåpe” “green soap in English 😊 works great and smells nice too. It’s traditional to use it to wash wooden floors here to 😊 your floors look great 👍🏻 😊
I live in a studio apt with wood floors in the foyer and main room. I spent about a month sanding the foyer on the weekends. I've just put down 4 coats of the soap finish. I couldnt imagine doing all that work sanding and then lay liquid plastic over it. The floor is still drying but i can't wait to see the final look. I plan to sand and soap finish the main room in the spring.
Ironically, i’m a Dane that found this video in search of a tutorial, since i’m renovating my own appartment. I didn’t know this wasn’t the standard way of doing floors outside of the Nordics 😂
Hello... Saw this video trying to keep things natural. Can you saw what the floor looks like in the kitchen sence you said it's taken the most punishment ? I'd lioe to see how good it's doing.....
Yes, the kitchen floors definitely take a beating! We have plenty of grease stains. I tried to keep up with them of spot treating when one popped up. Now I've just resorted to trying to reapply soap in the kitchen periodically to keep them as sealed as possible. But grease penetrates the finish regardless if it is not wiped up quickly. Especially underneath the oven or main food prep areas, there's plenty of spots now on the floors. Mostly from grease or food that fell and was not found right away. Some strategic placement of floor mats could really help keep things cleaner. But if there was one area I'd try to avoid the soap finish floors, the kitchen would be it (or bathrooms I guess for that matter). I've just learned to live with the imperfections knowing that things can always be sanded and refinished easily to restore it when needed. Hope that helps! Thanks for watching!
We have alder wood with water-based finish. Had it in the kitchen for 14 years and food/oils do leave stains. Just had it replaced with tile in kitchen/ dining area and reused our flooring for a different room that had carpet. Love the tile there and never want to have wood in kitchen/dining again. Also, for all our homemade wood furniture we use hemp oil as finish and love it. Great video! Loved learning something new. You guys make a great team :)
Thank you so much for this video, you have totally given me the confidence to do this in our cabin! Im curious about why you chose soap flakes over linseed soap. Perhaps for the lye, or product availability, or something else? I cant seem to find information on the difference, and planning to test each out on a sample but figured id ask!
Hey there! Glad it was helpful! I honestly didn’t look into linseed soap at all but I imagine that could be a good option. The soap I chose was lye based which is what most of my research pointed toward but I definitely think there could be other options. That’s a really good thought to test some samples first. You might want to go check out our blog post on it too and scroll through the comments there. I believe someone with a lot of first hand soap floor finish commented a while back and mentioned applying lye directly to the floor before applying soap to give it a hardening effect. Good luck to you and thanks for watching!
I've been experimenting with this on samples of white oak. My white oak turned a greenish/olive brown when I applied the soap. Did that happen to you as well?
I do seem to recall there were maybe some slight greenish hues that came through when I first applied the soap on the bare wood. However, I wouldn't say it has hung around as the soap has been reapplied and they've been lived on now over a few years. Good luck to you and thanks for watching!
If it's just a little something to get out we have a spray bottle of an all purpose plant based cleaner we keep on hand and wipe things up. If it's something bigger, like a grease stain, we keep a small jar of the soap finish on hand too and apply some more of that right away. It seems to lift out the grease pretty well and give it a fresh seal. Thanks for watching!
Aside from keeping on top of normal vacuuming/sweeping, you really just clean them by reapplying more soap! The soap clean and also helps pull out any dirt or oils that have settled on the floor. For deeper stains you can pour really hot or boiling water on it to try and break up and remove the stain. And if all else fails, you can always do a light sanding on them and reapply more soap. Thanks for watching!
Strange! It worked for us. Here’s the link www.amazon.com/Earthborn-Elements-Ingredient-Powdered-Detergent/dp/B07FCY3LG7?&linkCode=sl1&tag=fromscratch04-20&linkId=0b6a5fe8f3ee1d173ea46184509706fb&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
The way I learned to do it - is to apply lye only once to chemically treat the wood as the first thing (remember the lye solution will not work if it at any point get under 5 degrees Celsius). This chemical process is quite hard on the wood which is why you only do it once. The lye will stop the process of yellowing that happens when UV light from the sun hits the floor and will also harden the surface of the floor as crystals form inside the capillaries of the wood. Then you lightly sand it. Then you start the soap treatment. You do this with a lot of soap (as you described). You then keep using the soap when you wash/clean it and do this casually as you would any other kind of floor. If you get stains and spots on the floor don't scrub it of, this will start removing the protective layer of soap. Instead you put soap on the spot and let it pull it up (yes it does this by itself!), then you wipe it of. Don't sand it! You will ruin the treatment. Remember that you want to keep building the protective layer of soap over the years to make it stronger and stronger, and leave the top layer of the wood underneath that was chemically treated by the lye alone, not ruin it. You can finely adjust the tint of your floor by adding white pigment to the soap. Remember there is two different lye solutions, one for hardwood and one for softwood (by it locally, shipment might cause the lye to come under the 5 degree limit making it chemically useless). I use it on softwood, but can ask more about the treatment of oak at my sawmill - they are experts.. I'm not, just trying to learn like you guys.
Wow, this is super helpful information! Thanks so much for sharing! I've tried to find information on the lye process and what it achieves but it's difficult to track down. These are great ideas for someone to consider who might be thinking about soap finish. Thanks for watching!
I live in Norway, i use this method on our balcony wood floor, so it works outside too! here its called “grønnsåpe” “green soap in English 😊 works great and smells nice too. It’s traditional to use it to wash wooden floors here to 😊 your floors look great 👍🏻 😊
Wow, thanks for all that info! That’s so interesting to know about the outdoor use. Thanks so much for watching!
Grønnsåpe is not the same at all, and do not do the same thing as soap flakes.
@@ed8311 to be honest it’s kinda same, made similar with lime and green soap
I love using soap for furniture and decor. I'm glad someone is actually using it on floors.
Nice! It's been an interested journey on our floors but we're glad we did it. Thanks for watching!
I live in a studio apt with wood floors in the foyer and main room. I spent about a month sanding the foyer on the weekends. I've just put down 4 coats of the soap finish. I couldnt imagine doing all that work sanding and then lay liquid plastic over it. The floor is still drying but i can't wait to see the final look. I plan to sand and soap finish the main room in the spring.
Wow! That's awesome!! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for generously sharing your experience.
You're welcome!!
25 years ago I used Danish oil on my old wood floors. It takes a lot of buffing . Now my floors need another coat. Danish oil did darken the wood.
Interesting! Thanks for sharing!
I am considering it and I have been looking for more information for a few moths. Thanks so much. Saving this video.
Awesome! Glad this was helpful!
So glad to have found this video. We are wanting to redo our wood floors. Looking for a natural and cost effective coating.
It's definitely not for everyone but a great option for natural and cost effective! Let us know how it goes if you do it!
I've heard of it but never seen it done this video was awesome
Really appreciate the feedback! Thanks for watching!
Ironically, i’m a Dane that found this video in search of a tutorial, since i’m renovating my own appartment. I didn’t know this wasn’t the standard way of doing floors outside of the Nordics 😂
Ha, that is very funny! I wish it was more common elsewhere. Thanks for watching!
Hello... Saw this video trying to keep things natural. Can you saw what the floor looks like in the kitchen sence you said it's taken the most punishment ? I'd lioe to see how good it's doing.....
Yes, the kitchen floors definitely take a beating! We have plenty of grease stains. I tried to keep up with them of spot treating when one popped up. Now I've just resorted to trying to reapply soap in the kitchen periodically to keep them as sealed as possible. But grease penetrates the finish regardless if it is not wiped up quickly. Especially underneath the oven or main food prep areas, there's plenty of spots now on the floors. Mostly from grease or food that fell and was not found right away. Some strategic placement of floor mats could really help keep things cleaner. But if there was one area I'd try to avoid the soap finish floors, the kitchen would be it (or bathrooms I guess for that matter). I've just learned to live with the imperfections knowing that things can always be sanded and refinished easily to restore it when needed. Hope that helps! Thanks for watching!
We have alder wood with water-based finish. Had it in the kitchen for 14 years and food/oils do leave stains.
Just had it replaced with tile in kitchen/ dining area and reused our flooring for a different room that had carpet. Love the tile there and never want to have wood in kitchen/dining again.
Also, for all our homemade wood furniture we use hemp oil as finish and love it.
Great video! Loved learning something new. You guys make a great team :)
Thanks 💜 Never heard of this before. Will have to try it on something smaller fist to see the finish. Then when ready redo my floors. 😄
Yes! It can definitely work for smaller projects too! Good to make sure you like it and are committed before diving in on floors. Thanks for watching!
@@FromScratchFarmstead
You are welcome 🙏
Thank you for information
Thank you so much for this video, you have totally given me the confidence to do this in our cabin! Im curious about why you chose soap flakes over linseed soap. Perhaps for the lye, or product availability, or something else? I cant seem to find information on the difference, and planning to test each out on a sample but figured id ask!
Hey there! Glad it was helpful! I honestly didn’t look into linseed soap at all but I imagine that could be a good option. The soap I chose was lye based which is what most of my research pointed toward but I definitely think there could be other options. That’s a really good thought to test some samples first. You might want to go check out our blog post on it too and scroll through the comments there. I believe someone with a lot of first hand soap floor finish commented a while back and mentioned applying lye directly to the floor before applying soap to give it a hardening effect. Good luck to you and thanks for watching!
I've been experimenting with this on samples of white oak. My white oak turned a greenish/olive brown when I applied the soap. Did that happen to you as well?
I do seem to recall there were maybe some slight greenish hues that came through when I first applied the soap on the bare wood. However, I wouldn't say it has hung around as the soap has been reapplied and they've been lived on now over a few years. Good luck to you and thanks for watching!
How do you do day to cleaning on these floors?
If it's just a little something to get out we have a spray bottle of an all purpose plant based cleaner we keep on hand and wipe things up. If it's something bigger, like a grease stain, we keep a small jar of the soap finish on hand too and apply some more of that right away. It seems to lift out the grease pretty well and give it a fresh seal. Thanks for watching!
how do yoi clean your floors so it doesn't ruin the finish? I haven’t finished the video yet so i apologize if you've answered this!
Aside from keeping on top of normal vacuuming/sweeping, you really just clean them by reapplying more soap! The soap clean and also helps pull out any dirt or oils that have settled on the floor. For deeper stains you can pour really hot or boiling water on it to try and break up and remove the stain. And if all else fails, you can always do a light sanding on them and reapply more soap. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for this info. The link to the soap flakes doesn’t work. How can I get a working link?
Strange! It worked for us. Here’s the link www.amazon.com/Earthborn-Elements-Ingredient-Powdered-Detergent/dp/B07FCY3LG7?&linkCode=sl1&tag=fromscratch04-20&linkId=0b6a5fe8f3ee1d173ea46184509706fb&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
Based
I had to look up what based meant but I'll take it as a compliment! Thanks for watching!
Sounds like too much maintenance for my taste. Thanks for the vid though.
Definitely not for everyone! Thanks for watching!