Rubio Monocoat Hardwood Oil Finish Review


Recently I did a Rubio Monocoat hardwood oil finish on an installation up in a golf Rubio Monocoat Oil Finishvilla in Tucson, Arizona. I am not seasoned sand and finish person by any means. In fact, I never even have performed a full sand and finish job, only a few screen and recoats along with waxing my own hardwood floor for the last eleven years. That probably gives you an idea of how easy this finish is to do. Although I would not call this system a do it your self-type project unless you are very skilled at sanding and using a buffer.

Environmentally Friendly Finish

Rubio Monocoat is probably the most all-natural environmentally friendly finish around these days and is very popular in Europe. It is made of all natural ingredients. Much like the old wax finishes, and the coverage is huge. We did the 1200 square foot project with only 3 ½ pints, cost of around $125.00 a pint. Other hardwood may take more oil depending on the porosity of the wood. Rubio Monocoat also comes in a variety of colors as well. The odor is minimal and not all like a typical polyurethane finish. Touch ups for minor scratches only takes a few minutes with a piece of 200 grit paper, Sand out the scratch, rub and buff the finish with a white pad and your done. Not at like a polyurethane repair at all.

The owner Aaron Roth, a newly transplanted remodel contractor from New York City worked up some samples and came up with a combination of 5% smoke and 95% natural combination, a very natural look. The sample boards are beading water after a week and not showing any spots, full cure time is 3 weeks. Move furniture in after 36 hours. Repair time takes minutes. VOC's none. Plastic finish, none.

The Procedure

Installation covered a 1200 sf area of 3/4 3ply 8 inch wide pre-sanded European white oak from TEKA via Oregon Lumber (Teka calls it a solid engineered 3ply). Because TEKA pre-sands this hardwood product with 150 grit, after the installation we hit it the floor with 100 grit sand paper. Using 100 grit lets the Monocoat accept more oil. Rubio said you could use 150 but we decided against it. We then decided to hand sand it with pole sanders instead of using the 100-grit screen on the buffer to eliminate any swirl scratch.

Application of the Rubio Monocoat is simple after the initial sanding to eliminate anyUsing White Pad With Monocoat foreign substances from the surface during the install you need only a couple of more steps. First is to vacuum. After a good cleaning, we hit the micro bevel with rags first to ensure we got in there, plus the perimeter of course. The next step is to buff in the Rubio Monocoat with a red pad. The last step is to wait fifteen minutes and then hit it with a white pad (shown right) and you are done! Talk about a time saver.

Thumbs Up!

I cannot praise this product enough. Green is good. Everyone that sees it loves the natural finish of the Rubio Monocoat hard wax oil. Large lumber is awesome. TEKA also makes this in 10" and 12" width. With two more jobs coming up next year my feeling on this finish verses your traditional polyurethane finishes is this is going to give them a run for their money.


Submitted By: Stephen Perrera. Top Floor Installation Co.
Location: Tucson, Arizona

Contact: (520) 444-1885

Other Monocoat Products

Additional products offered by Rubio Monocoat present nearly 40 color selections ranging from white to black in their Natural Oil finish line. Additional effects can include their special Fumed product that turns natural colored hardwoods grey; currently the rage for those seeking an environmentally friendly distressed or aged effect.

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