White-oiled wooden floors: price, process and care

Øens HåndværkerCentralPublished August 4, 2026 · 8 min. read

White oil gives wooden floors a light, matt appearance while allowing the grain to show. The pigment softens the colour of the wood, and worn areas can often be treated locally. Our standard floor sanding, including a standard finish, costs 175 kr per m2 including VAT from 36 m2. Standard oil and lacquer finishes share the same base rate.

The term refers to two things: factory-finished planks and a treatment applied to an existing floor. This guide focuses on the latter - your own floor, sanded and treated on-site.

• 175 kr/m2Including VAT and a standard finish, from 36 m2
• 24 hoursResponse with fixed price
• Workmanship guaranteeOn all work performed

What is a white-oiled floor?

A white-oiled floor is a wooden floor where the surface has been saturated with white-pigmented, hardening oil. Gulvfakta (DI) by the Floor Industry Association describes that wood floor oil is available both unpigmented and white-pigmented, as well as with wax. The pigment settles in the wood's pores and mutes the yellow tones without sealing the surface like lacquer does.

It's important to distinguish between white oil and white lacquer: lacquer forms a film on top of the wood, while oil penetrates it. This is why a white-oiled floor feels like wood underfoot, and why a scratch in an oiled floor can be repaired locally. If you want to see the two treatment types compared, we have compiled the difference between lacquer and oil on wood floors in a separate guide.

How do you create a white-oiled floor?

A white-oiled floor is created in four steps: sanding down to bare wood, applying white lye, priming with white-pigmented oil, and a final maintenance oiling. Gulvfakta (DI) is clear on the order of operations: "Before lye treatment, you must sand the floor down to bare wood." If old lacquer or oil remains, the colour will be patchy.

1. Sanding. The floor is sanded through progressively finer grits until the old finish has been removed. Cracks and holes are filled as part of the agreed work. See the method in our guide to repairing cracks and holes in wooden floors.
2. White lye. The lye opens the wood's pores and mutes the yellow tint. It is a pre-treatment, not a finished surface, and must always be followed by oil or soap.
3. Priming with oil. The white-pigmented oil is spread and massaged in. For hardening oil, excess must be wiped off within the time specified by the supplier. Gulvfakta (DI) sets it at approximately 20-30 minutes. If excess remains, it will harden into sticky streaks.
4. Maintenance oiling and polishing. The second time, the oil is applied thinly and polished in. The floor can usually be used lightly after about 1 day, and furniture and carpets should wait a little longer.

Pigmented oil is harder to apply evenly than clear oil, as every overlap can be seen as a streak. This is why the work is done in continuous strips from wall to wall, not in sections.

How much does a white-oiled floor cost?

A standard oil finish is included in the same base price as standard lacquer: 175 kr per m2 including VAT from 36 m2. The exact product and any work outside the standard treatment are agreed in the quotation. The table below shows illustrative totals at the current standard rate, rather than historical customer prices.

The table uses our current standard rate to illustrate the cost of sanding with a standard finish. Standard oil and lacquer have the same base price. We assess the floor condition, access and any additional work before confirming a fixed quotation. Find more examples in our guide to floor sanding prices.

How does white oil work on a pine floor?

A white-oiled pine floor requires white lye first. Pine is a softwood with resin and prominent knots, and it yellows more than, for example, oak and ash. Træinformation has a separate industry guide for this very purpose, TRÆfakta 09 Lye Treatment, which describes lye treatment of softwood floors. The lye mutes the yellow, and the white oil locks in the look.

If you apply white oil directly to untreated pine, two things typically happen: the pigment settles unevenly in the soft grain, and the yellow tint shows through within the first few years. The combination of lye and white oil creates a calmer, lighter floor where the knots are still visible.

Pine is also a soft wood. At the current standard rate, sanding a 65 m2 pine floor and applying a standard finish gives an illustrative total of 11.375 kr including VAT. In our experience, solid wooden floors typically tolerate 4 to 6 full sandings before the usable wood is exhausted. A finish that can be maintained without sanding back to bare wood can help preserve it. For wide boards, see our guide to sanding plank floors; the lye stage is explained in our floor lye treatment guide.

White oil, white lye, or white lacquer?

The three light solutions offer different aesthetics, durability, and maintenance. White oil is a surface treatment within the wood, white lye is a pre-treatment that is never used alone, and white lacquer is a film on top of the wood. Gulvfakta (DI) also notes that dark wood species should not be lye-treated - the reaction becomes unpredictable.

If the floor needs to withstand a rolling office chair and a dog without needing attention for years, lacquer is more robust. If the floor needs to remain light and be repairable in small sections, white oil is the winner.

How often should a white-oiled floor be maintained?

Our rule of thumb is maintenance oil every 1-2 years in a normal living space, but the interval depends on the traffic. Gulvfakta (DI) states that heavily trafficked areas like kitchens and hallways may require maintenance oil several times a year, while less trafficked rooms like bedrooms and living rooms might wait several years. Use white-pigmented maintenance oil - clear maintenance oil will wash out the pigment and make the floor more yellow with each application.

For daily cleaning, use floor soap or cleaning products designed for oiled floors. Brown soap should not be used on a white floor, as it leaves a brownish film, and ammonia-based products break down the oil. Water should be used sparingly and wiped up immediately.

We offer an oil maintenance plan, where re-treatment happens automatically instead of being postponed until the floor is worn through. Ongoing care is described in detail in the guide on maintenance of oiled wood floors.

Can you apply white oil yourself?

Yes, the oiling itself can be done by an experienced DIYer, but sanding should be left to a professional. The Danish Working Environment Authority's (Arbejdstilsynet) limit value for inhalable wood dust is 1 mg per m3 of air measured over an 8-hour workday, and wood dust is on the list of carcinogenic substances in Denmark when exposed in large quantities over a long period. A rented machine without professional suction will fill the home with precisely that dust.

In addition, there are two practical pitfalls. One is streaks: pigmented oil must be applied in continuous strips, and a break in the middle of the floor will be visible afterward. The other is fire - rags with hardening oil can self-ignite while the oil cures, and should be placed in water or spread out to dry outdoors, never crumpled in a bag.

The calculation often shows that machine rental, sandpaper, lye, and oil eat up the savings, while the risk of a patchy floor is yours alone. We provide a fixed price before starting, respond within 24 hours, and perform the work with a workmanship guarantee. If your floor needs sanding and white-oiling, you can read more about sanding and treating wood floors or call us at 20 98 88 11.

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Øens HåndværkerCentral

We sand and surface-treat floors, stairs, balconies, wooden terraces, and worktops - based in Aarhus Ø and working nationwide. You get a fixed price before work begins and a workmanship guarantee on the work performed.

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