What is a Wood Lye?
A wood lye is a product applied to raw wood to neutralise the natural yellow/ honey colour and introduce a white washed effect. This is an increasingly popular trend as most clients want that Scandinavian, natural white washed look.
How do we achieve this look?
This is achieved through sanding the wood back to raw wood. This serves to remove any previous sealants such as lacquers, oils or stains. To do this, we run large machines called belt sander. These sand the centre of a room and use smaller, more compact ‘edge sanders’ to sand the edges/perimeter of the room.
We work through various sand paper grits; starting with coarser, more aggressive sand paper sheets working our way up to finer/smoother ones. To finish the floors, we use a finishing sander – this is what delivers the professional finish. Think of this machine like 4 mini orbital sanders attached to one disc, working in a planetary system. This provides the perfect sanded floor. The emphasis on proper sanding cannot be understated as this is what controls how much wood lye is absorbed into your flooring – sand too little and a lot of lye will be absorbed and sand too much then very little lye will be absorbed!
Now comes the exciting part, we apply the wood lye. This must be done using specialised applicators to ensure the correct amount of lye is uniformly distributed in a given area. Once dry we perform a washing sequence to remove any excess lye. The lye is then left to dry overnight. The following day, the team return to apply a lacquer. The purpose of the lacquer is to protect the floor – normally two coats are applied.
What is the cost of wood lye?
This service is more costly than simply sanding and lacquering a floor. The reason being; we must sand to a higher/finer grit, the cost of the products and the additional days it ultimately adds to the project. Ultimately, all of these additional steps add on overage approx 25% more time to a project.
The final look
The wooden floor is left with a natural looking, Scandi/white washed effect. This is achieved through wood Lye’s alkaline properties neutralising the yellow look of the wood. Alternative methods include applying a white stain/primer to the wood which often leaves a plastic effect. The wood lye technique avoids this as it controls the colour of the wood through its alkaline properties making it safe, controlled and eco friendly way!
