Introducing Rubio Monocoat Oil

MONOCOAT UPDATE - Here's what we think a year later...

The article below was posted on June 8, 2008 and one year later, everything we wrote continues to hold true. We've sold 300 liters of Rubio Monocoat and used it on 13 client floors, and we know of only two cases where end-users were unhappy enough to cover the Monocoat with polyurethane.   In one case, the customer got a large sliver embedded in her foot (though she did admit that she was doing a 'Risky Business'-style slide across the floor in her socks at the time).  In the other, spilled cooking oil left a stain that could not be corrected by the normal Monocoat maintenance procedure. Not too shabby.  So, based on what we've seen and learned over the past year, here are our updated recommendations:

� Every floor benefits from being water-popped before the Monocoat is applied, but it is particularly helpful for maple floors, and when using any of the Monocoat colors (i.e. everything but Pure).  Water-popping means lightly misting the floor with distilled water and allowing it to dry.  The water opens and swells the grain, increasing the surface area of the wood and giving the Monocoat more area to bond to. We have found that this makes the Monocoat appear more uniform and allows the finish to better resist stains and abrasion.

�  Winter in Minnesota, as we predicted, is tough on a single-coat finish.  The area in the shop where we used Monocoat looked tired and had visible water and salt rings by January (the original coat went on in March).  We simply cleaned the floor and re-oiled the problem areas and it looked just fine.  Next year, we plan to lightly screen the floor and reapply oil before the snow flies, just to make sure. For regular domestic spaces, we recommend re-oiling your areas of heaviest wear twice a year and we even have some free calendar stickers to use as reminders - just ask at the store.

Here at Pete’s, we are very slow to try new products.  It’s not that we avoid progress; we just don’t like to experiment on our customers.  This is a small, neighborhood shop.  If we sell a flooring finish that has problems or doesn’t last, Pete's hears about it --and how-- because our reputation is only as good as our last product recommendation.  So, you can understand our reluctance to move beyond the same three brands of finish that we have worked with for 12 years. In spite of that reluctance, we think we have found a new product worth the risk and we want to tell you about it. 

But Does it Handle Spills?

The floor finishes we sell need to perform under the conditions of real life and we expect even non-toxic finishes to handle coffee spills, red wine, and the occasional pet accident. Rubio Monocoat is a viable alternative to poly-urethane only if it actually protects the floor.  Carnauba wax, for example, is also a VOC-free finish, but it makes a pathetic floor protectant.   In the tests we’ve done in the store, the Monocoat had no problem resisting the most common household spills.  Cola, gin, coffee and yes, urine, left no discernible stain or etch in the finish after 24 hours. So, we decided to up the ante and put some straight ammonia on some Monocoat Pine and Natural, two of the colored oils.  We chose ammonia because decaying pet urine eventually becomes ammonia as it decomposes and we know that it will, over time, leave deep black stains on most coated floors. We let the ammonia sit on the monocoat for about two hours and it did leave a dark stain on the wood.  The stain lightened after gentle abrasion and was still just discernible after we recoated the sanded spot. Now, ammonia is a rather strong alkali and it is unlikely that you would be using it, undiluted, on your floor.  But, for comparison, we did the same test with the ammonia on a sample of wood that had three layers of polyurethane and the ammonia did not penetrate after two hours. 

Rubio Monocoat oil is also available in a weather resistant exterior formulation.  We have not tested this product yet, but it is designed to be both water and UV resistant and can be used on both horizontal (decks) and vertical (siding) surfaces, as wells as for furniture and wood play equipment.

But What About Foot Traffic?

This was the aspect of Rubio Monocoat that continues to made us the most skeptical.  The Monocoat oil is designed to be a one-coat finish (hence the name).  One coat? There is not a product that we have encountered in 14 years that provides adequate protection from wear and abrasion with just one coat.  The Monocoat manufacturers explain it like this: the wax component of this finish has been re-engineered so that its shape matches the molecular shape of exposed raw wood.  The liquid product is wiped on the raw wood, and only bonds to uncoated wood, and the rest is wiped away.  If, during the course of daily living, scratches or wear appear in that single bonded layer, additional Monocoat oil is wiped over the worn portion.  It bonds only to the wood that has been exposed by wear, but not to the adjacent coated wood.  The excess is wiped off and the problem is solved without moving furniture or renting a buffer or applying a coat to the entire floor.  And it really seems to work just as they say.  So far, two months into our test floor, the single coat appears to be holding up. But this is Minnesota; the combination of salt and sand that we drag in on our boots will take its toll eventually. We will keep this site posted with any further developments. 

The Application Process

The process of applying the Monocoat to the floor is also drastically different from the process for applying finishes that build over the wood.  For ease and control, the oil itself is dispensed from a plastic condiment bottle and then buffed into the floor using a buffer (or by hand with a rag for smaller areas) working in zones of 50-100 square feet.  The oil is left to react with the exposed wood for ten minutes and then the excess is buffed off. A second application is redundant because the oil will only bond to wood fiber that is completely raw and uncoated.  When using the Monocoat Oil colors we have found that we can get denser, more opaque color if the floor is misted with water and allowed to dry before the application of the oil.  The water pops or swells the grain, opening the pores of the wood and increasing the available bonding surface for the colored oil. 

Rubio Monocoat caught our attention initially because it was advertised as a no-VOC finish.  That means no Volatile Organic Compounds – those long-chain hydrocarbons that contribute to interior air pollution and can combine with nitrogen oxides to form ground-level ozone – are released as the finish cures. A zero-VOC finish is hard to find in the floor coating industry and we have been searching for one for a while. It’s not exactly clearwhy the floor finishing business is so far behind the paint industry – VOC paints have been available in mainstream retail for at least two years. Flooring finishes seem to favor those very volatile petroleum-distillate-based solvents that keep the solution liquid until applied, but evaporate quickly to allow the finish to dry and cure in a reasonable time. But mineral spirits and petroleum distillates release high levels of VOCs that can cause eye, skin, nose and throat irritation, and they are neurotoxins that may depress or damage the brain and nervous system. Short-term exposure to neurotoxins can cause dizziness, headache, drowsiness and nausea.  While you can use a respirator to minimize your risk during the actual application of these finishes, the VOCs can linger in upholstery fabrics or curtains and even in the air after the finishes have dried.  Even waterborne finishes are not VOC-free and can also release unspecified ammoniates and biocides as they cure.  For customers who are pregnant or respiratorially sensitive we really needed to have another option. Rubio Monocoat is a mixture of linseed oil and wax and its Material Safety Data Sheets list it as a non-hazardous substance containing 0 g/L VOCs.  By comparison, a typical gallon of a solvent-based polyurethane will release 450 g/L or 3.8 pounds of volatile organic compounds into the air. Ouch.

It Comes in Colors, but the Look is Very Matte

One of the best features of the Monocoat oil is that it comes in 28 colors (we carry 9 of them).  And, unlike stain, the Monocoat adds color to most wood species without blotching. But even with the colored oils we find that the completed floor looks rather dry and flat. We thought this was a drawback until we realized that we have been conditioned to accept the very built-up, glossy appearance of polyurethane finishes. The Monocoat looks almost unfinished in comparison because it does not form a film on top of the wood.  But we also feel that it’s time to embrace the hand-rubbed look Monocoat gives because the generic, factory-finished, plastic look of modern hardwood floors has gone too far.  Many of the pre-finished floors in particular have so much plastic built up on top of the wood that they look like vinyl.  And when those floors get damaged, replicating that thick and carefully built-up layer of finish is difficult and time-consuming.  At least with the Monocoat, fixing the inevitable worn spots is straightforward and fast. 

If you insist on some sheen, Rubio offers a Satin Cleaner, a maintenance cleaner that will increase the gloss level as you clean.  Rubio also has a Natural Cleaner for those who want to maintain the original, matte appearance of the oil.