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Guidelines for installation and maintenance of hardwood worksurfaces.

Your new hardwood worksurfaces should be installed by a competent fitter familiar with this type of work, however, if in doubt follow our guidelines to ensure good long term success and  durability of the product. These are practical guidelines are based on our own 25 years of successfully fitting of hardwood tops without a single problem.

Part A - Installation from new

Layout, measure and pre-cut all pieces of the chosen layout from the blanks supplied, this includes: Any cut-outs for sink, hob etc. Any drainer grooves for undermounted or Belfast type sinks. Bolt slots cut in underneath to join the pieces together, Any radiused corners and router profiling of the top and bottom front edge all the way round. Remove any machining marks. Once these are done and ready to install, apply 3 coats of a suitable oil to the underside and all visible edges, DO NOT apply oil to the joint faces as this will make gluing up difficult and not totally satisfactory. We strongly recommend Rustins Danish Oil or Liberon Worktop Oil for this process as they are tree resin based oils and feed the wood properly. Apply with a brush working the oil in well, do not wipe off as stated on the tin. Allow to dry between coats. Do not use any oil containing wax This creates major problems in refinishing the worktops at a later date. The wax severely clogs up your sander / sandpaper / wire wool and makes achieving a good finish almost impossible. We know, we’ve tried !! Once fully dry, turn the worktops over and sand to 120 grit all over to give a good base finish. Fit the worktops to the cabinets, glue the joints and bolt them up and re-sand the joints level and smooth. DO NOT fit any appliances into the worktops at this stage !! Apply 3 coats of oil to the top surface, allowing to dry between coats. After the second coat, lightly nib back the surface to ensure a smooth surface for the final coat just in case any dust or flies etc. had been attracted to the tops while the second coat was drying. The reason for applying 3 coats above and below is to create a humidity balance between the surfaces which stops any warping of the worktops which is a common problem in badly fitted tops. Worth noting that certain timbers can be more open grained than others and if you haven’t achieved a good even appearance on the oil after three coats, then a 4th may be necessary. Do not seal the back edge of the worktops to any tiling etc, with silicone until the whole oiling process is complete as silicone can affect the finish of the oil while curing. Fasten the worktops down using a clearance hole for your screws to for allow any small seasonal movement in the timber.

Part B - Maintenance and care of worktops once installed

Providing your worktops have been installed as detailed in Part A) then the hard work has been done so you don’t have to. On completion of the installation of your tops and the oil is fully dry, scoop some water in your hands and throw it at the surface. Watch the way the water drops bead up as they would on a freshly polished car when it rains. This is how it should always look ! Let your worktops tell you when they need doing again by watching for the water drops flattening out. This is a sign that the oil is wearing a bit thin with normal use. Now is the time to re-oil ! To Re-Oil: We usually say this job is best done in the evening when you’ve finished using the kitchen for the day. Get some white spirit ( nothing else will do ! ) and using a lint free cloth ( that doesn’t drop bits ) wipe over your tops to remove any grease that may be present. If your tops are scuffed you might prefer to lightly use fine wire wool instead of the cloth. This will prep the surface as well as clean it. Get an old bowl or tin can or similar ( clean, preferably ! ). Pour in the oil, get a clean paint brush and off you go. Apply the oil working it well in, brush with the grain ( looks better when dry ) and cover the entire surface of your worktops. When you’re happy that you haven’t missed any, leave it overnight to cure and you’re good to go. If you’ve left it too long, you may need to sand your tops back before you start oiling, so it’s back to square one applying 3 coats of oil as described in Part A). But that’s the beauty of hardwood tops they can be re-sanded and brought back so many times over their life, you should in theory, never need to replace them. Points to note: 1)Enjoy your worktops, confident in the fact that there’s not much you can damage that can’t be brought back to life. 2)Hardwood is one of the most successful antibacterial materials you can use for food preparation, millions of butchers can’t be wrong ! Please do not use these, so called, ‘antibacterial wipes’ on your surfaces as they contain petrol distillates and this can damage your oiled surface. 3)Wipe off any water or liquid spills that occur, don’t leave them overnight or it may affect your surface, Danish oil is very good at what it does but it’s not totally waterproof. 4)Do not stand greasy pans on the surface for any length of time for the same reason. 5)Do bear in mind that hot pans will also leave a mark, worst case is that it will scorch the wood, always use a trivet or pan stand. 6)Always use a bread board for cutting on, do not cut directly on the surface or you will cut through the oil and the wood and leave that area open to moisture ingress. 7)Remember, if you do happen to do anything in points 3 to 6 above or have an accident then point 1 still applies and there’s not many worktops you can say that about !

Part C - Refurbishment of existing timber tops that need care and attention.

1)The first thing to do is to judge whether your worktops can be brought back to life or whether they’re too far gone ! Key points are : # Are your tops badly split ? Small splits can be filled but big ones usually mean new tops required. Fill with a good quality 2 part woodfiller. # Have you got deep, black water marks or staining ? If the marks are quite mild then they can usually be sanded out, if not, new tops required. These typically are at their worst around a Belfast sink.. # Are your tops warped ? Usual culprit areas for this are above a dishwasher where the surface wasn’t oiled properly ( or at all ) on installation. If this is the case then, as before, new tops required. 2)It should be said that if you can remove the appliances ( hob, sink etc or anything inset into the worktop ) from the worktop and strip the worktops out, the whole refurbishment process will be a lot easier. It’s much easier to sand a flat surface than work around obstacles. 3)Sanding needs to be done with 120 grit disc, preferably on a circular random orbit sander in either 125mm or 150mm disc all this gives a better finish overall. You are looking to sand back to raw timber to get rid of any old oils / varnishes present to begin with. 4)Now for the new oil : Once the sanding is done, apply 3 coats of a suitable oil ( we strongly recommend Rustins Danish Oil or Liberon Worktop Oil ) to the underside and all visible edges, allow to dry between coats.( bear in mind that oil finishes take longer to dry than todays water based paints ! ) When dry, flip over and re-install, apply 3 coats of oil to the top surface, allowing to dry between coats. After the second coat, lightly nib back the surface to ensure a smooth surface for the final coat just in case any dust or flies etc. have been attracted to the tops while the second coat was drying. The reason for applying 3 coats above and below is to create a humidity balance between the surfaces which stops any warping of the worktops which is a common problem in badly fitted tops. You are now ready to re-install your appliances. ! 5)If you can’t remove the worktops then sanding can be done with the tops in place. You will need to mask off any sinks, hobs etc first and the follow the sanding routine as above. Take care to remove any silicone seals present for a cleaner edge and better finish on the oil ( oiling over silicone leaves tiny circles in the oil ! ) You may need a small detail sander to get right into the corners. Take your time and results can be very successful. Oiling procedure is still as listed in point 4 above but you’ll only be coating the top surface. Being able to carry out a successful refurbishment will save you a lot of money over replacing them and by following our maintenance routine in Part B should make your worktops last for years to come.

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