Natural & light-resistant surface
Palpably vibrant floors
Growing even more beautiful over time
TRAPA floors are made from solid wood and entirely free from synthetic lacquers or waxes. Instead, we treat each surface using a labor- and time-intensive natural oiling process, followed by two full days (!) of air drying – the gentlest way to protect the wood from within.
The result of such natural surface treatment are palpably vibrant natural wood floors, which age gracefully and grow in character and beauty with every passing year.
Advantages of Natural Surface Treatment:
- Pleasant feel
- No film-forming surface (as with conventional UV-dried coatings), which could be damaged
- The wood remains breathable and vapor-permeable, as its pores remain unsealed
- Highly resistant to dirt and moisture
- Durable, slip-resistant and easy to maintain
Light-resistance by wood inherent ingredients
Just like our floor colours, their light stability is achieved purely through the natural ingredients inherent in the wood itself. To ensure long-term resistance to UV light in darker floor tones, the wood first undergoes a thermal-pressure treatment, followed by a pH-modified water bath. This triggers a natural iron–tannin reaction in the wood, which protects it from fading, even under prolonged exposure to sunlight.
Wood colours marked with a sun symbol in our product list received additional lye treatment for UV-resistance, counteracting yellowing or fading due to sunlight.
More glass - more sunlight
The biggest "natural" enemy of wooden floors is the sun. More precisely: the UV light, which alters the color of the wood. As modern architecture embraces ever-larger glass fronts – and with them, intensified sunlight exposure, the surface treatment of natural wood floors poses TRAPA’s biggest challenge. Since TRAPA fundamentally avoids the use of stains, waxes, UV-cured oils and varnishes, in order to preserve the wood’s natural qualities, the company from the Austrian region Salzkammergut is constantly involved in researching and developing innovative methods of natural wood treatment. For example, extremely dark, grey, and white surfaces – which are especially prone to fading – receive additional lye treatment for UV-resistance. Equally important is the air-drying process that follows: each plank is carefully stacked by hand on drying racks to ensure proper curing of the treated wood.
Light-stabilized Surfaces
Like the colours of TRAPA floors, their light stability is created exclusively by effective utilization of natural, wood-inherent ingredients from deep within the material. In order to achieve lasting light resistance, dark oak floors first undergo a thermal pressure treatment, caramelizing the natural sugar within the wood. Thereafter they undergo a pH-modified water bath, triggering a natural iron-tannin reaction within the wood and hence protecting dark oak colours from fading, even under intense UV exposure. However, this process only works with oak species that feature a uniform distribution of tannins – such as the Sessile Oaks from Alsace, which TRAPA uses for its floors. In oak varieties with uneven tannin content, the essential iron–tannin reaction for light-stability would occur inconsistently. Throughout the entire production process, every single plank is inspected multiple times by hand – a hallmark of TRAPA, where human craftsmanship and cutting-edge technology go hand in hand.