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antique heart pine flooring
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Posted by fourkidz (My Page) on Thu, Nov 5, 09 at 19:23
| Does anyone have experience with antique heart pine flooring? We have seen it in many homes and always loved it; especially the "character grade." However, yesterday, the flooring contractor began laying our 8" and 6" wide planks, and we saw there are "bolt holes" in the wood (in addition to the traditional nail holes and knots which are great). These "bolt holes" (as described by the flooring contractor) range in size, but are larger than the nail holes and seem to go up to about 1/4" in size. I am concerned that these are unacceptable as a tripping hazard to a woman in high heel shoes as well as a general dirt catcher. They said the holes could be filled or plugged, but im not sure what this would look like! Would love any help you knowledgeable professionals could give us first time home builders/remodelers! We are scared that we have made a $35k mistake!! Please help!! |
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RE: antique heart pine flooring
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| We filled open knot holes with G5 epoxy by West System. It is a 2-part epoxy that we mixed in small batches (4 oz. plastic cups) and dabbed it in the holes before sanding/finishing. It hardens fairly quickly to a hard, light amber-colored material that blends well with antique flooring. |
RE: antique heart pine flooring
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We recently installed some reclaimed heart pine. There were some bolt holes, like 3/4" diameter, in addition to smaller holes. We either culled out the worst holes or patched them with wood plugs or dutchmen. It was okay because the original flooring had been taken up, re-milled, and had scads of nail holes and other damage from removal. The new flooring (with bolt holes, supposedly from large timbers used in warehouses or factories) supplemented the original stuff to make up the shortfall, which was almost 180 square feet. The floors ended up with tons of character, and look truly at home in the 1817 rooms.
Your outcome depends on the skill of your carpenter.The repairs can be effected on the workbench before the material is installed, as sometimes that is the more efficient method. Dutchmen (rectangular patches) can be accomplished by routing out a recess, which need not be the full thickness of the board; 3/8 is fine. The router is guided by wooden straightedges, and the dutchmen is cut to the exact length and hand-planed in width until it fits perfectly. If the grain is chosen properly, it can blend in very nicely.
Wood repairs only, not epoxy please.
Casey |
RE: antique heart pine flooring
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| Wood repairs only, not epoxy please. We had hundreds of spots to fill, making a teeny wooden patch for each one was completely impractical. Most of the spots we filled you would never know that they weren't always black knots instead of holes. I like the character grade look, YMMV |
RE: antique heart pine flooring
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I'm just sayin' for "bolt holes", no gross epoxy. Any tinted hole filler is great for nail holes. I like Abatron epoxy, it can be tinted with aniline dyes.
Casey |
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