Yes, I have 160 year old white pine floors and no, they don't hold up to animals, but I don't have a finish on them. Used to but it would get scratched and beat up looking. I had a dog for 9 years and have a bunch of cats, but, hey, it gives patina!!

Yes, I have them in my house. Not sure how old they are or what kind of pine but they are very distressed, especially from dog scratches. The areas in front of doors are the worst. Previous owners were rather lax on maintenance so I am sure the floors weren't properly finished or cleaned. Still, I love their patina and they definately add character to an otherwise remuddled old house.

I also have them, and mine are 160+ years old, and original to my structure. A couple of thoughts: For many years (in the grand scheme of things probably half, or more, of the life of these floors) they were covered with floor cloths of one sort or an other, so it's hard to judge how they would look if they were exposed continuously to the kind of bare floor use that is the modern fashion.

Another thing to think about is whether the wide boards you're thinking of are actually old growth boards or more modern boards. Old wood (harvested more than 150 years ago) is much denser than most wood available today because the crop cycles on modern forestry are much shorter. If you are using reclaimed boards, this may or may not be a factor, depending on when the boards were harvested.

Another thing to think about is what if anything the effect of a floor finish might have for you. You asked about scratching ..... except for a dog really clawing at the floors you are really asking about potential damage to the finish, not the boards. Modern finishes (I'm thinking of the varieties of polyurethane) may be damaged by dog paws and walking, no matter what kind of wood. (I recently owned a house with modern strip oak, covered with a fine quality modern finish and the dog in that house damaged the floors at the doorways. OTOH, I have dogs and cats in my farm house, with bare, unfinished old floors and see no damage.)

Some of us with old wide board pine have *no* finish on our floors out of choice. This probably looked bad fora period when the floors were new, but now, the wood has acquired a patina and a hardness so it doesn't show damage like like a new floor would. If you bought old wood that was re-finished as part of the salvage operation, you would have essentially newly finished wood, with all it's pitfalls and potential for visible damage.

I just wanted you to know that it's hard to compare old, aged-in-placed, floors with newly created floors, even if made from reclaimed wood.

A middle ground of floor finishes for old wood (between bare and poly) would be treating it with a pure tung oil finish, with or without a wax top coat. The tung oil oxidizes and provides a protection that is renewable; the wax protects the tung oil and lengthens the time between renewals. Both can be reapplied in worn areas without doing the whole floor. Both are traditional practices, with long history of use. Tung oil has it's detractors, because it is stinky to apply and, some say, environmentally bad to live with. (Frankly, I find poly awful to live with from an outgassing point of view, as well.)

The one uncontested catch with both (and particularly so with wax) is that if you apply them, you can not then switch to a poly product without resanding the floor to bare wood. And some people say, even small vestiges of wax in the subsurface pores and cracks will interfere with good poly seal, forever.

My choice would be to go with tung and a wax top coat, if I was inclined to finish my floors. If you're buying reclaimed wood, they may (or may not, I've seen them both ways), come prefinished with a poly seal, so your finish choice would be made for you.

We had a wide plank pine floor put in kitchen when we moved in .They used old boards,antiqued the boards they look 200 years old but we also have the heat in floor.radiant.Im dislikeing the floors as they buckle I think from the heat.But I like distressed wood wide plank floors beautiful

Bulldinkie,

I love, love, love radiant heated houses and would do ours in a heart beat, except for our floors. I schemed and planned for many years to figure out how to install it, but I finally concluded with 1 1/8" to 1 1/4" actual thickness, of old heart pine (varying width from 8 " to 27"), it was simply a non-starter. (BTW, I had radiant floor in the VA house under modern T&G strip oak. Floors had a lot of movement and some cupping during the heating season, but it always went away in the steamy VA summers. Was only a cosmetic problem, but did present some issues at resale ....!)

Your post about "antiqued" pine floors came at a good point for me, as it cheered me up from a mini-funk over how my floors look today. I just told myself: some people pay to have this look, so get over it, girl! Thanks!

Molly~

some of the floors not all were bad the one had a wood stove sitting middle of the floor.We had to replace 2 so the fella that did all the painting antiqued my trim and floors that we replaced.Theyre great looking.You know how in old houses dirt would lay at baseboard and like stain floors, he has stain there it looks like I said 200 years old.Ours is circa 1700s

Here's the bottom line with old,wide plank, antique floors from my experience. Our place is ca:1775, the floors are all original and had never had an applied finish. Took years to uncover all the original flooring under the layers of tile,carpet,linolium,etc. After the repairs, the cleaning and the small fortune in $$ and time getting them ready to be used. (We had to lightly and not so lightly, sand to even out the damage and uneven spots.) We chose a penetrating tung oil finish, Waterlox.The choice was easy, it's authentic, repairable and easy to maintain. They look unbelievably beautiful, the first comment anyone makes upon entering the house is "OMG! The floors!" Now, to your real question, "damage from kids, dogs, cats, etc." Yup! Just as you suspected, they damage easily. Scratches show,and animals are the worst offenders. If you are wanting showroom perfection,and low maintainence, that lasts and lasts, this is NOT for you. BUT, if you are willing to do some maintainence every 7-10 years, and really want to enjoy the look and beauty that only age and patina will give you, do it! This is a look that only a very few homeowners can hope to have. The care is not that bad, you'll need to clean and scuff up (screen) the surface every few years, re-apply the penetrating finish, go someplace for an overnight stay, and when you return the floors are good as the day you first did them. The re-application is easy, we just mop it on with CLEAN rags, wipe up any excess and take off for a weekend. Yes, it's work and care, but you'll have something exceptional and rare. Regular care is just a damp mop now and then, but you must rinse and dry to keep the sheen clear. If you are truly an old house nut, it's well worth the effort. Good Luck! Pearly

Amen, to what Pearly said! She nailed it.

Some ,mostly upstairs floors were stained ugly dark chochlate color.We had them sanded lightly and coated with 3 coats of water based poly.They are a beautiful honey color.Didnt remove all the knicks scratches etc.Look like theyve always been that way.