Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
valzone5

Pine Flooring

valzone5
13 years ago

I have a 100 year old house and I am renovating the dining room. I had my heart set on pine floors, but I can't afford, nor do I have access to, reclaimed wood. A local mill, and even Home Depot, for that matter, sell tongue & Groove "pine flooring" (unfinished - just bare pine t&g boards). When I told a friend about my plans to buy this flooring for my dining room, he told me that I do not want pine floors - that they are too soft, they will get dented by even very light use, and the dents will collect dirt, the cracks between the boards will collect dirt, and the boards will snag my socks. He suggested laminate, which I am not crazy about. I really want to stick to something that looks natural. I have laminate now and although it looks OK, it doesn't "fit" with the age of the house.

Any thoughts on this? I have read through old posts about pine floors, but can't find any information on what type of pine, and where to get it.

I am all for rustic, don't mind dents, etc. But I don't a floor that is a cleaning nightmare, or that snags socks, or that I regret putting down.

Thanks!

Comments (6)

  • kiki22
    13 years ago

    I don't know much about floors, I have oak floors. But I have a lot of pine furniture and it is very soft and scratches easily. I can't imagine walking around on pine. Plus I have dogs, so their nails would wreck havoc on pine.

  • claudialina10
    13 years ago

    I have pine floors in my 1880 house. Yes, it does ding and scratch, but I don't mind that. However, I just installed new pine flooring (8" wide slabs, Southern Yellow) in my kitchen renovation and I can already tell that it's much softer than the rest of the house (older wood).

    If you can afford reclaimed, you will probably get a harder pine. Otherwise, you need to know that having pine means it will ding, but it's part of the natural beauty. (ps, it's never snagged my socks and it isn't a cleaning nightmare anymore than any other floor, in fact less than my parent's cherry floor!).

  • trailrunner
    13 years ago

    I have heart pine all through my 1890 home. It looks fine and in most places perfect after all these years. My neighbor also has heart pine original to their 1890's home. They recently did a kitchen remodel and decided to purchase new pine for the floor and stain it to match the rest of the old pine. It looks horrible. You can't match the original unless you purchase reclaimed and the new pine they sell looks nothing like the old. When placed near each other the new looks really bad and "fake".

    You say you don't have access to reclaimed wood but you do ! My other neighbor just purchased enough heartpine from an Ebay seller to redo his whole front porch. It is GOrGEOUS. It was $350.00 for the whole load. The boards were perfect and were from an old warehouse that was demolished. They were in pristine condition but because they were old old old they still match the type of pine you need. Please do look into the sellers on ebay. You will be so glad you did and it is very affordable. c

  • mainegrower
    13 years ago

    Pine has been used for flooring for hundreds of years and IMO is far superior to any laminate on the market. Pine is botanically classified as a softwood, but that really does not have much to do with its durability as flooring. What does matter is the species of pine and where/how it's been grown. I'm sure there are sources online which give hardness ratings of the varous pine species - white pine vs. yellow pine, for example. Northern grown pine is generally a good deal more durable then southern pine simply because it has grown more slowly.

    It's unclear from your post whether you're seeking wide pine planking or narrow t&g flooring. In either case, I'd look for local mills producing their own lumber - there should be many of these in Canada. BTW, if you're considering wide pine flooring, shiplap edges are much easier to deal with when installing than t&g.

  • valzone5
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    The t&g pine boards from the local lumber mill are 10" wide, and the boards at Home Depot are 6". I have not seen shiplap pine boards in my search.

    I'll check ebay for reclaimed lumber....never thought of that. I live in an area with a lot of old houses, so who knows...maybe there's something out there.

    I really have my heart set on real wood.

Sponsored
Virginia Kitchen & Bath
Average rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars151 Reviews
Virginia's Award Winning One Stop Kitchen & Bath Remodeling Resource