Heart pine flooring is a great way to have a rustic and elegant feel in your home, especially, if the theme is traditional. It will enhance the overall ambiance and attract any visitor who steps on the magnificent looking pine flooring. The heart pine is usually dark in color and is decay resistant. It is more stable than other kinds of wood and can be used for making strong and durable flooring in homes. If you’re looking for something different than white oak floors or solid oak floors, this could be the choice for you.
Heart pine is considered to be recycled wood from the long leaf pine trees that were about 300 plus years old. Approximately, about 80,000,000 acres of land had these trees and most of them disappeared by 1900. This was the primary building material used for building homes and factories in those days. The wood is now being recycled as heart pine floors. Pine wood does not have to always be the recycled variety. The reclaimed or old variety is also known as antique heart pine. The wood sawn from trees today is known as new heart pine. You might also be able to find a pine wood look in laminate wood floors or engineered flooring.
A heart pine floor can usually found in very old building and homes. In case you have an ancestral home to renovate and refinish the pine wood plank flooring, you need to do it very carefully. Sometimes it will be very difficult to get the exact match to the existing floor. First get a clear idea as to how much heart pine you will need for replacement in damaged areas. Start by removing the damaged boards. Some of the planks may have holes in them. Use dowels to plug them and cut off the tops to keep them in level with the ground.
If there are damaged boards in between you can slowly remove them by prying gently. Replace these with the replacement boards and nail them down to fit perfectly. Use a hammer to level all the nails so that nothing sticks out separately. Now use a floor sander to sand the floor. It is ideal to use course #80 grit sandpaper. The sander should be moving so that it does not gouge the wood. When this is done use a vacuum cleaner to vacuum the floor to remove all the dust. Use the sander again with a fine #220 grit to sand the floor once again. Vacuum the floor again and then use a clean cloth to wipe the floor. Heart pine installation is pretty much the same as any other wood floor installation.
When the floor is clean apply a pre-stain wood conditioner with the help of some rags or a brush. Leave it for about 15 minutes. When it is dry the floor is now ready for staining. There are some specialty stains available for antique wood. Use a brush and apply the stain on the wooden plank flooring and let it sit for about 15 minutes for penetration. The wood will become darker if the stain if left longer. For better finish you can apply the stain for a second time also for a darker finish. Use a thin coat of polyurethane to seal the floor. When dried, sand the floor using the #220 grit, vacuum and wipe it clean. Finally, use a topcoat for great looking antique heart pine flooring.
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