Wide Old Growth Pine as Flooring

[Dave Avery]

All,

Took a flier and bought a bunch of wood on Ebay. There was 70 or so bf cherry and LOTS of wide, long (16 foot) old growth pine. When I say lots, I mean more than 1000 bf. All for $650.......

LOML picked it all up today. Have to say that she's a keeper. Bright, beautiful, and strong as a horse It's gorgeous (the wood). Long, straight, and flat as a board

Anyway, on to my questions. Does anyone have any experience using this material as flooring? I've layed T&G oak and maple before so I'm not totally inexperienced. My parents have wide pine flooring that they put down themselves. The manufacturer of their floor did the normal "grooving" on the back side and they installed by face nailing the pine.

I'll have to do the "grooving myself - no big deal. This is old reclaimed lumber so I shouldn't need to do anything other than let the wood acclimate to the surroundings before installation? Any other advice and/or tips? Best. Dave.

[Tim Donovan]

Hi Dave
How wide is the pine? What thickness are you going to take it to? If you mill it down to 3/4, I would say keep your widest boards to 10". A random width floor is best as well. The problem with wider flooring is not so much how it moves across the grain but cupping as it takes on and loses moisture. True old growth is a bit more stable but I still would keep it to 10" or less.

Just my 2 cents.

Regards
Tim

[Alfred Clem]

Do you have some way to check the old wood for metal objects -- nails, buckshot, etc.? A hand-held metal detector could do. Otherwise, you could be in for some bad surprises when you process it.

[Ron Blaise]

All,

Took a flier and bought a bunch of wood on Ebay. There was 70 or so bf cherry and LOTS of wide, long (16 foot) old growth pine. When I say lots, I mean more than 1000 bf. All for $650.......

LOML picked it all up today. Have to say that she's a keeper. Bright, beautiful, and strong as a horse It's gorgeous (the wood). Long, straight, and flat as a board

Anyway, on to my questions. Does anyone have any experience using this material as flooring? I've layed T&G oak and maple before so I'm not totally inexperienced. My parents have wide pine flooring that they put down themselves. The manufacturer of their floor did the normal "grooving" on the back side and they installed by face nailing the pine.

I'll have to do the "grooving myself - no big deal. This is old reclaimed lumber so I shouldn't need to do anything other than let the wood acclimate to the surroundings before installation? Any other advice and/or tips? Best. Dave.

can use it for flooring, in fact it's widely used for just that. It will probably have to be re-plained and grooved before you do.

[Dave Avery]

Thanks, guys. By the way it's 12" to 16" wide......

[Jim Becker]

Dave...if you decide you don't want that pine...send it to me. Oy! To die for! And yes, our floors are all old and wide pine. The floor above my office "as I type" has at least one 16" wide board and many others that are more than 10". We're going with wide pine for the addition, too...

[Rick Lizek]

The company I work for specializes in antique lumber and flooring. You need to verify the moisture content. We always run it through the kiln to make sure it's around 7%. The grooves aren't necessary and it's just extra work. It just lets folks know what side is up. Having no grooves gives the option to pick the best face.

[Dave Avery]

Jim,

When I got home yesterday and saw the wood, I was stunned. Our home is fairly contemporary, but it will make nice flooring in my 16 year old's (just turned 16 today!) bedroom. We're also remodeling our guest bedroom and plan to use this for the floor in there. In addition to the pine and cherry, there's probably another 300bf of assorted maple, and oak. The maple is 5/8" and will be perfect for drawer material. Other miscellaneous wood will make great material for the tree house that Katherine plans to build for the 5 and 7 year olds. All-in-all this was a very lucky major score.

Rick,

Thanks for the information..... coincidentally, the wood was picked up in West Springfield, less than 20 miles from you.....

[Greg Cole]

I have seen some old growth pine used as flooring in a converted barn to residence style home. My uncle rehabbed an old barn a few years ago, and much of his flooring was done by his 2 hands from timber to installation & finishing. Some of these pine boards are easily 24" to 30" wide.
Not sure what sort of look you want from your floor, but in his case the rustic "barny" post n beam style looks great with a screw and plug install. This all but guarantees the wide planks will stay flat and looks appropriate in this case anyway. Make sure it is DRY and acclimated!
Also, in his "man room" he used the leftover from the flooring for wainscoting, he had a friend at a saw mill cut it with a HUGE VERY OLD sawmill (ya know the kind with a "fire hose" for a belt and a 4 foot circular blade), the wainscoting was left with the saw marks on it and it really adds to the character of the room -floor combo.

Greg

[Dave Dionne]

Sorry it has been a while since I have posted
We live in a 200 + year old home and hav ethat old growth pine for all the floors and it is some beatiful stuff.

My attic has the same flooring and have used some of it that split while pulling it up (those swuare cut nails can be a bear) for small projects nice to work with.

Great haul

Dave

[Ben Grunow]

I would take that stuff to a mill where flooring is milled to hav eit done for you. Straight line ripping, housing the backs and tongue and groove is all done on a couple of machines instead of killing yourself. At least get a price. Just MHO.

Ben