Finishing New England White Pine Floors ... Do I need to apply a conditioner?

[oldpilgrim]

I put wide 12 inch pine boards on my floor in my new house 20 years ago. I polyed the floors after staining them and they looked nice...for a while.

I found that the pine is so soft that it compresses in spots under use and eventually the poly just cracks, and wears off as it doesn't compress with the wood. I found that in areas of heavy traffic, it all goes bare right down to the wood surface.

This is ok with me as I built the house to look old, inside and out. Old colonial houses never put any finish on the floors, water paint maybe, and if i was going to do it again, I wouldn't poly it...just let it look old.

My house was built in such a way that I have people come in and ask me how long it took to restore it, and the floors are one part of that 'look'. I used a house built in 1800 as a model, with some interior pine wall boards, beams, multiple central fireplaces, and all wide pine floors with exposed square head nails, etc. To me, the remaining poly is an unwanted nuisance.

Just be aware that the poly does not hold up well on soft boards. Also be aware that the wide boards will swell and shrink with temp/humidity changes. The joints between the boards will go from almost nothing to over 1/4 inch with the seasons. Be sure and leave about 1/2 inch between the floor boards and the walls, or they will touch when the floor swells. My upstairs rooms didn't have enough space left between the floors and the walls and the floors snap with seasonal changes.

If I ever get around to 'refinishing ' the floors, they will be sanded and stained and oiled with something that doesn't get hard and won't separate from the wood like the poly.

 

[DFB]

I had wide pine planks in my Maine home near the ocean which was a restored post and beam building that was once a Blacksmith shop and original to the 125 acre farm. The "cottage" we always called it afterwards.

The floors were stained really dark...walnut stain maybe. The spaces between boards didn't look so obvious that way wasn't like a dark between light visual. And when it wore it was pretty easy to touch up being so dark and mottled in color. Since it was a vacation home for while it got a lot of wear too.

Heavy furniture did dent the floor fairly easy as did carelessly handled chunks of split firewood for the Franklin style woodstove mounted on a huge brick hearth. Had open beam Cathedral ceilings too.


I will have to see how the pine floor I put in at work upstairs in the new barn will hold up. We haven't given it a finish yet. And only hand power sanded the worst spots after putting it down. Was a big room building footprint is 30X60. That will be a spring/summer job project as time permits. Just a poly finish was the original plan but staining could still be considered.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

I put wide 12 inch pine boards on my floor in my new house 20 years ago. I polyed the floors after staining them and they looked nice...for a while.

I found that the pine is so soft that it compresses in spots under use and eventually the poly just cracks, and wears off as it doesn't compress with the wood. I found that in areas of heavy traffic, it all goes bare right down to the wood surface.

This is ok with me as I built the house to look old, inside and out. Old colonial houses never put any finish on the floors, water paint maybe, and if i was going to do it again, I wouldn't poly it...just let it look old.

My house was built in such a way that I have people come in and ask me how long it took to restore it, and the floors are one part of that 'look'. I used a house built in 1800 as a model, with some interior pine wall boards, beams, multiple central fireplaces, and all wide pine floors with exposed square head nails, etc. To me, the remaining poly is an unwanted nuisance.

Just be aware that the poly does not hold up well on soft boards. Also be aware that the wide boards will swell and shrink with temp/humidity changes. The joints between the boards will go from almost nothing to over 1/4 inch with the seasons. Be sure and leave about 1/2 inch between the floor boards and the walls, or they will touch when the floor swells. My upstairs rooms didn't have enough space left between the floors and the walls and the floors snap with seasonal changes.

If I ever get around to 'refinishing ' the floors, they will be sanded and stained and oiled with something that doesn't get hard and won't separate from the wood like the poly.

And that is exactly why I used Tung oil. My house is 1760s center chimney cape. Wide White Pine face nailed with cut nails. Not so much for the OP but pilgrim you should look up Waterlox tung oil.
I can't post pictures but I cam link to SWMBOs blog. I did all the work except building the cabinets and granite.

Kitchen | Search Results | Minor Emergencies

 

[oldpilgrim]

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Luke.

Mine is a center Chimney cape, with three fireplaces and beamed ceilings, but I have a full second floor except for the open ceiling beamed kitchen in the 'el'. No where near the exposed wood you have.

Again, beautiful.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Thanks! We are very proud of it but still a work in progress.
Ya, I took out two TINY bedrooms in order to expose the timber frame and vault the ceiling. The chimney also has three fireplaces and an intact beehive oven.

 

[Garandman]

In olden days we would thin the first coat so it would penetrate more. Is this still done with water-based products?

Used various "Tung Oil Finishes" BLO and similar products on rifle stocks. I love how it looks (that's how USGI rifle stocks were finished) but I don't think it would hold up to foot traffic very well.

 

[keegs]

I'm using inexpensive 5 1/8" wide boards from Lumber Liquidators ($1.29 sq/ft). The two bedrooms and hallway measure out to about 300 sq/ft.

I'm starting to lean towards the tongue oil finish. I remember how hard it was to keep a urethane finish on yellow pine floors we had years ago and while this job won't see the same heavy traffic those floors did, peeling and cracking could still be an issue with our Airedale who likes to chase his ball around the house and the little lady padding around in heels.

With the oil it looks like you don't need to sand between coats which should make application a bit easier. Some instructions say to cut the oil 50/50 with mineral spirits to facilitate better surface penetration and some say just straight up oil. Not sure.

Thank you all for the tips.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Don't cheap out, use Waterlox. They have very good directions. The "original" that you will use for the first 3 coats is thin enough for pine, I would not thin it. The final coat of either gloss or semi (I used semi) is thicker. I did a quick "wipe down" with a white 3M pad between coats.

Ill write more later but be aware, it is much more time intensive than poly (that's why no professional other than masters/artisans use it) so don't do it for that reason!
It is not as hard as poly which is why it wont cack/peel over time.

 

[PatMcD]

I'm a wood flooring contractor (since 1988) in Maine. On White Pine floors, if you want a natural finish (no stain) Waterlox tongue oil what I'd recommend. Oil-based poly is a close second, but only a good, non-voc compliant brand like Woodline.
In no way would I recommend a water-based finish on pine. It won't end up well.

If you want to add color, google-up Rubio Monocoat. I've done it on one pine floor where they wanted a pickled or whitewashed look and it came out great.

 

[keegs]

I'm a wood flooring contractor (since 1988) in Maine. On White Pine floors, if you want a natural finish (no stain) Waterlox tongue oil what I'd recommend. Oil-based poly is a close second, but only a good, non-voc compliant brand like Woodline.
In no way would I recommend a water-based finish on pine. It won't end up well.

If you want to add color, google-up Rubio Monocoat. I've done it on one pine floor where they wanted a pickled or whitewashed look and it came out great.

Thanks Pat.