I'm not an installer or wood professional. (had to get that out of the way first) Here's the deal - wood dries out during the winter and shrinks a bit when you have central heat on. (And I think gas heat tends to dry the air even more than electric heat.) Come summer and those warm humid months, even with the a/c on, your wood floors will regain moisture and swell. So you've been through 6 months now probably with heat on in your house. I would expect to see some gaps - not huge but it might just be enough to cause that movement you hear. It's not cupping but just the natural tendency for wood to gain/lose moisture during the cooling/heating season cycles. I've also heard that alot depends too on when you had your wood floors installed. If they are installed at the height of summer when the humidity is at it's highest, there is a bigger chance of having shrinkage and gapping come the winter months. I live in the south where alot of the older homes have heart pine flooring that is 100+ yrs old and yes it's definitly looser-feeling during these late winter/early spring months when you walk on it. I suppose you could face nail these planks but I would first call your installer back if he is reputable, and he will know what to do, if anything is needed. And from here I'll turn it over to the flooring experts on this board.

Okay - the general consensus seems to be the stains should remain! I'll probably clean it up a bit with wax and 0000 steel wool, just to get any grime off, but I won't worry so much about using a special product on the stains. (The bright green ink stain, however, may have to go as I didn't feel it has as much history to it as the darker stains ;-).) moonshadow - I never find much of anything on my local CL either, so I look in the LA and San Diego areas where all the good stuff is! Even then, it took me a year of searching under "antique pine" to find this. My DH wants me to actually have the space completed before I start filling it up, but I told him these things don't come up too often in my area.

I see there is a flooring forum... will try to copy it over. Thanks again.

Like Trailrunner, we have original heartpine floors in our 1890s townhouse. Actually, they are subfloors, as the prior owner took up the original oak parquet, which was painted and in bad shape, and re-finished the pine. Trailrunner's side-by-side pic above is very close to the color and condition of our pine (and even the oak looks like ours!) We did cover the pine with new oak parquet on the parlor/living floor of the house, primarily because we wanted a more formal look but also because the pine had some deep scratches and gouges from furniture being moved. We never noticed dings or dents from high heels or dropped items but furniture legs really did a number on the floors. For now we are keeping the pine on one level of the house, an area that includes the kitchen and a full bathroom. That floor has been used and abused by our workmen since we've been under renovation and it seems pretty impervious to dropped tools, muddy salty boots, plaster being ground into it, etc. The bathroom is not at all well ventilated and we have no shrinkage or warping problems even with us being less than vigilant about wiping up random sink and tub splashing. No radiant heat to tell you about, sorry!