I love ours, it's rustic yellow pine everywhere except for the bathrooms. I used 2 coats of walnut tung oil so the floor is pretty dark. I topcoated with 4 coats of Waterlox original. It looks every bit of 100 years old. Everyone is amazed it's 1.25 sq ft pine. The floor is wearing better then I thought it would actually in our busy kiddo/pet filled home. The Waterlox is great stuff, if you get a scuff, scratch or dent just rub a little on! You can also apply another coat if things are looking worn without having to remove the old finish first. The only thing I would have done differently is gone a little lighter with the stain....only because is shows dirt ALOT. But then again it's so old looking I guess it's worth the extra mopping. Of course it's a soft wood so it wouldn't be recommended for people who go nuts over every little scratch...more for those of us who consider it pantina! :)
Good Luck!

KAT

KAT,

I'd love to see pics of your floor. I was thinking of staining it pretty dark, too. I've heard the tung oil is the best! I'm not familiar with Waterlox, but I'll check into that. I love the aged look! I'm going to go with the extra wide planks, too.

Anyone else have pics of pine floors or wide planks, please send!

Thanks,
Michelle

Hi Michelle;
I think the following will take you to a picture that has 2 coats of walnut tung oil (wanted to make sure it was going to look good even though I did a test board). I haven't uploaded any of the finished product yet but the color shows about right. The waterlox adds a beautiful, soft amber glow to the finish coat. For some reason the guest bedroom only got 1 coat of tung oil so it came out lighter. Last week I added some walnut stain with the Waterlox & recoated it to match the rest of the house. Took about a day to dry but it still looks great.
Anyway, we went with the Waterlox original to save some money but I'm really pleased with the semigloss finish it has provided. My camera is full so give me a few days to get some pics of the final product.
Our boards were suppose to be 8" but ended up being 6", I was LIVID, but what can you do? Woodman knew he had us over a barrel. Are you doing it DYI? If so, I hope you guys have patience!!:)

Kind regards;

Kimberly

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1558324}}

Oh one more thing, I'm sorry, I don't know what Frontier grade is, perhaps it's better then what we put down. I like the rustic 100 year old look.....I found that Hubby was casting out the ones that had blue streaks, oh no!! I made him stop because the blue takes on such a gorgeous old timey look when finished. Just an FYI, not sure if you guys are DYI at all.

Good luck!!

KAT

I love the color of your floors, KAT!!! I also love the 100 year old look. The company that I am considering is wonderful to work with so far. Their website has beautiful pictures. http://www.wideplankflooring.com/
My husband and I have never installed flooring before, but we are going to try to learn. I'm sure we will have to get some assistance, but I'm excited about trying it. The best part is, with the rustic look we really can't go wrong. I want it to look used and worn. I don't want any shine to the flooring, though. I know the darker color will be harder to keep clean, so maybe the dull look will not show as much dust?? I'm sure I will test stain many pieces before I get what I want. We are still in the building process, so it will be Spring before we get ready for flooring. I figured it is never too early to start thinking about what the finished product will look like.

Any other advice you can think of would be appreciated. Thanks so much!

Ah yes! Carlisle flooring! Lucky you! I probably wouldn't have heard such grinding & nashing of teeth during the install if we hadn't gone with such a greedy old geezer wood flooring dude. I'm STILL mad! hahaha Carlisle flooring is the look I was going for. They have amazing flooring!!! It took me about 15 test boards to come up with the right combination for color & durability. I tried MANY different stains & coatings. So far our choice hasn't been problem. My dishwasher leaked, no warping, no staining. I dropped a cast iron pot lid that left a huge hanking hole. It only took a few drops of Waterlox mixed with stain to make it disappear. Yup, we put down 1,900 sq ft of it, even in the kitchen. Cooking oils don't even phase the Waterlox! I like the fact I can recoat without having to do anything.

Installing the wood floor would have been easy but our boards were twisted & warped. We had to use a hydrolic jack. Someone even spilled what appeared to be a salad all over half a load, didn't bother to clean it up, just pack & ship!!! Yum, tomatoes! I ordered 2600 sq ft, it was so bad we gave up doing the laundry room. Not sure what we are going to do with the rest...really expensive firewood perhaps!

About the dust, hmm, I think you know what, it's dark, it's gonna show. I use a huge wood floor dust mop from O'Cedar, works great for that. I think most of our problem comes from our lot grading issues & the mud. It's so bad we don't even have seed down yet. So sorry, didn't mean to scare you on the dust! I use the huge dust mop then just use the Swiffer Wetjet. It's really not that bad. I'll take a little extra work over carpet with this many people/pets any day! All in all this is exactly what we will put in our next house.

Best wishes on your new build!! Let me know if you need any additional information, can help where I can!

Oh yeah, I sanded the upstairs by hand because I had to do it alone & couldn't wrangle the big sander up the steps (we built out of state). I did 60 grit then 80. I did the downstairs with a rental from Lowes, worked great with very little dust! I used a belt sander on 60 grit to hit the high spots prior to sanding w/80 (you probably won't have that with your wood!).

Kind regards;

KAT

mobrien24,

We also installed 8-3/4" eastern white pine, probably close to equivalent to what you are calling "frontier" grade, if that means that there are more knots per board than more expensive grades. Like kimberlyinva we used Waterlox also. With Waterlox, if you use an oil-based stain like Minwax, you can mix a portion of the stain with the first coat of Waterlox and stain it at the same time. Adding the stain to the first coat of Waterlox also helps to even out the stain absorption in soft woods like pine. We used a mixture of Minwax Red Chestnut with a little Dark Walnut mixed in. We used the original Waterlox Sealer for the 1st two coats and switched to Waterlox Satin for the next two coats. If you want the knots and soft spots to blend in a little better in sheen in the final coat, after the 2nd coat, spot finish with a brush dipped in the Waterlox sealer any knots or soft spots where the Waterlox is soaking in a little more. You may need to spot finish those things a couple of times before continuing to the 3rd coat depending on your taste. Not a big deal, don't worry about being precise - just slap it on and smooth it out. The spot finish areas blend right into the 3rd coat. You can spot finish these areas in 15 minutes per room. The idea is just to let those areas catch up with the rest of the floor so the floor takes the 3rd and 4th coats pretty evenly, knots and all.

Waterlox is easy to install -just follow the directions on the website and restrain yourself from trying to work the finish. Just apply it evenly with a lambs wool applicator and walk away. Applied properly, the finish self levels and nearly all imperfections you think you might see in the finish as you are applying it disapper by the time the coat is cured. Once I got the first coat on the first room it felt more like I was mopping the room instead of applying a finish - that is, stress free. Waterlox is very forgiving.

We installed about 3000 sf of the flooring ourselves after purchasing it from Lumber Liquidators. We even put it in the kitchen and the powder room. We like the dark color. We like the glossier finish, but chose the softer sheen of the satin finish and are pleased with it. We didn't even sand the boards, they were milled with a very smooth finish, and any slight differences in thickness just add to the casual look. The Waterlox finish is slick when you have socks on. If you go click on "My Page" there is a link to our pictures on Webshots. I would insert the pics here, but for some reason I cannot pull up Webshots from work.

Good Luck!

Don

Don,

Your floors are beautiful, as is the whole house! The finished product seems so far away, but it will be so worth it. We are doing the painted woodwork, too. I love the look with the floors! Thank you so much for your insights. I'm learning so much here!

Thanks,
Michelle