antique heart pine flooring

14 years ago

Does anyone have experience with antique heart pine flooring? We have seen it in many homes and always loved it; especially the "character grade." However, yesterday, the flooring contractor began laying our 8" and 6" wide planks, and we saw there are "bolt holes" in the wood (in addition to the traditional nail holes and knots which are great). These "bolt holes" (as described by the flooring contractor) range in size, but are larger than the nail holes and seem to go up to about 1/4" in size. I am concerned that these are unacceptable as a tripping hazard to a woman in high heel shoes as well as a general dirt catcher. They said the holes could be filled or plugged, but im not sure what this would look like! Would love any help you knowledgeable professionals could give us first time home builders/remodelers! We are scared that we have made a $35k mistake!! Please help!!

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Comments (7)

idrive65
14 years ago
We filled open knot holes with G5 epoxy by West System. It is a 2-part epoxy that we mixed in small batches (4 oz. plastic cups) and dabbed it in the holes before sanding/finishing. It hardens fairly quickly to a hard, light amber-colored material that blends well with antique flooring.
sombreuil_mongrel
14 years ago
We recently installed some reclaimed heart pine. There were some bolt holes, like 3/4" diameter, in addition to smaller holes. We either culled out the worst holes or patched them with wood plugs or dutchmen. It was okay because the original flooring had been taken up, re-milled, and had scads of nail holes and other damage from removal. The new flooring (with bolt holes, supposedly from large timbers used in warehouses or factories) supplemented the original stuff to make up the shortfall, which was almost 180 square feet. The floors ended up with tons of character, and look truly at home in the 1817 rooms.
Your outcome depends on the skill of your carpenter.The repairs can be effected on the workbench before the material is installed, as sometimes that is the more efficient method. Dutchmen (rectangular patches) can be accomplished by routing out a recess, which need not be the full thickness of the board; 3/8 is fine. The router is guided by wooden straightedges, and the dutchmen is cut to the exact length and hand-planed in width until it fits perfectly. If the grain is chosen properly, it can blend in very nicely.
Wood repairs only, not epoxy please.
Casey
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I have no concern that the GC will accept responsibility. He has already said the guys are never supposed to use the oil based sweeping compound on unfinished wood floors (he said this out of the gate when I first mentioned it). Its just that fixing something like this is costly and a pain if it doesn't sand out. To replace sections of tongue and groove flooring of this type is problematic at a minimum, then comes matching the floors. They are all unique. Anyway, my initial reaction is to let the finishers sand the floors. I am confident that most of the stains are superficial. The ones that survive the sanding, I have had the suggestion to use acetone to soften the stain and make the oil "bleed" into the wood. Seems like a reasonable effort. If that doesn't work, then replacment... which I want to avoid.
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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!
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idrive65
14 years ago
Wood repairs only, not epoxy please.

We had hundreds of spots to fill, making a teeny wooden patch for each one was completely impractical. Most of the spots we filled you would never know that they weren't always black knots instead of holes. I like the character grade look, YMMV
sombreuil_mongrel
14 years ago
I'm just sayin' for "bolt holes", no gross epoxy. Any tinted hole filler is great for nail holes. I like Abatron epoxy, it can be tinted with aniline dyes.
Casey
sis2two
14 years ago
Fourkidz-- We have reclaimed heart pine which has the bolt holes but didn't fill them because they are a part of the character of the floor. Just want to worn you about wearing high heels on this type of floor. The damage will be horrible and I wouldn't want anyone wearing them on heart pine. It is incredibly soft as you probably know. You will love the look of this wood.
sombreuil_mongrel
14 years ago
Hi,
This is the floor I refernced above, it's 90% original floors from the house supplemented with new reclaimed. The original stuff has more character from the old nail holes and powder post beetle tunnels.

The hallway floor is more than half new; all of it from the side doors to the foreground is new. The first six feet in from the front door are original. It blends really well.
The finish is a custom blend of stains, two coats, and three coats of colored waxes.
Casey
sunnyflies
14 years ago
Beautiful floors, nice work.

antique heart pine flooring

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idrive65

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