Hi BigDogLover, I'll be sure to get a picture to you at some point when it's done. I'm really excited for how well it'll turn out (Lord willing). The whole thing about pine being soft is an over-generalization. What I've been told is that while we take all species of wood (and there are tons - to name a few of the most popular: white oak, red oak, walnut, ash, beech, maple, cypress, white pine, yellow pine, alder, elm, cherry, hickory, birch, teak, mahogany, cedar, ETC.) and split all those many species into only two categories - hardwoods and softwoods - that it's not nearly so black-and-white; that is to say, there is a much more gradient scale between hard and soft. There are several different species of pine out there, some of which are quite hard -- and southern yellow pine (often referred to as just "yellow pine" or "southern pine") is one of the hard ones (it's over twice as hard as eastern white pine, which is what most people are picturing in their mind when thinking of easily-dented "soft pine"). When people start poo-pooing pine, I tell them what I just told you, and I remind them that the entire framing structure of a house is pine, and pine has been used for flooring and exterior siding and lots of other uses for centuries, and holds up very very well (if maintained properly, which applies to almost any wood). The floors in my house, which was built in 1938, are southern yellow pine (it was at that time, and still is now, very abundant and thus affordable), have never been refinished or really even maintained, and they look great. If I look half this good when I'm 70, it'll be worth drinking to. By "hack traditional", I'm referring to a pet peeve of mine whereby fast-talking sharp-accent rich folks from New York and New Jersey and Michigan and the like, move here to the South - and then, with zero regard to tradition or rural identity or historical integrity - they build a huge modern house that clashes with all the antebellum and mill-era homes that make up the traditional Southern landscape - and they think it's "Southern" because it has a wraparound porch. I'm talking about the people that weren't born or raised here by parents born and raised here - the people who have no real understanding of the fact that this is a region of the larger nation which has its own cultural and architectural identity which ought to be faithfully preserved. The people who see the South simply as a warm, relaxed, "country" sort of place to be exploited and built-up. I find it offensively condescending that rather than seeing me and where I come from as a distinct culture that ought to be respected, that we're viewed as a commodity that can be marketed (I'm picturing that "Luzianne authentic Southern iced tea" TV commercial with the disembodied ceiling fans, and Cracker Barrel, and my blood's about to boil). People don't seem to grasp that everyone with a high-stress job in some dirty city up north wants to come to the warm rural South to relax out in the country - but if enough people do that, you don't have a "country" any more...rural becomes suburbia really quickly, and that destroys the character and feel of the place, not to mention drags along the noise and the crime and the filth and the various other associated problems, and drives up our tax rates, etc. I've seen a tobacco field outside my front door for decades, and I'd like not to see it poured over with concrete and some "planned community" of big 2- and 3-story vinyl-clad cookie-cutter houses with the wide sidewalks and the manicured shrubbery and the BMW and Mercedes SUVs in the driveway, pop up. ANYHOW, sorry for going off on a diatribe for that long. It's a touchy subject for me. My family fought and died here, and I have a heritage and a connection that I deeply care about, and I stiffly resent the encroachment of rich non-Southerners and their big ugly greedy houses and their reprehensible lifestyles. They are to me what illegal Mexican immigrants are to Mr. Lou Dobbs. And in another meaning, when I say "hack traditional" - speaking purely in the architectural sense - I'm talking about folks who claim to want a "Southern traditional" or "Southern country" home - and yet they put in double-pane vinyl or aluminum-clad windows with the fake divided lites, and pre-finished hardwood flooring, and rocker switches, and vinyl siding, and hollow- or engineered-core or MDF doors, and a popcorn ceiling, and computerized kitchen appliances, and faux paint finishes on the walls, and new furniture with a "distressed" (read: fake) finish, and foam or no door and window casing, and roofing that isn't either 3-tab asphalt singles or 5v-crimp metal, and a walk-in pantry with a glass-panel door that has the word "pantry" etched on the glass with a picture of a wheat sheaf, etc. etc. etc. - I could list dozens more examples - there is a difference between real and pretend, between genuine and fake. When I say "traditional", I actually mean it. Not new mass-produced cheap garbage made artificially to look old, and modern architectural details which are in no way traditional or uniquely-Southern. I'm going to shut up about this now before I pop my aorta. Back to the original topic: yellow pine makes an excellent floor. And if you put the right type of finish on it, it has a beautifully warm glow to it and will hold up very well to normal usage (i.e. not doing the can-can on it while wearing steel-spiked golf shoes) -FaSoLa

We have used Cabots Bleaching Oil on our house but can no longer buy it in Canada, and have also heard that it is now discontinued in the US as well. There was a water based replacement but the reviews on this has not been very good at all. We have been told that we have only two options either put on the Cabot replacement or else strip the whole house and start over with a new stain. Is there anyone else in this situation and what did you do. Thanks !

I will disagree on the merits of shingle oil. For the past 10 years, I have lived in what is now a 24 year old home with cedar shakes. For the first 14 years nothing was done to the roof except nail down loose shakes. Upon moving in, I found a cedar roof person and every two years he is out nailing down shakes, replacing badly worn shakes, updating ridge cap, painting flashing and applying shingle oil. The shingle oil's purpose is not for cosmetics - the shakes do that by their own nature. The oil allows the cedar to better breathe and withstand the elements. If shakes are properly taken care of, they will last close to 50 years. In regard to "newer" vs "older" cedar, not accurate. Cedar is not man made, nor a hybrid, but a natural wood. Find a person who applies the shingle oil and that same person will, most likely, be able to care for your roof. I live in the midwest and have a roof covering approximately 2,300 square feet. Just had te roof completed (done in even numbered years) for $1,600. To do a complete tear off and apply architectural grade asphalt shingles would cost ~$35,000 based on the roof line. I can get 20 more year fom my roof (20 years x an average of $800/year, non-indexed, =$16,000). The time value of money is on my side. And that does not factor in how much nicer a shake roof looks on your home. Whatever you do, do NOT stain, varnish or seal your shake roof. Cedar needs to breathe.

I am having my 50 year old new england colonial home renovated. It was re-sided about 10 years ago with Maibec white cedar factory treated with bleaching oil. I haven't done anything to the shingles since they were applied. I am now having an addition put on the back of the house and the front is being partially re-sided as we are making some changes to a side entrance and garage. I'm thinking that I should use untreated white cedar for the new siding and then power wash the 10 year old shingles then apply a semi transparent stain to both sections to try to get a close match. Any suggestions?