The upper floors in most of the old houses in our area are finished in pine. The material is often covered over with carpet because it is a "soft wood", not hardwood flooring. However, pine can have a beauty all its own, and we're always barefoot by the time we get upstairs anyway:
My mom tells an old story about her husband hopping across their old pine floors years ago on a pogo stick, leaving a trail of dot-dot-dot across the room. We think as long as you don't do that (though it sounds fun!) and if you take proper precautions under heavy furniture, pine floors can be beautiful and enjoyable.
Anyone here have pine flooring in their home? What recommendations can you offer the rest of us who love it but fear its softness?
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Not for every home, but the older it gets the better it looks.
My whole main floor in my house is pine! We built our house eight years ago and decided to use it. First it was cheap and second, it used to be a common flooring, back in the day...It does dent and crack and if you have a dog, be prepared to have scratches. Over all it looks great and we have learned to live with our antique floor. Don't get it if you are at all a perfectionist!
Funny, I didn't know this was common but it makes sense with pine being cheaper. We have oak flooring on the main level of our house, but when we removed the carpeting from our second floor we were surprised to find a wider plank and a much softer wood that indeed turned out to be pine. We haven't had any trouble with furniture leaving indentations, but I have noticed scratches from our pets claws.
I have pine floors that are 180 years old and I've never really noticed a problem, even with my dogs running around. Of course, I've never been a perfectionist, and after 180 years how much more damage can you possibly do anyway?
Many old growth pine planks were quarter cut from wood that had grown slowly (tight rings). It was very hard and durable. New growth pine is soft because it is often encouraged to grow quickly in sunny places and is also flat sawn which leads to a softer wood that is more likely to flex. So "pine flooring" can be many different things.
I have 100 year old narrow pine boards underneath my oak floors, but I have no idea if they are new growth or old or how they were sawn.
Frankly, I find soft woods more forgiving if you have dogs or like high heels. Or have a husband who was a born klutz.
The dents happen easier, it's true, but they sort of form into the wood, if that makes sense. It doesn't often appear as a surface mar like it does on some harder wood floors. What I love about this is that it very quickly takes on a soft patina that looks time worn without having the upkeep of a harder wood floor.
To me, this type of "damage" is much preferable to large white scratches everywhere that need to be sanded and refinished all the time.
Our 60 lb dog has pretty much destroyed our pine floors. Not everywhere, just in the living room where she tends start her run toward the kitchen when she hears her food bowl. We refinished them ourselves and only used two coats of polyurethane. Maybe a different finish, or more coats, would have been better.