The final leg of this race… now that the sub-floor is cut, nailed and finished we are ready to proceed with our Heart Of Pine wood floor installation. As I stated earlier, in my first post about this topic, we were planning to do tile. I have done tile work in the past and thought it would be a no brainer. However, like many things in life, curve-balls always make their way to you. In the second post here – we found some problems that needed to be addressed.

When I ran across an ad on Craigslist with 1870 Heart of Pine hardwood flooring (which matched our other hardwood floor in the rest of the house from 1850). We made the decision and had to go with wood vs. tile. The guy we bought the flooring from had a really cool project in his garage. It was a 1928 Model A Ford in Green and black. The paint job alone cost $10K – almost museum quality. He has had this car for several years and collected several posters that were displayed in dealerships back in 1928. It is key to know, many dealerships could not afford to have cars sitting on the car lot. In essence, the posters told the story and sold the cars without anyone putting a hand on the steel they were made from.

I rented a nail gun, compressor and bought the braided staples. I was just a couple hours away from starting to nail the floor in place. Then late Sunday afternoon, I got a call from my contractor I use frequently. He asked what was the project of the month and we talked about the floor. He told me he had a floor guy who normally was booked up, had 3 days this week he was open… gears starting to turn. We were happy with the estimate and we gave the green light to move forward.

IF you need to get in touch with a capable contractor – here is his site and phone number:

The next morning he showed up and started to cut the wood and nail it in place.

Over the next couple of days, the floor was sanded several times. Then the stain and sealer was applied (2 coats). We tried to match what we believed would be the best match to the old floors. One thing to know about Pine floors, the finish will darken and turn more of a shade of red. Our original floors are much darker but the floor guy said not to worry over time they will look identical.

We also had new baseboards installed along with toe molding. The old molding was styled after the mid-1990s and was only 2.5 inches high (common for that time when installed). we elected to match the larger trim that is 5″ high. It REALLY looks much better now.

Project Costs:

We are so pleased with the outcome here, not only does it match our other floors well, it elevates the space to feel up to date. Even if it takes a year or 3 to totally match our other floors we are still OK.

If you intend to use this type of flooring (Heart Of Pine) – just be prepared to allow for some differences. My daughters room matches almost 100% to the new floor. It does add character and it is an interesting topic for guests.

The things you learn.

Until next time!