We recently re-oiled a beautiful re-claimed 12 inch wide sawed pine plank floor in Conway. This home was built about 12 years ago and has one of the most unique floors that we’ve seen. The floor was 2700 Square Feet of re-claimed heart pine planks that had been re-claimed from an old factory that was torn down near St. Louis, Missouri. The original planks were about 2 inches thick, and they were sawed in half, but the original flooring company milled the planks where the old side was used as flooring to retain the old patina.
We contacted the original flooring company who installed and finished the floor, who was actually (and still is) located in Wisconsin, and did some research on how the floor was originally finished. This is something that you want to be absolutely sure about before you start putting a new finish down on a unique floor such as this!!! This is obviously NOT and inexpensive floor.
Even though the 12 year old floor had some wear, it was in surprisingly good shape in many areas. We used the same oil as the original and gave the floor new life. The re-oiling process brought back the depth, luster, and hid all but the deepest of scratches in the old pine floor. I am really impressed with this product, in durability, application and ease of re-coating/repair, so we intend to start using more of this product on these types of rustic, distressed or hand-scraped floors in the future.
Sorry for the quality of these pictures, because they were taken from my camera phone. I hope to get back into the house soon with my better camera and take some better photos after the new owners have moved in.
These are pictures of one of the most unique homes that we have done. This is a beautiful “Plantation Home” near Wynne, AR. We refinished these floors and this set of Stairs back in 2007. The floors were in amazingly good shape, even though the home had been neglected and even sitting empty for several years. The floors were stained with Provincial Stain, and finished with Oil based Finish. I hope to have some “moved in” pictures of this home soon.
Over the years we have been contacted to work in some beautiful old homes, and we have re-finished floors in some homes that were over 100 years old. Sometime however, the floors in an old home are just too far gone to refinish.
Such was the case with the Helm-Blair House. A home that is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1906 and was fully restored and updated in 2007-08. The home is now a rental and you can find out more information about it at ozarkhistoriccabins.com.
Of course the new owners wanted the old pine floors refinished, but there was just too much wear and damage to make the project worthwhile and salvageable. We installed a new 5 inch pine floor over the old floor and the floors turned out great. The whole cabin and experience turned out really nice.
The top 4 pictures in this series are of an old pine floor that we re-finished and brought back to life. Usually if the floor hasn’t been re-sanded several times, and unless it has just been destroyed, we can do a complete refinish and bring a floor back to “almost new” condition. We normally don’t fill the cracks on floors like these, because usually old pine floors have quite a bit of “movement” which is just a characteristic of old floors. Filling the cracks would be counter productive as in a year or two, the filler would work out of the cracks as the boards move, causing an undesirable look. Normally it is just best to leave the cracks the way they are, as these are a common feature of old pine floors, as you can see by these pictures.
Old Pine Floor Refinishing60 Year Old Pine floor under years of varnish and waxSame Old Pine Floor after RefinishingOld Pine Floor after Refinishing
This is a 50 year old Oak floor, with before and after Photos. The finish was nearly completely worn off of this old floor, but the floor was in perfect shape under dirt and grime which had worked into the very top layer of wood. This was a dramatic difference.
Worn out oak floor, Needed refinishing years agoThe same Red Oak Floor, after Refinishing
The pictures below are of an approximately 25 year old, 3 inch #1 Red Oak Floor that had seen better days. After Refinishing and staining with “Nutmeg” color stain, the floor looks brand new.
Worn out 3 inch #1 Red Oak FloorThe same old floor, refinished and stained with Nutmeg color stain
