How to Restore Old Heart Pine Flooring | This Old House

Original heart pine flooring is restored and reused at the Charleston House.

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On the second floor of the old kitchen in the Charleston Single House project, Kevin O'Connor finds carpenter Ismael Medina restoring and laying the original heart pine flooring the old fashioned way, with no subfloor.

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How to Restore Old Heart Pine Flooring | This Old House

[Indowwindows]

Restoring and preserving old materials is worth it!

[StoneHouse]

I know all about using salvaged stuff.. so worth it.. but, adds a lot of time to the job.. but, so worth it..

[augustreil]

That wood is worth a fortune, also if they're face nailing the floor, why don't they use some nails that replicate the old school forged nails ? You can still buy them, it's what I used on my pine floor and the nails look awesome.

[ncooty]

0:21: Holy crap. Look at the grain on that.

[jakeschroeder]

A video that I enjoyed! Thanks, TOH!

[SteS]

I'd definitely lay some Acoustic/Soundproofing Resilient tape on top of the joists. It's dirt cheap.

[verdatum]

I don't understand how this isn't going to creak and buckle like crazy as the wood expands and contracts.

[MikeHarris]

Play full seasons again.... I enjoyed watching season 40 of all the episodes and not just a random episode.

[timskufca]

It would have been nice to know the decision process for why the floor wasn't just re-finished in place, especially if the aged-look was desired.

[avenger]

If they're gonna put a false ceiling on the other side facing the Dining room. Why not just put down a quality sub floor then they could have nice exposed beams for the dining room.

[chinncannon]

what a shame and absolute CRIME putting screws through the face of that priceless material! Shame on you, TOH! The only appropriate fastener for the face would be old-school nails.

[Redfiregtag]

With as much waste he cut off that board they count have put a nice new tounge and groove and left the bottom exposed. Would have looked awesome and lasted way longer. Over time thoes boards will cup and now independent from each other. Although that old heart pine is incredibly stable

[GreenAppelPie]

I use those screws wherever a cleat can’t be set, at a 45 through the tongue or up against the wall. A little more cost and labor but the results are well worth it.

[MasterChief-slro]

The added expense of adding tongue and groove is worth the effort..As reclaimed aged wood is 3x more expensive to start with...

[Junior-fdux]

I have heart like in my house that's original. When switching it back to a single family we needed some stair treads, bannister, and a small bundle of heart pine... It was expensive! I believe it was recovered river wood i received.

[ferryengr]

Wow, that install does not look too good. Obviously the installer has not lived with an old floor installed without a subfloor! Otherwise, he would have installed a subfloor along with tongue and groove flooring - with a rosin or building paper release under the floor boards. We just had to remove 100 year old white oak flooring installed directly on the floor joists due to the floor boards breaking. We then had to install a new T&G plywood subfloor along with new solid white oak flooring. The problem is over time, the flooring is refinished and sanded down. Especially without a tongue and groove edges, (plus no subfloor), the floor boards break where furniture legs from a couch or bed put all the load on one board. Without a tongue and groove edge on the flooring boards, you will get edges popping up above the adjacent boards when humidity changes.

[pavelow]

The Charleston single house was probably my favorite season of *This Old House*, what is yours?

[samgillum]

Wonderful why you used screws and into the face of the wood. We never do that!!! Just wondering

[tonylocks]

Still waiting for TOH navy blue Fitted caps.

[donabele]

Planer left a huge snipe-cut at the front of that board and then he wasted what looked like an inch of old heart pine! If they left the tongue and groove, they wouldn't have to worry about a 'false ceiling' to stop dirt from falling below! Disappointing, to say the least.