# refinishing pine floors



## miker1977 (Sep 8, 2016)

I'm refinishing pine floors. I don't know what type of pine. I doubt the flooring guys knows either. The general contractor subcontracted the floors out. The sub seems like a nice guy but I'm a little unsure of his experience. He didn't say anything about filling the gaps with putty so I was just going to suggest it to him. I found a few different types of putty at the home store and wasn't sure which one I should suggest. Here's a few pics of the floor. It's a 1910 North Nj house.


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## doechsli (Sep 8, 2016)

I'm not sure I would putty anything but nail/knot holes.  The old boards will flex up and down independently as it is walked on.  I would expect putty to crack.  I freely admit I am not a floor expert, but just saying that is something to consider.


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## miker1977 (Sep 8, 2016)

Hmm. Now I'm not sure what to do. One of the gaps is kinda wide. I can stick some rope in there but I'm worried what the city inspectors will say about the..one of the gaps is like 3/16th of an inch.





doechsli said:


> I'm not sure I would putty anything but nail/knot holes.  The old boards will flex up and down independently as it is walked on.  I would expect putty to crack.  I freely admit I am not a floor expert, but just saying that is something to consider.


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## slownsteady (Sep 8, 2016)

A mixture of pine sawdust and wood glue should do a good job of filling small chips and nail holes. I'm not sure if it will hold up along a whole seam, but it might be worth a try.


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## nealtw (Sep 8, 2016)

Looks more like douglas fir, select deck or sd


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## elbo (Sep 9, 2016)

wood expands or contracts across its width depending on changes with temperature and humidity so you are always going to have some gaps. If you wait till its cool or dry and butt the board closer , then you will have cupping when it warms up. The way to minimize this is to set your thermostat to a temp. you would be comfortable both winter and summer. Replace the boards that have excessive gap . sand and stain the floor, then find a caulk that match's the woods color and apply it carefully
That said, the home supply salesmen usually don't have a clue about the products they sell other than the price. I think the best thing you could do is to contact a floor refinishing service  and let them do the job


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## bud16415 (Sep 9, 2016)

Good advice from elbo.

Only thing I would add is wait till you get the rest of the dirty work done or you will be finisn=hing them twice.


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## miker1977 (Sep 10, 2016)

Well, I got home from work yesterday and they guys were just finishing the floors. It would have been nice if the contractor gave me the heads up before starting. Anyway, I spent the night in a hotel and today I get to see what they've done. I'll just be happy when the contractors finished. I suppose I can find a solution if I need to. I think I remember googling a product for filling cracks in refinished wood flooring. That might be an option..... Or the caulk




So it seems they did fill some of the cracks. The floors didn't turn out like I'd hoped. The second level floors refinished so nicely, way better than these.


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## elbo (Sep 11, 2016)

after viewing the after photos, and at the risk of p***ing somone off, I'll offer my opinion and advice
The floors look very blotchy and would appear to be more like sub-flooring rather than finished, final flooring. The floor in the second photo appear to have some kind of staining on each board in the same place and in a row in two places.I could go on , but won't.
If it were my floor I would tear it out and replace it with new prefinished, engineered flooring or laminate
But if you're happy with it, who amI to judge


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## bud16415 (Sep 11, 2016)

I refinished my century old floors mine were chestnut yours are yellow pine. You cant expect brand new looking floors as these floors have seen a lot. Pine floors were laid to be walked on and never really thought of as a thing of beauty in the day. Most were painted or had rugs put over them. the dark areas could have been from oils in a wool rug or from sunlight or even oils in linoleum. The light color wide board was replaced it looks like. I would have tried to blend the floors out better between sanding and finishing. Maybe with a darker stain. Not much you can do after the fact. With furniture and area rugs I think they will look fine. When you buy an old house these things are part of the charm.


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## miker1977 (Sep 11, 2016)

Yeah,

I'm not complaining. Well, just a little. The floors on the second level look great.


I was thinking the same thing. With some furniture and rugs, it'll be okay. I think it has charm.

The flooring guy told me to install pergo, but I want to keep it original. 


=)






bud16415 said:


> I refinished my century old floors mine were chestnut yours are yellow pine. You cant expect brand new looking floors as these floors have seen a lot. Pine floors were laid to be walked on and never really thought of as a thing of beauty in the day. Most were painted or had rugs put over them. the dark areas could have been from oils in a wool rug or from sunlight or even oils in linoleum. The light color wide board was replaced it looks like. I would have tried to blend the floors out better between sanding and finishing. Maybe with a darker stain. Not much you can do after the fact. With furniture and area rugs I think they will look fine. When you buy an old house these things are part of the charm.


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## bud16415 (Sep 11, 2016)

The only person that matters is you, and if you like them. 

They will last another 100 years with no problem. More than I can say for most of the pergo floors.


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## Mastercarpenty (Sep 15, 2016)

They could have been done better, but yeah- it's an old house so it looks old. New laminate would look SO out of place to anyone who knows old houses. 

I think it's White Pine; Yellow Pine tends to have far more (and larger) knots but they had old growth forests back then instead of the fast-growing crap they sell us today. I think the light colored board in the cased opening also tell a tale: there used to be a wall or threshold there.  When originally built, floors stop at walls so when a wall gets removed you now have a gap to fill. And it's usually uneven, with one end wider than the other. It's tough to get a good color match from the new wood that you fill the hole with, and if it was a painted floor nobody cared about that since you wouldn't see it. Old houses have a lot of tales to tell if you know what to look for which gives them their special character.

Phil


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