aB

20/08/2005 7:07 AM

Old Heartwood Southern Yellow Pine

I'm repairing floors in a home that is over 145 years old. The T&G
flooring is heartwood Southern Yellow Pine. There are a few boards
needing replacement here and there in the room. Then there is one area
about 5' x 6' in front of a window. It is dry rotted and needs to be
replaced with stable material to match the rest of this room so that
when sanded for refinishing it will match.
Anyone out there have any suggestions as to where to find or make
replacement boards
The original floor is 7/8" thick. I've done some dumpster diving to
rescue old yellow pine from every manner of architectural components
that contractors throw away. .... doors baseboards etc.... Have been
able to salvage some useable materials so far.
I'm in the Northern Kentucky area across the river from Cincinnati.

B. Frye


This topic has 7 replies

DB

Duane Bozarth

in reply to [email protected] (Barry) on 20/08/2005 7:07 AM

20/08/2005 8:57 AM

Barry wrote:
>
> I'm repairing floors in a home that is over 145 years old. The T&G
> flooring is heartwood Southern Yellow Pine. There are a few boards
> needing replacement here and there in the room. Then there is one area
> about 5' x 6' in front of a window. It is dry rotted and needs to be
> replaced with stable material to match the rest of this room so that
> when sanded for refinishing it will match.
> Anyone out there have any suggestions as to where to find or make
> replacement boards
> The original floor is 7/8" thick. I've done some dumpster diving to
> rescue old yellow pine from every manner of architectural components
> that contractors throw away. .... doors baseboards etc.... Have been
> able to salvage some useable materials so far.
> I'm in the Northern Kentucky area across the river from Cincinnati.
>
> B. Frye

Don't have a specific vendor but if Rick M's suggestion doesn't pan out
there are several recycling/reclaiming places advertising in places like
Fine Homebuilding, etc. They're pricey undoubtedly for old material but
it will be very difficult to find new that comes even close to the old
closed-grain material.

DB

Duane Bozarth

in reply to [email protected] (Barry) on 20/08/2005 7:07 AM

21/08/2005 7:35 PM

Bob N wrote:
>
> We live in a 100 + year old house and just recently pulled the carpet to
> find the heartwood pine under it. There were several boards needing
> replacing during the refinishing process. Our floor man found that the
> yellow pine at Home depot was nearly a perfect match. We have been very
> happy with the results.
...

That's pretty remarkable given that new SYP probably came from trees
less than 30 yrs of age. How close a match will probably have to do w/
whether what you previously had was plainsawn or not--the close grain of
old climax forest pine won't show as much in that case.

I'd suspect that there is a noticeable difference in hardness though?

DB

Duane Bozarth

in reply to [email protected] (Barry) on 20/08/2005 7:07 AM

22/08/2005 8:48 AM

George wrote:
>
> "Duane Bozarth" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Bob N wrote:
> >>
> >> We live in a 100 + year old house and just recently pulled the carpet to
> >> find the heartwood pine under it. There were several boards needing
> >> replacing during the refinishing process. Our floor man found that the
> >> yellow pine at Home depot was nearly a perfect match. We have been very
> >> happy with the results.
> > ...
> >
> > That's pretty remarkable given that new SYP probably came from trees
> > less than 30 yrs of age. How close a match will probably have to do w/
> > whether what you previously had was plainsawn or not--the close grain of
> > old climax forest pine won't show as much in that case.
> >
> > I'd suspect that there is a noticeable difference in hardness though?
>
> There's the virgin forest baloney again. You can produce trees for a
> specific purpose by altering sivaculture methods. If you desire wide boards
> you use one schedule, if you want close-grained narrow, yet another.

Yes, and used again specifically for the point that SYP from 100 years
ago came from non-cultured forests and typically (almost universally)
grew much more slowly than today's cultured, fast-grown woods. What HD
is selling is definitely <not> being cultured for slow, narrow-grain
purposes...

GG

"George"

in reply to [email protected] (Barry) on 20/08/2005 7:07 AM

22/08/2005 7:21 AM


"Duane Bozarth" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Bob N wrote:
>>
>> We live in a 100 + year old house and just recently pulled the carpet to
>> find the heartwood pine under it. There were several boards needing
>> replacing during the refinishing process. Our floor man found that the
>> yellow pine at Home depot was nearly a perfect match. We have been very
>> happy with the results.
> ...
>
> That's pretty remarkable given that new SYP probably came from trees
> less than 30 yrs of age. How close a match will probably have to do w/
> whether what you previously had was plainsawn or not--the close grain of
> old climax forest pine won't show as much in that case.
>
> I'd suspect that there is a noticeable difference in hardness though?

There's the virgin forest baloney again. You can produce trees for a
specific purpose by altering sivaculture methods. If you desire wide boards
you use one schedule, if you want close-grained narrow, yet another.

"Hardness" in a floor application is a function of orientation and
separation of the annual rings.

RM

"Rick M"

in reply to [email protected] (Barry) on 20/08/2005 7:07 AM

20/08/2005 12:13 PM


"Barry" wrote

> I'm repairing floors in a home that is over 145 years old. The T&G
> flooring is heartwood Southern Yellow Pine.
snip....

> Anyone out there have any suggestions as to where to find or make
> replacement boards
snip ...

Try these folks
http://www.mountainlumber.com

They're a bit of a drive for you, but it sounds like they have what you
need.


Regards,


Rick


BN

"Bob N"

in reply to [email protected] (Barry) on 20/08/2005 7:07 AM

21/08/2005 8:34 PM

We live in a 100 + year old house and just recently pulled the carpet to
find the heartwood pine under it. There were several boards needing
replacing during the refinishing process. Our floor man found that the
yellow pine at Home depot was nearly a perfect match. We have been very
happy with the results.


"Duane Bozarth" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Barry wrote:
> >
> > I'm repairing floors in a home that is over 145 years old. The T&G
> > flooring is heartwood Southern Yellow Pine. There are a few boards
> > needing replacement here and there in the room. Then there is one area
> > about 5' x 6' in front of a window. It is dry rotted and needs to be
> > replaced with stable material to match the rest of this room so that
> > when sanded for refinishing it will match.
> > Anyone out there have any suggestions as to where to find or make
> > replacement boards
> > The original floor is 7/8" thick. I've done some dumpster diving to
> > rescue old yellow pine from every manner of architectural components
> > that contractors throw away. .... doors baseboards etc.... Have been
> > able to salvage some useable materials so far.
> > I'm in the Northern Kentucky area across the river from Cincinnati.
> >
> > B. Frye
>
> Don't have a specific vendor but if Rick M's suggestion doesn't pan out
> there are several recycling/reclaiming places advertising in places like
> Fine Homebuilding, etc. They're pricey undoubtedly for old material but
> it will be very difficult to find new that comes even close to the old
> closed-grain material.

rr

raffo

in reply to [email protected] (Barry) on 20/08/2005 7:07 AM

22/08/2005 12:53 AM


Those old pine boards may be heartwood pine (also known as long leaf
pine) . We found this flooring in our house. I did some research about
it and ended up buying a small quantity to replace and fix some areas
of our house. We got it from http://www.heartpine.com/ they were very
helpful.

Make sure of the kind of cut you need: quarter sawn or plain sawn.

You may find that after installation, the color of the new pine is
lighter than the old one. This wood will oxidize with time an reach an
amber color. I suggest you not to stain it, just let it age. Ours
looked dissimilar right after installation, but after five months the
new wood is starting to blend with our old boards. The vendor told us
that after a year or two you wont see the difference.


--
raffo


You’ve reached the end of replies