The day that I first looked at this house it wasn't much to look at. It had been a girls home, then abandonned, then used to house South American Transients and political refugees, and then abandoned. Walking through it you caught the intense smell of rodents, and there was raccoon scat here and there. The local wildlife had, apparently, moved in.

Anything that the house might have once been had been torn out during it's various updates over the years and there was carpeting over the entire house. I was always unsure of the original color but I thought that it had been white or cream at one time. The house was certainly what we wanted in size, 5 huge bedrooms, 3 baths, 4300 square feet, perfect for a big family...but the agents next words were not what I wanted to hear:

"The original floors are probably gone, of course."

My husband and I discussed it and decided to make a ridiculously low offer on the house, and try to put hardwood floors in at some point in the restoration. The offer was accepted and as I was going through the house measuring and planning I pulled a corner of the carpet up....

Heart pine!

I started ripping up carpet gleefully, exposing more and more of the floor. It was in horrid condition; nail holes, spackle,dents...but I was determined to have my floor in spite of, or maybe because of, it's character and flaws. In doing so I learned alot about soft pine floors and how they are different form the hardwood floors that came later. I learned alot about what to do and what not to do. AS well as learning alot about the history and manufacture of heart pine floors.

Heart pine is the wood from old growth trees. Most of it was long leaf pine. Old growth trees are estimated to have been 300 years old in the late 1800's/early 1900's. They are defined as "first generation" lumber. There were approximately 80,000,000 acres of long leaf pine trees in the United States and nearly all of it was gone by the first decade of the 1900's. The rings were tight together and the wood made from these trees was a prized building material.

Obviously, if the trees were gone by the 1900's this wood is not still available in tree form. The only way to get the beauty of antique heart pine is by using the wood from structures that are being torn down or, as some companies are doing, bringing up these old growth tree trunks form the bottoms of rivers where some were lost during transport.

Antique heart pine is a beautiful asset to any home, giving it a warmth that gets better with age. The wood deepens to a warm rich red- gold over time. Since it is a soft wood though, it dents easily, and is also easily marred. This is not the wood to have if you like a very shiny, flawless wood floor!

Your heart pine floors can be sanded and refinished if necessary but be careful with this. It is best to get someone that specializes in historic floors because the wood wears away faster and more easily than in newer floors. It doesn't take much sanding with a drum sander to end up with nails protruding from the tongue and groove. If your floors are in decent shape you may be able to just clean them well with a good wood cleaner and maybe put a new protective coat on them.

If it is a small area you might try hand sanding to repair the floor. This is time consuming but gives you complete control over the process.

You can replace badly damaged planks by a process called weaving in where the new boards are interspersed with the old so that they don't show up so badly. The area is then refinished and the boards will age naturally with the rest of the floor.

If there are holes, from old radiators for example, you can use a dowel to plug them. Just get a dowel the same size as the hole put it in and cut it off level with the floor.Sand it and finish. We have several of these repairs and they are hard to spot. They look just like some of the knotholes that occur naturally in the wood.

You can get reclaimed heart pine at architectural salvage centers and on the web. Be careful of what you buy, read all information and make sure you understand it. The reclaimed wood could have nail holes, worm holes and other defects in it and you need to be sure you understand how much. Know what you like and what you will be comfortable with! Be sure to make sure you are getting 100% antique pine. There are other woods that can be sold as heart wood, it is a common term, but other heartwood will not age with the beautiful signature orangey red gold that antique heart pine will.

Heart pine is, as are all woods, susceptible to humidity and temperature changes in the house. If you live in a very dry climate consider getting a humidifier to help your floors keep their natural moisture.

Be sure to sweep the floor often. Silt and dust are an abrasive that will scratch the finish off your floors and damage the wood. Mopping the floor a couple of times a week with an oil soap like Murphy's will help keep the floor looking it's best. Antique heart pine is a beautiful choice if you are willing to put up with the flaws and go to a little extra trouble to keep your floors looking great.