Installing Reclaimed Heart Pine Flooring

Hi there!

This is such an exciting post for me to write! Just typing the title made me smile so big 🙂 I finally get to share about installing reclaimed heart pine flooring!! I say finally because I’ve been ready to write this since we made the decision to install reclaimed flooring which was about 3 years ago. It came after we realized the the original flooring on the main floor wasn’t salvageable and we’d have to choose something else. We went through all the options. Then when I refinished the upstairs heart pine flooring I KNEW what we had to do lol!

Finding Heart Pine Floors

And that of course was eventually followed by the defeat of my patience I guess because I was so anxious to work on this house. It’s my job after all 😉 So we laid the pine lumber floors and I made the best of it. I used it as an opportunity to paint the harlequin pattern I’d always wanted to. However, I never felt fully content with them. It’s just hard to beat the real deal especially when you see it everyday upstairs.

A few of months after installing them we found the heart pine floors through a friend who sells architectural salvage. You may remember I wrote a whole blog article it. Well after several months we found out he didn’t end up getting the house the floors were coming out of. He said he would source them for us eventually so we waited longer. Then one day on the way home from an antique market Ed and I were talking about the house, and I said I’m done waiting I think I need to start looking again. I searched the marketplace right then and BOOM there were our floors waiting for us about 2 hours away!

Reclaimed Flooring Score

They still had the nails in them and all needed sanded BUT we got all the aged heart pine flooring we need for the main level for an 8th of what we were going to pay!!! We got around 2,500 sq ft of flooring for $1,000!! I am and will always be a girl who loves a good deal, and this might be the best one I’ve ever gotten! When you’re paying out of pocket as you renovate, something like this is a complete game changer. And the flooring was the key to us moving forward with every single room. We rented a U-haul box truck, drove 2 hours to pick it up, loaded it in 100′ temps, drove 2 hours back home, and unloaded it in 100′ temps. It was a really fun day trip lol! But also it seriously was!

Sanding and Installing the Heart Pine

All of this happened just a couple days after The Home Depot and Behr reached out so of course I was hell bent on that flooring being installed for the reveal of that paint and that room! We decided to see what it was like sanding the floor boards individually prior to installation this time. I guess I’d say there are pros and cons. It’s obviously work, but it wasn’t too bad either. Then once they’re in your done, which means no mess inside. It worked well enough for us that we’re doing it again for the kitchen, which is coming up next!

We used a more course grit according to the boards that needed it, and finished everything with 100 grit. It took us a weekend of sanding and then a weekend to install. The flooring is tongue and groove and we used this flooring nailer. We laid the flooring the same way it’s done upstairs. Once we got that pattern down and a good rhythm between us it went quickly and we had a lot of fun!

Nailer Linked HERE or click the photo!

You can watch us install the reclaimed flooring below!

I share more about each process in the videos too!

Sealing the Reclaimed Heart Pine

Then I sealed them. I love the natural tone of the raw aged heart pine and I didn’t want a glossy finish so I used Bona Traffic HD Extra Matte. It’s what I used in our bedroom and after trying something more inexpensive in the guest room, kitchen I went running back to it. I followed the instructions closely and couldn’t be happier with the results!

Floor finisher linked HERE or click the photo!

See how I sealed the floor below!

Installing Reclaimed Heart Pine Flooring

The floors have such a rich warm feel. I love all the character and imperfections from time that you just can’t replicate. They feel like they’ve always been here, and I can’t stop smiling! All of this came on the heels of me coming out of not such a good place mentally and it feels like it was perfect timing. We have been soaking it up! I can’t wait for you to see the room furnished! I’ll share soon!