We love the look of wide pine floors, especially in an old farmhouse. We recently added unfinished wide pine flooring to our upstairs.
Sharing all the tips & tricks of how to install and refinish wide pine floors & what we think about our DIY pine flooring 4 years later.
Table of Contents
DIY Unfinished Wide Pine Floors & if Pine Flooring is a Good Idea
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Jason & I loved the idea of adding hardwood floors to our old farmhouse to give it more character & have it be more kid friendly than the dirty white carpet that was here to begin with.
We especially love the look of wide pine floors.
We have toured many a Pennsylvania farm house with original wide pine floors & they are just gorgeous!!!
The Cost of Wide Pine Flooring
However, hardwood floors can be really expensive… especially wide width heart pine ones!
We found some 8″ wide white pine floors & 6″ wide white pine flooring tongue and groove from lumber liquidators that were under $2 a square foot & decided to figure out how to install pine flooring ourselves.
Is Pine Flooring Durable?
Because these floor boards are white pine flooring they are a softer wood than oak or heart pine would be.
So it’s a little easier to mark up the floors when moving furniture but we were OK with that because we wanted the floors to look like they had been here a while.
I share pictures of what our pine flooring looks like after 4 years of living with 4 kids & our dog further down in this post.
We first used this tongue and groove wide pine flooring when we gutted out laundry room soon after we moved in and after over a year with them we were very happy with how they held up.
We loved this wide pine flooring so much that we decided to add it to our farmhouse upstairs!
How to Install Pine Flooring or Wide Pine Floors
Taking out Carpet to Install Wide Pine Flooring
Here is what the floors looked like upstairs when we moved in…a very ugly & dirty carpet. No, thank you!
Prepping Floors for the Unfinished Wide Pine Flooring
Jason and I cut up the carpet and padding and rolled them up to be put in the trash.
We then pulled up all the staples and vacuumed the plywood floors.
We bribed the kids with pizza for dinner if they helped us pull up all the staples. š
Jason took off the baseboard molding and I vacuumed up all the mess.
Acclimating the Wide Pine Floors & Adding a Underlayment
After bringing in the pine flooring a week to adjust to the temperature of the house we laid down an underlayment (we used tar paper) & started laying down the wide pine flooring.
Installing the Wide Pine Boards with a Floor Stapler
Jason even bought a floor stapler to help with the job (my husband really needs no excuse to “buy” tools).
In the end it was cheaper to buy a stapler rather than renting one because we worked on the floors over the course of many weekends & Christmas break.
In the end… we will be installing our wide pine floors to many more rooms to come!
We did cut out any large knots we saw so it wouldn’t look too rustic.
Face Nailing the Wide Pine Flooring
Jason face nailed all the pine floors to give them some more character, give them an older look, & prevent cupping.
Adding Wood Putty to the Knots in the Pine Floors
Once the pine flooring was down we wood putty-ed some of the knots on the pine floors to fill in a few of the holes and rough patches in the DIY wide pine flooring.
Sanding the Pine Flooring
Then came the messy job of sanding all the wood.
Usually you would use a floor sander rented from Lowes or Home Depot.
We actually used our orbital palm sander for to save a trip & save money…just took a bit longer!!!
I am going to be honest…this was MESSY & there was dust EVERYWHERE!
Staining the Wide Pine Floors
We stained the pine floors using some throw away foam brushes.
The Stain we Chose for our Pine Flooring
We used “Summer Oak” Wood Stain & Satin Polyurethane both made by Rust-Oleum for our wide pine floors…
Adding Polyurethane to the Installed Pine Floors
We added 4 coats of polyurethane to our wide pine floors.
I wanted the DIY pine flooring to be really smooth and shiny.
Here are the wide pine floors in our master bedroom…
And Tucker’s Room
What we Think about Installing DIY Pine Flooring Ourselves.
I am not going to lie…this was a ton of work but in the end we are really happy with how they turned out & we saved a lot of money that we can use to help redo more rooms in our old house.
However, Since writing this post…
We added wide pine floors to Ryan’s room, Bennett’s Room & our Upstairs Hallway.
Review of What We Think of our Wide Pine Floors
It has been a few years since we installed our wide pine floors in Tucker’s room & our master bedroom so it was about time to post about what we think about our new pine flooring after living with them for a few years.
Our cute little puppy Moose is now a very big & crazy 4 year old.
He has definitely left some scratch marks in our hallway chasing the kids down the stairs.
However the kids rooms & our laundry room floors are still in really good shape.
The stain we chose has definitely gotten darker as the years have past & if we had to do it again we would have chosen a lighter stain.
I am sure the question you are all thinking is would we do DIY wide pine flooring again?
Answer… I am not sure… they definitely are the nicest floors we could have afforded at the time & head over heels better than the old, cheap carpet that was here when we moved in.
I also think if we didn’t have a crazy dog, the scratches would be much, MUCH less.
We can always go back & refinish the floors which is a plus!
Will we keep them forever…I have no idea!
But the before and after of our wide pine flooring verses our former carpet leaves no question that we made the right decision for our budget when we added them.
I hope this answers your questions you have about how to install pine flooring & what our wide pine floors look like after a few years.
If you have more questions about our wide pine floors & DIY pine flooring leave your question below!
by Tara Lehman
Some more DIY Projects you might enjoy
Tara, these are so beautiful. I just love the warmth of the pine, and the c ottagy feel of it. You have gone against the grain and c hosen a wood that is so beautiful and of course perfect for your house. Yours are gorgeous and well worth the time spend and work. They are a gem to the house.
Tara, a question. can you explain picture #3 in more detail. I have some old floors that are cupping and they look awful. And advice would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Mary! Thanks so much for stopping by to check out our wide pine floors and for your sweet comments! I am so sorry about your floors I am sure that is so frustrating. We face nailed the boards because it helps the sides of the boards from rising up if moisture ever becomes present. I have never had cupping on any of my floors but I found this post on cupping that will hopefully be of more help to you for your floors:). http://www.hardwoodfloorsmag.com/installation/wood-floor-cupping-why-does-it-happen-amp-what-can-you-do.html I hope you had a great weekend, take care, Tara
Tara, so beautiful, all of your hard work and Jason’s! Has paid off
Thanks so much Lois!!! It certainly was a lot of work:).
The floors add so much warmth and character to the rooms – they are gorgeous!!! Moose is absolutely adorable!
Thank you so much for your sweet comments about our wide pine floors Liz!
Oh wow, Tara! So beautiful!
Thanks so much Jodie! It was so good to hear from you. I hope you guys are well!
They are so beautiful Tara! I can’t believe you DIY’d them! I am definitely inspired!!!
Thanks so much Caitlin! The wide pine floors were definitely a lot of work but we really like them! I hope you had a great weekend and take care, Tara
WOW ! What a professional job! My congrats to you and your hubby! I am sure you are so proud! I love the knotty wood !
Maria
Thanks Maria! It was definitely a lot of work but I am so happy with how the pine floors turned out:). Hope you are having a great week!
Wow! These floors turned out beautifully. This is such a great idea and I love the wide planks you used. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for your sweet comments about our wood floors Erica!
Your floors are absolutely beautiful!
Question: What was the difference in price between doing it with tune and grove from let say Lowes or your local flooring store vs you doing it this way? I’m unfortunate all about the money at this point in my life. We had gotten an estimate for wood flooring for our 1800 aft home to be completely done for around $16,000. We only did 2 rooms and spent around $3,000. After doing them, I was very disheartened to see the dark wood we had installed scratch so easily. I was so glad I didn’t spend the $16,000 after all. now we live is a house with about 300 less sqft. I’d love to,do hardwoods throughout but price is a huge decision maker for us. How much money did saving money doing them this way vs another way I guess is what I’m asking.
Thank you!
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment Marla! I am not sure how much flooring costs at Lowes verses a local flooring store. Obviously we saved a lot of money doing it ourselves. It would really depend on what type of flooring you are looking at. I have links in the post above of exactly how much it would cost to buy the flooring we used. I don’t think I would recommend pine flooring if you are concerned with scratches because it does scratch easier than other types of floors.
Beautiful floors are they dog friendly? Really beautiful and added so much value to your home.
Thanks for your comment Claudia Ann! I would not say these floors are dog friendly. Our 60 lb dog has put a few scratches on our floors where he jumps down from our bed in the one spot where there is no area rug. Area rugs do help protect the floors a lot. Because we live in an old farmhouse we think a few imperfections give our floors a little more character:).
Tara, you did a fantastic job! After having done quite a lot of reno work in my life, and only recently helping my husband lay down ‘clip-in’ solid bamboo flooring, I know just how much work that was; NOTHING compared to the amount of work that you guys would have experienced putting your fantastic floor down. Your floor is superb and I’d love to have it in my next house but doubt if I could get husband to agree to it – just too much work for us ‘olds’. I do have a question, however: Did you use both widths of wood? It looks like I see the two widths in the work photos but not in the finished photos. Just wondering if you did use both and do a ‘pattern’ ? Otherwise, also adore your decor – functional, yet sophisticated, and not overly contrived!
Thank you so much for your sweet comments and for stopping by Sharon! I guess it’s hard to tell from the picture but we did alternate between the 6 and 8 inch boards every other row.
Did you all route the edges for tongue and groove ?
Thanks so much for commenting Debbie! The boards already routed with tongue and groove.
Tara!
Thanks for sharing your beautiful floors. I am about to rip up the carpet in my bedroom and replace it with wood, haven’t decided on the wood as yet, mainly because the floor is concrete and requires a floating floor, I’m not sure what that means, hopefully it will turn out as lovely as yours, wish me luck.
Marilyn
Thank you so much for your kind comments about our floors Marilyn! Best wishes on what floors you decide on and all the work involved:). take care, Tara
Beautiful floors! My husband and I are building our home ourselves and have taken down and milled pine trees aloft our floors. Are you on a crawl space, basement, or slab? We’re trying to find the best process to put them down.
Thanks so much for visiting my post about our unfinished wide pine floors Sara! The majority of the floors we laid our on the 2nd floor but we did install the same wide pine floors 2.5 years ago over a dry dirt floor crawl space in the 1st floor laundry room and they are still in great shape. On both floors we laid the floors over a plywood subfloor w/ a paper underlayment. You can see more pic of the laundry room floors in this post, http://lehmanlane.net/laundry-room-renovation/ Good luck with your floors and building your home!!!
Did you have any trouble with the stain being blotchy? Did you use a wood conditioner? Your
floors look great!
Thanks for stopping by to see our pine floors Sara! We did not use wood conditioner and didn’t have any trouble with the stain being blotchy. Before staining we did make sure the floors were sanded down well and wiped clean with a rag and paper towels before staining.
What type of nail did you use to face nail the boards? Did you use a nail gun? Thanks!
Thanks so much for stopping by to check out our floors Terri! We used finished nails and a hammer to face nail the unfinished wide pine floors.
Tara,
I just love the way the floors turned turned out. We just added a great family room and I am thinking of telling my husband for use to do pine or plywood flooring to save money. We still haven’t finished with additions, still have laundry room, bathroom, bedroom and master bedroom to add. Try to find ways to save. Ya did great!!
Thank you so much for stopping by to see my DIY wide pine floors Sandra! Good luck with all those reno projects you have going on š
Love this! Where did you get your unfinished pine flooring?
Thanks so much for stopping by to check out our unfinished wide pine floors Tara! We bought the wood at Lumber Liquidators
Love it! This is exactly what I would like to replace my horrible carpet! So glad I found your post. Thanks for sharing! By the way how are they holding up ?
Thank you so much for stopping by to check out our wide pine floors Deanna! Our floors are holding up well and we have no plans to change them. Over time, they are developing a lot of character thanks to the many feet and paws running across them but we don’t mind that living in a very old farmhouse. If you are looking for floors that look perfect than these are probably not for you.
Love the floors! We are considering doing either pine floors the way you did or using tung oil/citrus solvent. Iāve read about the poly possibly wearing away and peeling, which is why we are considering just the tung oil. I like when the wood gets older and looks warn like you are saying but have you experienced anything with the poly like I stated above? Also, how long did you need to stay off the floors after applying stain/poly? Iām on somewhat of a time crunch and am wondering if I can pull it off. Also how much square footage of flooring did you cover in your house and are you willing to share the cost? Thank you, in advance, for your advice!
Thanks so much for your sweet comments and for stopping by to see our wide pine floors Leah! We used a water based poly and have not had any problems with the floors peeling. Because we used water based poly we were able to use the floors much quicker than with an oil based poly. I honestly don’t remember how long we stayed off the floors (we used 4 coats of poly) but I am sure we followed the instructions on the can and it couldn’t have been more than a day or 2. We added the wide pine floors to roughly 1000 square feet of our farmhouse and the wider boards were around $1.50 a square foot with the thinner boards being less.
Absolutely stunning!
Thank you so much for stopping by to see our wide pine floors Rebecca!
Hi Tara,
I happened upon your beatiful pine floors website and congratulate you on how gorgeous they are! You and your family’s work is fabulous! I wish I had such help š That is exactly the look I want for a house I’m having built in the Adirondacks in New York. I was wondering how the floors have held up after four years and did you use the Summer Oak wood stain throughout all the rooms?
Thanks so much for stopping by to check out our wide pine floors Maureen! Overall, the floors have held up great in some spots & not so great in others. The nice thing is that we can always go back & sand them down & we don’t mind the rustic look or character š they give our farmhouse. If you go back & check the bottom of my post about our floors I give an updated photo from just a month ago of one spot on our floors that has some scratches from where our very big dog jumps down from our bed. If you have a large dog & want perfect looking floors than this is def not the floors for you. But, if you don’t mind a few scratches here & there & love the look of old wide pine boards at a cheap price than this is the floor for you. We did use Summer oak for each room except our laundry room where we used Shellac instead. I think the shellac has held up better than the stain but def takes more coats & time to apply. I talk about what shellac we use in this post https://lehmanlane.net/powder-room-reveal-diy-wood-counter-tops/ where we added wood counters to our powder room. Hope this helps & good luck with whatever you decide! A home in the Adirondacks sounds wonderful!!!
Your floors look great! The scratches don’t seem that bad considering you have a dog named moose!! lol
Like you said you can always refinish them.
I recently did my floors out of pine plywood, if after 4 years I only have a few scratches here and there, then I think I’ll be happy.
Thanks for sharing!
Ha, Thanks for stopping by to check out our wide pine floors & for your kind comments Steve!
I love your floors! What nails did you use for face nailing? Was there any splitting or did you pre-drill holes?
Thanks so much for stopping by to check out our wide pine floors Shannon! We used finish nails & we did not pre-drill the holes or have any splitting of the pine flooring.
Looks very good.Let you ask you how did you manage the gaps between the planks since not every plank is straight straight.
Thanks so much for stopping by to check out our wide pine floors Taner! We had fairly good luck with the wide pine flooring we bought. However, over time a few small gaps have formed but we see it as part of the character of having wide pine floors.
Your floors are beautiful! We want to install wide plank eastern white pine in our upstairs area of our home. How did you get the flooring to take the stain so evenly? Did you use a conditioner first? Have they continued to darken over time? I would love for our floors to eventually darken to a deep amber or āpumpkin pineā color. Thanks!!
Thanks so much for stopping by to check out our wide pine floors Audrae! We hand stained the floor & did not use conditioner. Yes, the floors have darkened over time & are starting to get closer to a pumpkin pine color.