The wide plank pine floor of the old New England house is not a design choice. It is what those houses have because it is what was available and correct when they were built, and it is what remains correct for their restoration and for new traditional work in the same vernacular. The old-growth pine floor in a well-maintained New England house is 200 to 300 years old and still performing. No floor covering made today will make the same claim in 2225.
Old-growth wide plank pine is pale golden to amber, with a tight grain that is almost without visible growth rings — the trees grew slowly for hundreds of years before harvest. New-growth wide plank pine is lighter in color, with wider growth rings visible on the surface, and softer. Both read as wide plank pine. Old-growth reads as something specific to itself — a density and a grain character that no new material replicates.
Wide plank pine flooring in a traditional New England context is eastern white pine (Pinus strobus), 8 to 20 inches wide, 3/4" to 7/8" thick, in random lengths from 8 to 16 feet. Old-growth material is available as salvage from barn dismantling and building demolition. New wide plank pine is available from mills in New England and the Northeast. Grades: clear (no knots) for formal rooms; knotty (small, tight knots acceptable) for informal rooms and kitchens.
Wide plank pine floors move with the seasons — they shrink in summer (low humidity, air conditioning) and swell in winter (high humidity from heating). The wide planks make this movement more visible than narrow strip flooring. Gaps between planks in summer are normal and close in winter. The floor must be face-nailed at the edges to accommodate this movement.
Wide plank pine is the historically correct flooring for traditional New England buildings from the Colonial period through the 19th century. It is the material the house was designed for. A narrow strip oak floor in a Federal period house is not wrong in any functional sense, but it reads as the wrong material. Wide plank pine reads as belonging.
Salvage old-growth pine from barn dismantling contractors and architectural salvage dealers. New wide plank pine from Goodwin Heart Pine (Florida), Carlisle Wide Plank Floors (Stoddard, NH), and regional mills. For Connecticut properties, specify New England or Northeast sourced material where possible.
Eastern white pine, minimum 10-inch width, random lengths, knotty or clear grade appropriate to the room, face-nailed, for wide plank flooring in traditional New England interiors. Old-growth salvage material preferred where available. Finish with tung oil, shellac, or period-appropriate oil-based floor finish. No polyurethane on historic wide plank pine.
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