This is tricky. You can find 100 year old pine floors that are beaten and worn and beautiful, and 10 year old pine floors that are just awful. Those old floors weren't heart pine or anything special, but they held up so well. Why? The problem with pine these days is that the vast majority of it is plantation grown. With no undergrowth or older trees blocking light and rain, plantation pine grows FAST and straight. It looks pretty because it has few, small knots. This is great and sustainable and all, but it's not good for quality and durability. If you can find some 100 year old pine floors to look at in person or some really good photos, compare them to new pine. The grain on the two will not compare. The growth rings in the plantation pine can be 1/4" - 1/2" sometimes even more. The old, mature forest grown pine has growth rings 1/16" or 1/8". This means much denser, more durable wood. My in-laws put pine floors in their house 20 years ago to save money, and while some of it still looks ok, they were putting rugs over the heavy traffic areas after just a few years because of the splinters. I don't know what your budget is, but if you really want beautiful worn pine floors, the best option would be reclaimed old flooring. It's pretty pricey though.

That sounds beautiful. We have oiled pine (not heart pine) in our lake house. It looks great, but we haven't used it like we use our hardwood floors at home. I can't give you a thumbs up, yet, since they're only 2-3 yrs old. One good thing is the grain is busy, and that hides a lot. One bad thing is when I mop them, it doesn't seem to have that smooth polyurethane layer that protects and glides right over. The guy that sold them to us talked us into using the oil (not Waterlox), which again is fine, so far. Our coutertop is Waterlox on the island, and it's been great, but it's oak.

I'd probably put satin polyurethane on pine, but a harder wood would be fine with tung oil-several coats built up gives a durable matte look-very nice. Spend some time looking around-reclaimed wood sources[online-easy-they'll ship all packed up] and check selections at flooring centers-there is a lot to choose from to get exactly what you want. The high quality matte/satine water based polyrethane coatings are really pretty good-I was skeptical but did it on old wood floor-and have maintained it and re-coated-anyone can handle it really and it looks natural.

I really, really wanted oiled floors in my house, but we are on a concrete slab and are pretty limited to engineered,, and therefore, pre-finished floors. I found one oiled floor product, but it wasn't at all the look I wanted. I found mesquite (a very hard and rustic looking wood), which can apparently be installed on a slab and oiled, but the samples I got were too orange for my rooms. Perhaps we could have stained it, but the cost, availability, time it would take to find the right thing and get it installed -- everything just kind of added up to going in a different direction. Had we been building new or had months to wait and could get the right color -- I would have loved them. I recently saw some waxed floors in a home that I loved. Again, if I were starting from the ground up -- I'd have something ore like that. If you can find and afford the right stuff, you have my vote.

This is mequite, btw

This is another one

We put in 12-20 inch pine boards and used LandArk oil. A few coats with burnishing between. I didn't want anything with a shine. We are working on a patina, slower than I thought. The best part is if you get a deep gouge like where a big clock feel on it you can dab the oil on a rub it in.

Thanks for the responses. Budget is definitely an issue, and reclaimed wood is not in it. :) It's also not really the look I'm going for, I want the blond wood and the reclaimed stuff seems to be darker.

I know I don't want poly, because it can't be repaired without refinishing the whole floor. It's oil or we go in another direction entirely.

Those mesquite floors are amazing!

We have oiled pine (not heart pine) in our lake house. It looks great, but we haven't used it like we use our hardwood floors at home. I can't give you a thumbs up, yet, since they're only 2-3 yrs old. One good thing is the grain is busy, and that hides a lot. One bad thing is when I mop them, it doesn't seem to have that smooth polyurethane layer that protects and glides right over. The guy that sold them to us talked us into using the oil (not Waterlox), which again is fine, so far. Our coutertop is Waterlox on the island, and it's been great, but it's oak.

What did he say to convince you to do oil (tung oil?) vs Waterlox? We were considering tung oil, but I'm reading that we'll have to put 6 coats on, and I'm not sure I'm up for that. Waterlox is 2 coats, and supposedly has better durability. This is 100% DIY, so labor matters. :)

I used 2x6 tongue and groove pine sub floor for my upstairs which we finished with Waterlox. One of the reasons I chose it was I thought we could easily touch up as needed. I didn't find this to necessarily be true. The smell was INTENSE, and it lasted for a very long time ( weeks) and the dry time was quite long. We had an extremely hot, dry year last year when our floors were done, and dry time was still longer than I expected. On pine, Waterlox is at least 3 coats...we did 4 because it kept soaking in, and we wanted it fully saturated. As a DIY project, unless you're experienced, I don't think Waterlox on floors would be easy. I think the finished product came out beautifully, but I don't think it was worth the major price increase over a high quality polyurethane, traditional tung oil, or maybe a wax. I actually wish we had just gone with a traditional tung oil finish and taken the time to do the extra coats.

One other thing, we did Waterlox on our white oak floors downstairs, and the look was what I wanted, but it has not held up well to traffic at all, and in order to touch up a board, I will need to sand and reapply a coat to the entire board so that the edge of the refinish won't be seen. It is not like an unmodified oil finish.

eandhl, you're happy with yours, then? Do you happen to have any photos? How long have they been down? And what kind of oil is LandArk?

singingmicki, thanks for the info. Hmmm...maybe back to the tung oil, then. I've been oiling a sample piece for the past few days, and it's super easy to apply and doesn't smell. Do you have pics of your floor?

raenjapan - I can't remember all the details, but at the time we'd never heard of Waterlox. So we were just going by what this guy was telling us. I was just looking at a blog today called "for the love of a house", and they have a tung oil finish in the kitchen. It has a darker look, but it made me think of you. I'll ask my DH's opinion when he gets home.

I love the floors in your pictures.

I have reclaimed barn wood (pine) upstairs, and I have to say that even though I hand picked each board, I'm not completely happy with the color overall (I used an oil emulsion finish). So don't fret over not being able to do reclaimed. I'm sure some are better than others, but it's not necessarily a given that they'll turn out the way you want.

I don't know anything about oiling floors, but find out about the odor and how long it takes to stop smelling. The few oils I've worked with have taken a long time to stop offgassing fumes

I got a sample of pure tung oil from the milk paint company and it has no smell at all, in fact you can eat it if you want, so that's definitely a point in favor of tung oil. It's pretty pricey, though; about $600 to do the whole house (1400sf of wood). I think waterlox was about the same. However, the pine is really cheap, about 60 cents a square foot. I figure if it gets really trashed, we can cover it with something else and not have lost that much.

Re: for the love of a house blog...wow! Amazing place. Those floors are beautiful. Pic for those following along:

I don't know why I'm so set on the light pine floors here; I've always liked dark floors but this house just feels like it needs pale ones. It's very bright and airy, and I'm going for a fun, relaxed, bright, eclectic vibe.

I'm also thinking that leaving the floors the natural color will help scratches not look bad, as even big gouges will be the same color as the rest of the floor.

I have used tung oil, Waterlox and Bona Natural (waterbased poly) on what I call "natural" i.e. not shiny floors of different kinds. All work well -- I did not get a good/bad result with any of the finishes. Here are examples.

I did a reclaimed fireplace. It's white oak. I coated it with 3 coats of tung oil. It's just starting to amber slightly but it has never turned dark.

Dark floors aren't my thing. I wanted bleached originally but went with natural 5" ash. These are 9 y.o. now. They were done professionally, oiled -- 4 coats of pure tung oil. If you go with that plan on at least a week because each coat of oil must stay on the floors until it is absorbed fully. Fans need to be on round the clock. So it's 5 days minimum. (We obviously weren't living in the house at the time) and then 3 more days to cure. Here's how they looked originally and they still look the same. I coat them with Sofix a German wax/cleaner for oiled floors. They get cleaned with it diluted. Stuff wipes up. The worst I can say is they get some scuff marks that I removed for the first time recently with very fine steel wool. We clean regularly with the Sofix then vacuum. They have held up perfectly even in the kitchen.

I have a reclaimed floor in the powder room. Our contractor put in remnants from another job which had been 100 y.o. chestnut oak boards done in a historic stone house right over the floor joists. These were oiled originally like the others but due to the age of the wood they dried out. I DIYd 3 coats of low sheen natural Waterlox (stink but easy -- again a fan for 24 hours between coats). We had a flood in there and the Waterlox resisted a ton of water; no cupping and we just vacuum.

We had an apartment with oak floors and parquet from 1929. These were carpeted for 20 years. When we did a reno we refinished them (professionally) with water-based Bona natural -- low odor. Floors in the other rooms were white oak parquet done years ago with oil-based poly with a sheen -- those can be seen beyond. The refinished white oak are super matte. The appearance is raw wood. The Bona can be damp mopped with their cleaner. No scuffs but they did scratch when I dragged a piece of furniture. They have a different surface quality than any other floors I've encountered -- almost nonskid. But they gave me the matte look I wanted.

Pine is a relatively soft wood for floors, at least compared to ash or oak. I've seen it stained and don't like that look at all. When it's natural, if will turn reddish over time. But it has a ton of character. If I were going with new pine, I'd likely use the Waterlox or the Bona natural though the Waterlox would be more durable IMO.

Good luck!

rococogurl: i swoon over your floors. beautiful.

I did see your request for a pic, and I will get it up as soon as I can. It's not my forte, and I have company.
I can say-in agreement with rococo- that my floors are holding up well to any water, although we have not tested it with a major flood! They semi wet mop nicely, and all spills have been super easy to get up...except in a place where the finish immediately ruined from a box that I suppose was slightly damp, but not enough for me to notice. They do scratch fairly easily, though.

Those mesquite floors are gorgeous!!

susan

Thanks so much pirula.

I've noticed a few people talk about "waxing" floors.

Are people too young to remember what it takes to maintain waxed floors--and why so many people installed wall-to-wall carpet in the '60s and '70s, until poly came out?

I used to have a small Bissell buffer which came with one apartment that had dark paste-waxed floors. The PO moved out without protecting the floors and they had marks that never came out. I didn't know enough at the time to have them refinished and we didn't own the place so I made do with my little buffer.

NEVER again.

Ive used the Sofix for a decade now on my oiled floors. It's a liquid and cleaner. It goes on full strength the first time and then floors are damp mopped with it at 10% strength. It has worked well for me and isn't expensive. I'm sure someone out there will love paste-wax floors and anyone who wants that maintenance can knock themselves out (which they will).

I've also had poly, as the photos above show. If someone wants that but also wants matte floors that Bona natural is a great solution. I just don't care for shiny floors. I like a natural look which is what the OP was asking about.

Fortunately, so many products are really good now there's a big fat menu of floor finishes.

I'm redoing a bath that will (when done) have a mix of tongue and groove pine and oak for historical accuracy reasons. That's what was there in the 1890s.

The pine is soaking up the Waterlox, but it's going to be lovely when I'm done. It will turn darker and reddish with the Waterlox and light ... exact shades depend on the species of pine you install.