Wood floors - Pine or Fir?
Wood floors - Pine or Fir?
Hello everyone! We bought a 1925 federal revival center colonial home in central Nj and after removing the carpet on the third floor we found the wood you can see on the pictures below. We have had various opinions on what this wood might be ... mostly pine but we were told more recently this is Douglas fir. Can you please have a look and let me know what you think?
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1918ColonialRevival
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Re: Wood floors - Pine or Fir?
Are these all in the same room? The reason I ask is because in Colonial style houses it wasn't uncommon to use the leftovers from the main level and second floor to build the third floor, as the third floor was often used as a maid's quarters. This is what was done in my house.
The top picture looks more like yellow pine, but it could be the lighting. The others look more like fir. Either way, if you refinish these floors, be careful with them as pine and fir will both cut fast under a sander.
The top picture looks more like yellow pine, but it could be the lighting. The others look more like fir. Either way, if you refinish these floors, be careful with them as pine and fir will both cut fast under a sander.
Re: Wood floors - Pine or Fir?
Hi,
Thank you!
There are 3 rooms (and a bathroom) on the top floor. We removed the carpet to only 2 of them so far. These are the pictures from the 2 rooms. The first and second floor are red oak hardwood floors. The space was indeed a maid quarter when built originally by the town fire Chief.
Thank you!
There are 3 rooms (and a bathroom) on the top floor. We removed the carpet to only 2 of them so far. These are the pictures from the 2 rooms. The first and second floor are red oak hardwood floors. The space was indeed a maid quarter when built originally by the town fire Chief.
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Gothichome
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Re: Wood floors - Pine or Fir?
My thoughts, fir. Oak on the first two floors, good for you. As Colonial mentioned the materials tend to get down graded as the status of those floors diminish.
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1918ColonialRevival
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Re: Wood floors - Pine or Fir?
The irony of that statement is all of our local salvage warehouses sell reclaimed pine and fir at more than double the cost of reclaimed oak. Go figure.Gothichome wrote: ↑Sun Jan 17, 2021 1:14 pm My thoughts, fir. Oak on the first two floors, good for you. As Colonial mentioned the materials tend to get down graded as the status of those floors diminish.
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phil
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Re: Wood floors - Pine or Fir?
Id say fir. you can see some deep dents which you might be able to pull if you remove the finish over the dent , wet it for a while and try a clothes iron. the steam may cause some of the dent to lift.
fir is softer than oak so it dents like that. The issue is that if you sand that floor you'll be down to the nails before you get the dent out. You could also consider leaving it or replacing only the damaged parts. The rest of the floor looks nice and doesn't even really need drum sanding. some of the larger gaps that are really noticeable could be filled with wood slices.
you can replace a piece in the middle of the floor by cutting it out then you can add a new piece by breaking the tongue, inserting it under , then putting glue along your break line and a couple of face nails to hold it back together and in place.
fir is softer than oak so it dents like that. The issue is that if you sand that floor you'll be down to the nails before you get the dent out. You could also consider leaving it or replacing only the damaged parts. The rest of the floor looks nice and doesn't even really need drum sanding. some of the larger gaps that are really noticeable could be filled with wood slices.
you can replace a piece in the middle of the floor by cutting it out then you can add a new piece by breaking the tongue, inserting it under , then putting glue along your break line and a couple of face nails to hold it back together and in place.