Last Updated on March 13, 2021 by Filip Poutintsev
Pine flooring is the process of covering a floor with the woods of the pine tree. The planks cut from the pine trees, get designed into prominent grain structure, knots, and pine hole that gives the wood a rustic, appealing design.
Pine Flooring
Pine floors get into designed exclusively from longleaf pine trees. Pine trees are famous for their aesthetic flooring material worldwide.
Despite its adoration, some people might prefer other floorings rather than pine flooring. So, here we will discuss its pros and cons that will help you to decide if this wood is good for your home.
History of Pine Flooring
Over two centuries ago, the settlers of North America discovered that the coastline of Atlantic, Mississippi, and the Gulf of Mexico were full of longleaf pine trees on more than 70 million acres. They thought of using and utilizing those beautiful pine trees. After the maturation of pine trees, it gets more attractive.
When the northern American settlers found the value of the pine trees, they began to use it. In the 1800s, pine trees became the number one choice for public buildings, ships, plantations, private homes, etc. In the mid to late 19th to 20th century, pine trees started to have a contribution to American constructions.
It became a decorator product chosen for its warmth, beauty, and charm by architects, builders, contractors, and homeowners. In the earlier period, horses use to log longleaf pine trees. Those horses used to shift the log of pine trees to the common area of sawmills.
In the 19th century, there was a shortage of woods in Europe. At that time, a large number of pine trees got exported. The situation led the vast forest land of pine trees to vanish, only five per cent of original pine forest remained.
So, the pine trees are in a limited number till now. However, it can be recycled and can obtain at its best with the help of timbers.
Pros of Pine Flooring
1. Durability
Most of the people prefer pine flooring because of its long-lasting nature. Pine floors of more than 100 years are still in use today. Pine flooring is guaranteed to serve you for life long, unlike temporary flooring like linoleum. If you use pine flooring, then you unlikely to face swelling and shrinking problems.
2. Aesthetic Appearance
Pine has a wide variance of colours, ranging from white to golden yellow to deep red and rich browns. The knot, holes, and grains in the floorings give you the rustic and classic appearance that can enhance your interior design. Pine flooring usually comes with an unfinished appearance that helps you to choose your colour and finish it after matching to your plan. Mostly, Tung oil is in use for pine flooring as it gives a traditional and warm glow. The rustic appearance of pine flooring is fit for a log home or country cabin also in a modern interior office.
3. Affordable
Usually, softwoods are comparatively less expensive than hardwoods. Mostly, pine floors cost half of the price of hard-wood and even less than the price of vinyl flooring. So, pine floorings can be one of your budget-friendly options. Softwoods like cedar, cypress is also comparatively lower than hardwoods, but they lack the properties of what makes pine flooring famous.
4. Environmental Friendly
Pine floorings are eco- friendly and would be suitable for people who are more concerned about having an environment-friendly floor. Softwoods like pine grow faster than hardwoods that also makes them environment friendly. Pine flooring can get recycled easily. As pine woods contains insulation properties, it can be suitable for the places that are built-in cold regions.
Cons of pine flooring
1. Regular Maintenance
Even though pine flooring is one of the popular flooring used by homeowners, it needs to be maintained and regulated frequently. You will need to shower some consistent effort to make your floor look like it was at the beginning. Pine floorings need to get vacuumed frequently to remove debris that could cause scratches on the floor.
It should also get refinished by sanding, coating with polyurethane, and staining. You have to refinish and maintain your floor depending upon the use of the floor, your family members, and pets.
2. Pine Flooring is Sensitive to Dents and Scratches
As mentioned above, pine flooring needs to be refinished and maintained on an everyday basis. It would not be a better choice if you want your floor to be in the original condition. It will have scratch marks easily.
If you have younger children at your home then there might be heavy foot traffic on your floor that can damage the pine flooring. So, it is necessary to coat the flooring with polyurethane. Polyeurothe helps your pine flooring to look younger and increases its life.
3. Unfinished Flooring
Usually, pine floors are on sale in the unfinished condition. Later, after installation, you need to finish the flooring separately. You will have to do the rest of the job on your own due to which this process might be labour-intensive than directly buying the finished flooring.
You have to finish the floor based on your preferences. You can also buff or wax the floor for high protection and apply stain afterwards. The process might be lengthy if you choose the pine flooring.
Conclusion
Looking at the pros and cons you have enough idea about the pine flooring. Now, you can easily make your decisions regarding choosing the floors. If we look more at its pros, then pine flooring would be the best option at your home. As it enhances your interior design, you can easily make your interior look appealing and beautiful.
However, looking at the cons there are certain requirements to maintain the pine flooring but, I think it would be worthy. Also, it depends upon your circumstances and demands as well. If you are willing to have a floor that will remain as similar as it was at the beginning then little effort on applying stain would be completely appreciated. Although the decision is all yours.
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