5 Reasons to Choose Pine Over Hardwood Flooring

Choosing the right flooring is an important decision for your cabin or home. Of the many options available, pine is the perennial favorite for a variety of reasons. Whether you are building a new home or upgrading your current floors, pine is an excellent choice.

Here are the most common reasons why many homeowners choose this gorgeous wood:

• Its natural characteristics are amazing
• Pine is a durable and stable wood
• The cost is very affordable
• Pine is easier to refinish than hardwood
• Pine is a sustainable and renewable wood

Pine’s Natural Characteristics Are Amazing

One reason homeowners like pine floors is their colorful knots while oak floors have few if any. There are more color variations in pine compared to white oak, hickory, or maple. Pine has random grain patterns and is typically an amber color with some natural mineral streaks that add character.

Like other trees, pine has both heartwood and sapwood that are distinguishable. Sapwood is usually yellow-white to red-white while heartwood is red-yellow and darkens to red-brown or amber. Summerwood tends to be reddish and is darker than light springwood. Radial-cut pine has a striped grain and cross-cut wood has a wavy grain pattern.

Pine Flooring’s Durability and Stability Is More Than Adequate

Although pine is softwood, pine floors harden over time. They do this as its fibers compress upon themselves as we walk on the wood. That’s the reason many floors have lasted for 300 years in some New England homes. As the wood becomes harder it becomes denser, especially in high-traffic areas.     

Pine is also very stable and it won’t expand or contract like some other wood varieties. The wood’s properties depend on the density of the annual growth rings. Trees with more summerwood are heavier and harder than those with less. Trees with high moisture content may have some blue staining that adds color but does not affect the wood’s properties.           

Pine Floors Are More Economical

Pine costs less than any hardwood period, and that’s a significant reason to choose it for flooring. How much less? You can buy tongue and groove boards with the end-matching design for typically less than half the cost of oak. In many cases, pine flooring costs less than vinyl.

The following chart compares national square foot price averages of wood flooring by wood type.

Matching high-quality pine baseboards are available from your supplier. If you want beautiful and functional wood floors, knotty pine is the economic winner.

Pine Flooring Is Easier to Refinish Than Hardwoods

At some point in the life of your home, you may want to refinish the flooring. Typical reasons to change their color are to keep up with housing trends or prepare your home for a higher resale value. Homeowners and flooring contractors know that pine floors are easier, faster, and less costly to refinish than hardwoods.

Pinewood is easily sanded and skilled professionals can even do spot treatments if they become necessary. An amazing assortment of colors is available to stain your pine floors.

•   Chestnut
•   Colonial Pine
•   Fruitwood
•   Golden Oak
•   Pecan
•   Provincial
•   Red Mahogany

By taking good care of your pine floors, you may never need to refinish them.

Pine Trees and Floors Are Sustainable

As our natural resources become scarcer, it’s fantastic to save the environment where possible. Choosing pine flooring over hardwoods is an eco-friendly way to accomplish this. Hardwoods grow very slowly, whereas pine trees grown on farms grow much quicker and are thought of as a renewable resource.

As native hardwood trees are harvested, they become less plentiful and their prices go up. This does not typically occur with pine trees because they are frequently replanted in many states. Their bark and needles are recycled for mulch and other useful by-products.

Any way you look at it, pine flooring is a natural winner in any style or size home or cabin. Order yours today and enjoy your floors for generations.

References and Resources:

Great Ideas About Pine Flooring

Advantages of Pine Flooring