By Mark Clement
There's something about pine that people connect with. It's refined yet rustic, making it the right design call for many projects like additions, kitchens and second homes or simple flooring upgrades.
The way I really feel, though, is that I love them! The texture, grain, knots, width and patina speak to me. I've installed wide plank floors on many projects and they easily become the understated centerpiece to many rooms.
In many old houses and barns, pine was the flooring material of choice. It was plentiful, inexpensive and easy to install. If you look closely at those floors, you'll notice that some of the planks are much wider than anything you'll find at the lumber yard. Milled from utterly enormous trees, it's not uncommon to find planks 16, 18, even 20 inches wide. But that was way back when. That is, unless you know Michael Bartholf.
Michael owns Wood Idea, a mill specializing in pine flooring and products in Mercer, Maine. He makes my fever for pine look like a 12-hour flu, and he may well be the source of some of the best Eastern White Pine you'll ever lay your hands on.
"I can sell you a 16-foot long, 20-inch wide piece of white pine without a speck in it," he says. "It looks like a piece of butter laying there. We're one of the only companies—if not the only—you can call and not be told boards like that don't exist." Eastern White Pine is the only species you can get those widths from, says Michael. He also says his prices are as good as the quality of the material he sells.
Wood Idea ships nationwide. They pack up the pine in a crate before loading it on the truck and sending it directly to your jobsite. They wrap the material inside the crate too, because Wood Idea spends a lot of energy drying the pine to the proper moisture content.
You can get T&G, ship-lap or s4s (square on all four sides) material. It's first air dried in Maine, then kiln dried to a primo 6-8 percent moisture content. When you install, you'll get no movement whatsoever, according to Michael. That's good news if you've ever had trouble sourcing stable, dry pine like I have.
Here's another thing Michael is proud of: "Our pine comes so perfect you can install it without sanding it" to get it in plane. However, a light sanding brings up the grain, enabling the wood to accept finish up to 4-times as readily.
As for finishing the floor, Wood Idea recommends you work with a Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore supplier to get the exact finish product you need. Some people want to keep their floors looking perfect and there are some extremely durable finishes that'll help protect the soft wood. Others, however, seal it because after they install the floor, they drag chains across it or embed items in a roller to make the floor instantly look 200 years old.
If you need other wood products, Wood Idea is a well-kept secret. They mill paneling, wainscot, siding and even cabinet grade pine stock. My favorite, however, is a single-piece pine countertop. Wood Idea can mill a 3-inch thick, 24-inch wide single piece of pine as a countertop.
Says Michael: "We can saw anything anybody wants." That's passion.
www.PineFlooringDirect.com
Mark Clement is a remodeler and author of The Carpenter's Notebook and The Kid's Carpenter's Workbook, Fun Family Projects! Find out more at
www.TheCarpentersNotebook.com.
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