Eastern White Pine is as American as apple pie. This is no surprise since it helped form our country and landscape since the last Ice Age. Rolling forests of Eastern White Pine stretch from North Carolina to the extreme eastern edge of the Continental Shelf and all the states inbetween, including our own great state of Massachusetts. Our country was built with pine after the wood became extremely popular in Britain to become one of the first American exported resources. American settlements were forced further into the land whilst looking for Eastern White Pine to send to Britain, all the while building with the durable, amply available and easily workable wood.
It is no surprise that Eastern White Pine has long been an American favorite, it is a light wood with a straight grain that is easily workable. This softwood has a soft to medium density that makes it easy to work with for carpenters, home building and outdoor builders. Its creamy white straw-like color has occasional orangish growth rings giving it a beautiful contrast and traditional outdoorsy look.
The popularity of Eastern White Pine is long-standing due to its multitude of uses that includes: carpentry (cabinet making, furniture, woodenware, etc), interior finishes (interior trim, window sashes, door frames, and more), outdoor home finishes (pine paneling, siding, sheds, gazebos, fences and the like) and of course wide plank flooring.
Carpentry
Due to its easily workable nature Eastern White Pine is ideal for carpentry work, work that requires pliable movement and a wood light enough to easily mount. The intricacy required for carpentry is best served by White Pine as it can be easily carved, which is undoubtedly why it is the most commonly used wood for wood working, cabinetry, furniture building, woodenwares and more. Its affordability is another quality that makes it popular amongst home finishers and carpenters as many go through large quantities of wood to reach the final product.
Interior Finishes
Interior finishes require a light yet durable wood that can be easily worked and is affordable in price, which is why Eastern White Pine is the most popular for interior home finishes. The physical proximity and abundance makes it the most popular choice for Massachusetts home interior finishes for things like interior trim, window sashes, door frames, banisters, and other home finishes.
Outdoor Finishes
The knotty look or Eastern White Pine makes it perfect for pine paneling, siding, sheds, gazebos, fences, and other outdoor home uses. For outdoor uses most home owners are looking for an easily workable wood that has the traditional New England outdoor look, at a good price, hence the use of pine.
In our four generations of running Robinson Lumber, we have always been dedicated to the environment and a green way of life. From our beams & timber to our wide plank flooring, all of our activities are based on solid, environmentally-friendly principles of proper forest management. Overall we believe that wood has been a strong part of American history, and will help carry us into a golden age of economic and environmental prosperity.
And now the principles that we have long embraced are being echoed by the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the American Wood Council.
Fairly recently, American Wood Council President Robert Glowinski released a statement on the back of an announcement from the USDA—where the USDA encouraged the promotion and use of wood as a green building material.
"Today, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a three-part strategy that recognizes the role wood plays in construction as a green building material...Wood is the perfect green building material because it is renewable, stores carbon that reduces greenhouse gases, and is energy efficient in both manufacturing and use,” says Glowinski.
Throughout the address praising the USDA, Glowinski addresses the inherent green nature of wood use; and we couldn't agree more. He says that wood products provide the tools Americans need to achieve the American Dream: home ownership. Through the use of wood in all types of construction, including timbers, beams, building materials, plank flooring, and barn shed and home siding—home ownership, maintenance and improvement is possible.
“They have gotten it right by recognizing through science-based lifecycle analysis that harvesting, transporting, manufacturing and using lumber, panels, and engineered wood products yields fewer greenhouse gas air emissions and as part of thermally-efficient wall systems uses less total energy to produce than other commonly used construction products,” says Glowinski. He continued on to say that he commends the USDA for recognizing Green Globes and the National Green Building Standard, two important green building principles.
We agree that it is so important to understand the place of wood products in achieving two American dreams: to become home owners of high-quality, well-maintained homes and to become a green society that is sustainable in the long-term as we at Robinson Lumber can help you achieve both of those goals! Contact us to learn more about our products and services!
Wide pine floors are warm, luxurious, and beautiful--IF properly installed. The beautiful part about pine floor installation is that wood floors can be laid beautifully by an amateur with the proper research and mindfulness.
Wide plank flooring must be carefully installed to ensure that the floor will not only be beautiful but will have longevity with that beauty.
When beginning your wide pine floor installation process, we highly recommend that you face your nailing in boards 8” in width, or wider. In addition, we recommend that you nail into every joist (16” O.C.), or at least into every other joist (32” O.C.).
When using 8” and 10” boards you should be nailing them in with at least two nails, and ¾” to 1” from the edge of the board. If using 10” or 12” boards consider using 3 nails, for optimal results.
When cutting planks to fit within a contained space ensure that you have the “butt” of the joint on top of a floor joist –and cut it in a square pattern.
If you decide to use traditional rough cut nails you might want to pre-drill them at the ends, before nailing them in. This will ensure a professional look. This process is not necessary for the entire plank, just at the ends.
An easy way to cut corners (a little flooring joke) is to glue your wide pine planks to the floor—but we implore you not to do this. Solid wood floors and planks will expand and contract with heat, cold, and other weather—because while this expansion is only slight, at just 1/32” to 1/16”, it can cause the bond between the floor and sub-floor to break or even the plank itself. Also, even if the plank doesn't break, your floor may begin to separate and create gaps between planks.
When installing your hardwood floor do not cut corners, follow the tips above, and ensure that you pay attention to small details.
If you have any interesting stories, fun anecdotes or helpful tips we encourage you to share them with us and our flooring community.
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