Heart Pine Flooring: Pros and Cons, Cost and Prices 2023

What is Heart Pine?

Before you can understand Heart Pine, you have to know a little tree anatomy. Sapwood is the outside layer of the tree, not the bark, but what lies directly beneath. It’s lighter in color than the middle of the tree and can be sappy, thus the name.

Heartwood comes from the middle of the tree and is much tougher than the outer layer. It’s the “dead” part of the tree, and the differences between the inner and outer layer are substantial when you are dealing with Pine. Yellow Pine and Western White Pine are the most common types of trees found in the United States and rank 690 and 420 on the hardness scale. By comparison, Heart Pine is 1,225, so it’s slightly weaker than Red Oak but stronger than Walnut, Cherry or Carbonized Bamboo.

While there are dozens of pine species, Longleaf pine trees produce the best Heart Pine, but it’s a slow grower. In fact, this tree almost went extinct due to deforestation. While it has made a comeback, only a fraction of the Longleaf pine forests are still around in the United States compared to millions of acres a century ago.

Domestic Hardwood Species by Hardness

The Pros and Cons of Heart Pine Flooring

While you can find Heart Pine flooring in a variety of older homes, its distinct style is not an ideal choice for everyone. That means you will have to consider the pros along with the cons to ensure this is the right type of flooring for you.

Advantages of Heart Pine

The biggest perk of this type of flooring is its eco-friendly nature and durability.  It’s an excellent choice for flooring as it’s almost as hard as Red Oak, but sets itself apart in the style department. Heart Pine provides consumers with a wide range of colors and will definitely give your residence a rustic look with its reddish-brown tones.

It’s also very stable, so it won’t contract or expand like other woods. You can often find heart pine flooring in homes several hundred years old, so it holds up very well with time.

Disadvantages to Heart Pine

Because of deforestation and the amount of time it takes for heart pine to form, the majority of heart pine flooring today is reclaimed. That makes it more expensive than traditional pine flooring along with other hardwoods. It can also be difficult to stain, and you can have a higher waste factor depending on the grade and quality.

Availability can be another issue as you won’t find this wood at hardware stores, so you’ll need to buy online more often than not. Unless you are buying engineered heart pine boards, you may want to pay for a professional installation as well.

How to Find High-Quality Heart Pine

This is where things are going to get tricky if you’re looking for the best Heart Pine flooring. As mentioned, most of the old forests from the turn of the century are long gone. That means if you buy Heart Pine now, you’re limited to one of two options with New Growth or Old Growth pine.

When you want something old and sturdy, you’ll want to look for Old Growth Heart Pine. These types of trees only grow 1-inch every 30 years, and the oldest trees left are now under protection. In other words, you have to pay close attention to where it comes from and how it’s labeled. Basically, anything under the “Old Growth” banner will come from pre-1900 buildings or is harvested from fallen rivers.

If you see flooring marked as New Growth, it comes from younger trees and isn’t “true’ Heart Pine as it’s not reached the antique stage. A 100-year old tree won’t have the same percentage of heartwood as a 400-year old Longleaf Pine, so the wood won’t be as durable or stable.

The main problem arises from companies that don’t label their products or tell you where they come from. This can lead to some major issues when the floor has a lower durability rating than you expect. When in doubt, ask where the wood comes from and if it’s old or new growth.

Heart Pine Grading and Sizes

Considering all Antique Heart Pine is reclaimed; the width and lengths can vary quite wildly. There are no standards like you’ll find with Oak or Hickory, so choosing a grade can be difficult when you’re buying flooring online.

There have been no standards for this style of lumber since the early 1920s. That means grades are given rather loosely in some cases and you’ll hear terms like Character Grade, “Wormy” or Antique Grade along with a few standard tags like Common and Select 1 & 2.

You also may have a choice in how your lumber is sawn if it comes from a mill or a shop that cuts custom planks. Flat or Plain Sawn is the most common, but Quartersawn and Riftsawn may also be options. You can find boards in varying lengths while widths range anywhere from 3 to 10 inches depending on your needs.

Heart Pine Flooring Installation

Heart Pine flooring is unusual which means it can be difficult to install. Depending on the quality of the boards, you may have to deal with dozens of nails holes and typically have a higher waste as well. Unless you plan on installing engineered Heart Pine planks, we highly recommend using a professional to install this style of flooring.

The Best Heart Pine Flooring Shops

Stonewood Products is a company that carries a large line of natural and manufactured products for your home including stone and hardwood. They also carry a wide range of goods for use outdoors, but we’re going to focus on their specialty wood which includes Antique reclaimed Heart Pine.

Stonewood has two products currently available in their catalog with the Martha Mills and Tobacco Series Collections. The Martha Mills Collection has wood reclaimed from a mill by the same name in Thomaston, Georgia. There are three grades available with Naily, Select or Prime which means there’s a style for everyone whether you love knotty pine or want something cleaner. The Tobacco line comes from an old Tobacco factory and is avialble in two grades with Select or Naily.

In addition to those styles, the company also has new growth Heart Pine which comes from trees 80 – 100 years old. The lengths on these planks range from 6 – 16 feet and 6, 8 or 10-inch widths. These tongue and groove planks are priced at $4.99 per square foot, but you’ll need to call for a quote if you want their Antique Heart Pine from the Tobacco Plant or Mill.

E.T. Moore

The aptly named Longleaf Lumber is another business that reclaims wood from old buildings throughout the United States. They have one of the larger collections of Heart Pine with around 6 grades available although their current stock is all new growth, and not from older trees.

Longleaf provides their flooring in several styles with Flatsawn, Quartersawn, Rustic, and Skip-Planed Heart Pine. Flat and Quartersawn come in two grades as well in case you prefer knots and nail holes to clean, uniform flooring. Plank widths across the lineup range between 2.5 – 12 feet on average and are ¾” thick. Custom sizes are available, but all their Heart Pine ranks around 870 on the hardness scale which is a far cry from 1,200.

In addition to their reclaimed products, Longleaf also carries reclaimed Heart Pine paneling, beams, mantles, and charred wood if you truly want something different. The company ships internationally, but you’ll need to call for a quote and pricing on your project.

Other Alternatives

While none of those shops carry engineered Heart Pine, you can find new growth flooring through shops like Country Plank. They have reclaimed boards in engineered form, which range from $10 - $12.50 for a 5-inch unfinished or prefinished plank. They also carry solid flooring which is cheaper than their engineered product. Goodwin also has a nice lineup of engineered heart pine, or you can opt for vinyl planks from Parterre if you like the look, but need vinyl instead of wood.

Heart Pine Flooring FAQ

Q: What’s the most affordable style of Heart Pine flooring?

A: With this type of flooring, it all comes down to the brand and quality of the floor. In most cases, engineered hardwood is a cheaper alternative, but it can be challenging to find with Heart Pine.

Q: Will Heart Pine flooring change in color over time like other woods?

A: Yes. Like most wood species, when subjected to exposure to light in time, Heart Pine will begin to change color because of natural oxidation. You can expect your flooring to deepen and become richer with color.

Q: What’s the best way to clean hardwood flooring made from Heart Pine?

A: The same way you would clean traditional hardwood – with a broom, dust mop, or vacuum cleaner. If you choose a vacuum, make sure it meets certain criteria and that it’s safe to use on hardwood floors.

Q: How will Heart Pine hold up compared to Oak in terms of durability?

A: Heart Pine is only slightly behind Oak on the Janka scale in terms of durability, but is actually more structurally sound and stable than Oak.

Q: If Heart Pine flooring becomes damaged, will it be easy to match or replace?

A: If the damage is too severe for refinishing, it can be difficult depending on when the flooring was purchased and the company that produced it. In some cases, you may be able to mail a sample to a manufacturer to find something suitable.

Q: I’m unable to locate Heart Pine, is there a similar type style of flooring?

A: Yes. Antique or Sinker Cypress is another interesting eco-friendly flooring alternative with a unique sense of style.

Q: What kind of warranty can I expect for Heart Pine flooring?

A: When properly maintained, Heart Pine flooring can last well over 100 years, but the type of guarantee behind these floors all depends on the manufacturer.