Oiling pitch pine floors?

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I have recently purchased a house which has pitched pine on the entire ground floor (approx. 80-90 m2). The floor seems to have been previously oiled but is now in deperate need of a face lift. Does anybody have experience with pitch pine floors and how to best treat them? I have thought about Danish oil or wax as I have understood that varnish is not the best option for soft floors.

Me and my boyfriend have already rented the sanders and will start the hard labour of the sanding next week so all advice will be much appreciated.

Also, I believe that the top floor which is now carpeted also has wooden floors which we eventually will strip. Being Swedish I would ideally like to use lime and white pigmented oil to bleach them...does anybody know where I can get hold of floor lime close to Dublin?

Cheers,

Linda

Wertz

I don't know that I've ever seen floorboards made with pitch pine, although because the wood has a natural preservative built in, it makes sense to use it.
I've only ever seen in on wooden ceilings and cladding. It takes varnish well...not too sure about oil (can't see why not though).
The only advice I can give before you begin sanding is to make doubly sure any fixing nails have been punched home; they'll rip the belt on the sander and you end up with having to replace them costing time and money. I don't need to tell you to wear a proper particulate filtering dustmask.
As for lime or white oil? The likes of MRCB in Christchurch would probably carry this sort of product and if they didn't could certainly tell you where does...I don't know a whole lot about the process involved but it's probably just like other oils for timber.

mad m

Just to add to Wertz advise, get some ear plugs also or your head will be ringing for ages....Oh and if you have an edging sander be very carefull when going near radiator pipes,the sander can jump and it will slice through copper very easily....

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Thanks for all the advice guys! Have now managed to source 10 liters of floor oil from a company in Galway called Scandinavian Homes. The oil is called Jupex 45 and its main component is tung oil which aparently should be the best oil there is...we'll see. The best thing is however that it comes out at about half the price to what it would cost me to buy the same quantity from any local DIY store. Have now started sanding the floors and although it is heavy work it is still not as difficult as I expected. The edging sander however has a life of its own and you really have to be fairly strong to handle it as it has a tendency to "jump". It is not even as dusty as I thought it would be... /Replicate

CJhaughey

I used Jupex 45 with white pigment, because it came with my house!
Did you get the pigment as well?
I found for a really white finish you need to use a whole tin of white pigment in the 5 litre bottle of oil.
I also got some lye but didn't use it on the floor, still deciding whether to use it at all.

Replicate

Well, the lye you really have to use directly after you have sanded the floor, otherwise there is no point and you might probably just ruin it. I have decided to keep the floor natural for the ground floor. It is pitched pine so it will not be as yellow as "normal" pine but a sort of warmer colour. For the top floor I might still use lye/pigments but it will take a year or so...not on the priority list at the moment.

CJhaughey

I like the oil it is a great finish, have you used the jupex before?
I found the first coat dries to a matt finish and the second dries slightly shiny.
I never had to use a third coat
The fact that it is non-toxic is a big plus in my book.
Just a slight linseed oil smell for a while.

BadCharlie

I have sanded loads of pitch pine floors before. They are normally old wide and long for wooden floors. They sometimes are covered in black tar like stuff which kills sand paper. Pitch pine on its own has this natural oil in its wood and gives off a nice smell when sanding. It also kills your sand paper very fast but not as fast as them black oil/tar floors.

When I was reading the top of your post and u were saying about using an oil finish, I did not like the sound of that. What I was thinking is that it might take days for it to dry, then your normal varnish that I would have used. But maybe this 45oil you have, is fast drying.

Doing the edging is the worst job about sanding. It will jump and make lots of ring marks in your floor. After doing edging I would always go back with an orbital sander to remove the ring marks.

Also I would always finish sanding with a 80grade sand paper. Some people might go 100 or 120 on floors but with 80 I would always give a very good finish.

Replicate

Great tips!! Am only going to use one coating of oil as I don't want it too shiny. The floors are a bit tricky to sand, especially when you are running over a section that has a lot of tar in it. Patience is the only way... We have done the living room floor with the coarse paper now (think it was a 50 paper) and will then finish off with a mid and then a high grade paper. Agree on the circles from the edging sander, was thinking the same thing that I would go over it will the orbital sander in the end. I read up on the subject on Swedish websites, although it was mainly in relation to common pine. The Jupex is supposed to be fast drying and people are using it for not only floors but baseball bats and the like. Will post pictures later so that you can see what it looks like. Linda

BadCharlie

If you can get Grade 30 paper when you start on a new room i would. This is if you say the floor is covered in tar. Paper will last longer and do more work quicker. Then after that i would go to a 60 and finish with an 80.

Starting with a 50 just sounds like to much hard work but im sure the finish would be good.