We are moving back into the workshop. I cannot believe I am typing those words. But we have a good reason. For around a month or so, we will be back into the woods and ivy cottage while our floor gets re-painted. Yes, it needs repainted again. And, here is why.

We are Moving Back into the Workshop

Here is why.

As you know, we have installed and lived with pine wood flooring for years. We love them so much that we even installed them in our storefront that we had. All of them have had different techniques, such as stain, stain then paint, and now simply paint. When we built our home in 2022, pine flooring was the way we wanted to go. The pine boards give an authentic old home feel without breaking the bank. Lots of old homes had pine flooring and our goal from the beginning of the planning stages of this house was to make it look authentically old. Even the trim around our doors and windows were made to look old.

When we told our builder that we wanted pine boards as flooring, he had never done that before. So naturally he asked a lot of questions. We told him that we have installed them many, many times and told him what needs to be done for the best outcome. Every board needs to be glued down with Liquid Nails so that they don’t pop up when they dry out.  And then nailed. We have used both air nails and square nails previously.

I have shared every single thing I know about installing and living with pine boards as flooring in the following posts. Please make sure you read all of them before doing this yourself.

Using Pine Boards as Flooring

Pine Board Flooring – All you need to know

Pine Boards Flooirng – FAQs

Our Pine Floors are Painted

The Products Used to Paint our Pine Flooring

Deb and I went back and forth whether we should paint or stain the floors here in our home. We kept saying we were going to stain them but when it came right down to it, all of the stain we have used in previous home turned an orange color over time. I didn’t want that here. I have always loved the looked of painted floors so I decided that we were going to take the plunge and go for it.

Our painter had never done this before either. He questioned the paint store on what paint to use for this project. They gave him the information and said he didn’t need to prime with this particular brand of paint. He was skeptical but went ahead and did what they recommended.  Six months after we moved in, the knot holes in our pine flooring starting showing up.  It wasn’t too bad and I didn’t think much of them. Over time, they got so bad that the floors looked terrible.  The strangest part, most of the stains were in front of windows. The places we had rugs, such as under the dining room table and the middle of the living room still looked perfect. 

As you may know if you follow us in stories…

Our sunroom was added and recently completed. And we added the same type of flooring in the sunroom, which needs painted. We also had our closet in the entryway fixed as that was a mistake when building so the floor had to be modified there, too.  Both of those posts will be coming soon, by the way. While the painter was here painting the new floor boards, it was the perfect time to address the rest of the flooring and have it all repainted. 

Deb and I had a plan. We were going to move all of the furniture in each room to one side and in the sunroom. The painter will come in and start the entire process which is to lightly sand, paint a coat of oil based primer, 2 coats of paint, and 2 coats of sealer.  This will take a total of 5 days. All of that needs to cure for a total of 5-7 days. After the 5-7 day mark, Deb and I will move all of the furniture to the other side of the rooms, and he will repeat the process.  All in all, if everything goes smooth, it will be a month or so.

Once we started really looking at the floors, we realized some of the boards were loose. But why?  This has never happened to us before.  I went back and reviewed some of the videos that I took of the building process. And clearly, they didn’t use the glue on a lot of the boards during the installation process. 

What a LONG weekend.  We are sore from our finger tips to our toes.

Sooooo.. our entire weekend consisted of, not only moving the furniture. But, it consisted of repairing our flooring by now using screws to hold the boards down. And, then filling those holes with filler and sanding them after that. And, also sanding any high places down after the boards warped from not being glued.  The painter starts the painting process today to get this huge project finished. Stay tuned to stories on social media as I will be sharing.

Also… if you do a pine floor like this, and you want to paint the, you need to use an OIL BASED primer to conceal the knot holes.