The Best Investment for Your Home in 2018

Eastern White Pine — The Best Home Investment

I worked with some nice customer from Ohio to design floors for a new home they were building.   The husband was so excited about using wide plank floors and was particularly fond of the wide plank Eastern White Pine.  But he had two problems.  One, it has a reputation as a soft floor and there were concerns that it may not hold up to a busy home.  Second, his builder was insistent that they use anything but Eastern White Pine.

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Quality & Process

It is true that Eastern White Pine is a softer floor, but you can minimize the negative appearance of living on a soft floor, like Carlisle does, by investing in quality material and processes that will make the floor more resilient and durable.  Here are some examples:

1) Selective Harvesting  Carlisle uses Eastern White Pine cut specifically from the Northeast.  Here the weather is colder and growing seasons are shorter, this creates older trees that grew slower and are of better quality.

2) Use Only Center Cut Wood Wood cut from the center or cant of the log is the best quality because this is where you will find the most heartwood.  More heartwood means a more resilient surface.

3) Air Dry and Kiln Dry the Wood  Air drying prior to kiln drying will make the wood fibers more healthy and pliable allowing the floor to wear naturally.

After numerous discussions to educate both the customer and his builder the decision was made to select the Eastern White Pine.  He still knew that the floor would acquire dings and dents over time, as that is part of the charm of the floor, but he also knew that Carlisle had invested in practices that enhance the quality of the floor compared to other “lumber” on the market.

Turnbough Project

The final floor design: 
• Signature Hit or Miss Surface
• 13 to 20″ Random Widths
• 14 to 16 ft Lengths
• Carlisle Custom finish