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I am in the process of purchasing wide plank easten white pine flooring for my home. Some mills stess relief the backs, and some don’t. The one’s that provide the additional milling operation are obviously more expensive. The planks are 3/4″ thick, and 10″ – 15″ wide.
Any thoughts as to the merits of stress relieving softwoods?? I’m not interested in hardwood vs. softwood comments. We’ve been though that already..
Tony
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About a year ago I installed some 1x6 yellow pine flooring in two new houses. The flooring in the first house was stress relieved and there were no problems to speak of. The builder tried to save some money on the second home and purchased the same type of flooring but not stress relieved. The boards looked good as we started to install. The next morning when we showed up for work the boards we installed the day before cupped to where it was pretty noticeable. When I look back I can still see the look on the owners faces when they walked in.I think you get what you pay for. Pine is a very unstable wood and usually the wider the board the more it's prone to cupping. In my opinion, I'd definitely go with stress relieved product.
*Could I stress relieve my own flooring with saw kerfs on the underside? Also, did you blind nail your 1x6 flooring or face nail, or both.ThanksDave
*Dave, I wouldn't see why you couldn't. The 1x6 flooring we put down in the first house that did have stress relief had I believe 4 saw kerfs spaced about 3/4" apart. All the flooring was blind nailed. On both jobs the installation was over concrete slab. When the slab was poured they lowered the areas that were to receive the wood floors so that the final floor would match up with tile floor in kitchen. A moisture barrier was placed over the slab and then PT'd 2x4 sleepers were shot in place with Hilti gun and flooring installed over that.
*I have done a few wide board floors over the years including one just completed. some thoughts and experiences that may help. One floor I installed years ago was wide eastern white pine 12-24inches. It was dry @ 7-8% and for reasons I forget, was not cupped. I never stress relieved it and to this day it is flat. Most wide flooring is relieved and that may be you best option as a general rule of thumb. Have the mill do it or do it yourself but limit your kerf to no more than 1/4inch depth on 3/4inch stock. I would average 3-4inch widths on the kerfing unless severely cupped. Another thing, forget trying to glue and edge nail it. It probably won't last. Face nailing is the best option. This last job, we installed the 9inch T&G fir boards using a edge nailer. Sanded and sealed the floors as usual. Then we soaked 6d ring shank gun nails (full-head) in muriatic acid and into peroxide to give them a burnished aged look. Nailing was with a hitachi nailer with flush attachment, which set them flush with the surface. It gave a simple yet appealing floor It would be nice to have all our floor material quarter sawn and 30inch wide. But short of some redwoods I doubt I'll see any. Good luck Walk good
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I am in the process of purchasing wide plank easten white pine flooring for my home. Some mills stess relief the backs, and some don't. The one's that provide the additional milling operation are obviously more expensive. The planks are 3/4" thick, and 10" - 15" wide.
Any thoughts as to the merits of stress relieving softwoods?? I'm not interested in hardwood vs. softwood comments. We've been though that already..
Tony