Wide Plank Floors Rise With The Tide: An Interview with Maine Home+Design's Joshua Bodwell
By Albert Waitt
Joshua Bodwell is a Maine writer and the Associate Editor of Maine HOME+DESIGN, a magazine dedicated to “capturing the interiors, exteriors, and heart of Maine homes.” From Revolutionary War-era farmhouses to rehabbed industrial lofts in downtown Portland, Josh Bodwell has seen and written about them all. The Surface caught up with the ever-busy Bodwell to get his thoughts on wide plank flooring.
You've seen a lot of great homes in your position as associate editor at Maine HOME + DESIGN, have you noticed the increased use of wide plank flooring?
Wood flooring is almost ubiquitous in great Maine homes. In a state that is so valued for its forests and connection to the outdoors, it is not surprising. Many Maine designers—whether they are architects or interior designers—use wood flooring to re-knit a home to the land beyond its walls.
Why do you think wide plank flooring is becoming so popular?
I think the rise in wide plank flooring’s popularity can be attributed to several factors.
First, I would note the obvious: it looks great. From a design standpoint, the long, continuous lines achievable with wide planks can be used as a room’s key design element.
Next, I would have to speculate that the power of nostalgia plays a big part when homeowners in Maine—whether they are year-round residents or second home owners—select this type of flooring for their project. This theory is based upon the dozens of conversations Maine HOME+DESIGN staff has had with countless people in the home building and design field. We hear time and again that there is just something so warm and memorable about wide plank flooring—I personally always relate it to the wide pine floors in my grandparent’s 150-year-old house.
Lastly, in a time when “sustainability” is on the tips of many tongues, using pine flooring that comes from forests that are being forested with sustainable practices is very appealing to consumers. Utilizing reclaimed wood for flooring is even better—this is not recycling, but upcycling, by which I mean, taking something that is already made and giving it a new, more valuable and sustainable life.
Statistics show that demand for antique flooring has doubled over the last ten years. Are you seeing more homes with reclaimed wood, antique floors, as well as more recycled or salvaged materials in general?
Yes, we see homes all the time with reclaimed wood, antique floors. In fact, two weeks ago I was visiting with the wildly talented furniture maker Eric Ritter of Ritter Furniture and we spent a long time talking about the reclaimed wood floors that he had laid in his 175-year-old colonial farmhouse.
Recycled and salvaged materials are constantly popping up in Maine homes. I think the state has a long history of this sort of smart frugality. These days, there are reasons beyond frugality to use such materials. Again, as I stated previously, consumers are becoming more savvy about where the components of their home come from, how they are manufactured, and how they impact the earth. Antique flooring scores high with the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system, or LEED, and many people give serious credence to their advice.
What kind of aesthetic do you find wide plank flooring giving homes on the coast? In the interior of the state?
As I said earlier, wide plank flooring seems to be a perfect fit for the Maine design vernacular—in the interior of the state, it offers echoes of old barns and farmhouses; along the coast, it epitomizes our ideals of the perfect beachside cottage.
The aesthetics possible with wood flooring are, as I also said earlier, limitless. A few examples of homes we’ve featured in Maine HOME+DESIGN come to mind:
Back in May, 2007 we featured a home in a piece entitled “Island Elegance.” In that home (which included Douglas fir walls and ceilings) the antique southern yellow pine floors gave the small island home an added level of sophistication.
In June of that same year we featured an early 1880s farmhouse in South Freeport where the homeowner (who is also an interior designer) picked old wide-pine-board floors and gave the space an almost French countryside aesthetic.
Lastly, a Goose Rocks Beach home featured in our new issue, “Land of Leisure” (August, 2008), has gorgeous wide pine floors throughout. While some could argue that pine isn’t “strong” enough to withstand the wear and tear of sand-covered feet, the homeowner and architect felt strongly that the natural aging of the wide pine would add beautifully to the beach cottage-meets-farmhouse aesthetic that they were aiming for.
Author's Name: Guest Blogger
Posted Date: August 13, 2008 at 2:35 PM
Filed under: Guest, Hardwood Flooring, Home Building and Contracting, Home Flooring Choices
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Tags: antique wood, design magazines, home building, interior design, Maine homes, reclaimed wood, recycling, renovation, sustainability, wide plank flooring
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i , too, thought long length wide plank floors were gorgeous and spent the money on ordering these from carslise. i had numerous talks with a sales rep who said this was a DIY.It WAS NOT.
THE BOARDS WOULD NOT GO TOGETHER AS A TONGUE AND GROOVE, so i had to cut ( at the recommendation of the sales rep) the longer boards so they would fit. why pay for LONG boards that you have to cut smaller to fit? and sometimes they still didnt fit. beware of the glue,too
if you happen to get it on the front of the board , the stain will not cover and it is noticable.sometimes you cant see that you have accidentally gotten glue on the board until after you have stained it. had i know all this in the beginning, i would have hired a pro.I THOUGHT I WAS REPLACING MY FLOOR, but consider that you must cut your door jambs and doors due to the increase in the floor height is another problem i didnt as as DIY EXPECT. and if you have to live in the house while you are doing it (and working too plus taking care of the yard and everything else a homeowner does) it is hard.
Posted by joni arnold on August 17, 2008 7:57 PM
Hi Joni,
Thank you very much for your post sharing your DIY experience of installing your Carlisle floor. It certainly is a big undertaking, as I know from my own personal experience installing close to 1,000 SF of Carlisle Eastern White Pine in my own home. Therefore I always take the time to carefully explain to any homeowner considering a DIY installation exactly what the project entails. As Carlisle representatives, we also make ourselves available seven days a week to help trouble shoot any question or issue that may arise during the installation of your floor. While most home improvement projects come along with their fair share of challenges, I hope you would agree that the satisfaction and pride that you take in knowing that you "did it yourself" (not to mention the cost savings!) is completely worth it!
One of the reasons I feel Carlisle Wide Plank Floors are perfect for the do-it-yourselfer is the fact that these floors are not meant to look "perfect." Slight gaps and unevenness across the boards are all part of the charm and unique beauty of a plank floor. Also, due to the superior quality of our custom milling process and the craftsmen who scrutinize each and every board as it is being milled to become part of your floor, the planks fit together beautifully and are milled to a finish quality where sanding is not necessary (and is actually discouraged on Eastern White Pine.) Our finishes are also designed to be very user friendly and are simply mopped onto the floor without having to sand in between coats. Therefore the installation requires basic carpentry skills to square the ends of the planks, and depending on your home, may also require some more advanced cuts around door jams, cabinets or a fireplace for instance.
As for the challenges you encountered getting your tongue and groove planks to fit together and the bowing of the planks you described, I imagine some of this was a result of your floor being kept in storage at your home for about a year before it was actually installed. While there is nothing wrong with doing this as long as the wood is acclimated to "normal" living conditions about a week before you begin installation (my own planks sat in my garage for months), wood is a living, breathing thing and will still move... even the most stable wood, such as Carlisle planks! The tongues of your boards may have swelled a bit as the wood took on moisture, and your longer boards may have developed a slight bow as they sat unsecured to a subfloor. The homemade wedging system we discussed is extremely helpful in achieving a closer fit between longer boards, especially with a forgiving wood like Eastern White Pine. Additionally, some gaps throughout the floor, to most people, are completely acceptable and even welcomed! If you look at the pictures of Carlisle floors on my website and throughout my literature, you will notice the beautiful wide, long boards are accentuated with gaps and many times are purposely installed in this fashion to create a more authentic, "real" look. If you do not prefer the look of gaps, you can also trim the longer, bowed boards to break up the tension and allow you to achieve a tighter fit. However, I definitely agree with you that much of the wow factor in your floor comes from the beautiful, long lengths and I would personally prefer a longer, slightly gapped floor over a shorter, tighter floor. But much of this comes down to each individual's taste and expectation in the look of his or her floor.
As for the glue, we recommend using a product called PL 400 or Premium PL, which is applied to the back of the board using a caulking gun. Due to the manner in which it is applied (caulking gun versus using a trowel) I feel it is quite simple to avoid getting glue on the face of the board. However, accidents happen, and if this does occur and you catch it before the glue has dried, you can very easily remove the glue from the face of the board by wiping it with mineral spirits.
Again, thank you for your sharing your feedback.
Lauren Fanti
Posted by Lauren Fanti on August 26, 2008 3:34 PM