Flooring question

[Rob Horton]

I have a friend here at work who came to me for advice for a floor for her enclosed porch today. Here is her situation:

Enclosed porch, unheated/no ac, has just a bare sub-floor right now.

She wants to know if tongue and groove pine is a poor choice for flooring. She only wants to paint it - no special fancy finish. She's just going for a "country farmhouse" feel.

I told her that pine was of course soft and as long as she doesn't mind the upkeep, it should be fine for porch floor like she wants.

I knew that my fellow Creekers would be able to shed some light in any dark corners that I may have missed.

Any advice on this?

Thanks a lot! :D

[Dave Crabbs]

Douglas fir has been used for porch floors where I live for a long time way before pressure treated decking. If she is going for a "country farmhouse" feel it should do the job fine.

[Jamie Buxton]

If the porch is going to get lots of rain on it, I'd use a flooring system that is more like a deck -- that is, boards with cracks between them for the water to go through. T&G flooring on a subfloor is going to collect water in the tongues and grooves, and between the flooring and the subfloor. The flooring may swell and pop up, or rot out prematurely. If you're irreversably committed to T&G over subfloor, paint the subfloor and paint all sides of the flooring before you install it. Then paint the porch after you install the flooring, trying to work the paint into the cracks between the boards. Also, orient the boards so that their long direction goes down the porch's slope. The porch floor is sloped, isn't it?

[Ray Thompson]

They make tongue and groove porch boards from pine. Sounds like that is what she is looking for. It is usually painted and with time begins to take on that worn antique look. I did an old farm house and treated the bottoms and both sides leaving the top til after installation. Then painted with primer and floor paint. Lasted at least 10 years and still looked good when I moved out. The only problem I had was the squirels liked to chew on it. Ray

[Bob Aquino]

I have a screened in porch on my house and that is what is used for the flooring. It has survived in pretty good shape for 20 years or so. The flooring is never that tight that water cant drain through it.

[Rob Horton]

Thanks for the advice all. The porch is definitely "in the dry" so it doesn't sound like she will have any problems with it.

It is tongue and groove porch flooring from Lowes I think. The reason the question even came up was that the guy at Lowes told her it wouldn't be any good for what she wanted and tried to see her hardwood instead :D Gotta love those helper-types at the store sometimes huh?

Anyhoo, thanks again everyone. I'll pass on the info.

[Frank Pellow]

I installed a tongue and groove pine floor on the porch of a friend's cabin about 30 years ago. I painted it with grey oil-based paint. When I last saw the floor a couple of years ago, it looked good. My friend says that she has painted 3 times since I did the original job.