Reclaimed Pitch Pine Flooring in Madrid

Reclaimed pitch pine (pino melis viejo) is highly prized in period floors. It stands out for its pronounced grain, dense resin content, reddish tone and high proportion of heartwood. In Spain, “pino melis” is a trade name within the Southern Yellow Pine group, not a single botanical species. At ParkSinta we install, refurbish and restore plank floors and parquet in both reclaimed and new pitch pine in Madrid. The botany, the history of the name and how to identify it on site are covered in our article on reclaimed pitch pine.

Paseo de la Habana: the screed was bare and we laid herringbone in pitch pine salvaged from demolition.

Old-growth pitch pine grew slowly in forests that no longer exist: 8 to 11 growth rings per centimeter and almost all heartwood. Pine cut today comes from stands 30 to 60 years old, with wider rings and more sapwood, as we explain in our article on reclaimed pitch pine. It has a different color and hardness and moves differently, so to replace boards in an old floor we use reclaimed pitch pine from the same period. In the photos, the old pine comes first and then the new.

We supply and install pitch pine salvaged from demolition, and new pitch pine as well, for solid plank flooring, glue-down parquet and replacement boards. The planks are usually 22 mm thick, although the thickness is adjusted to the level of the screed. We make herringbone, perimeter borders, banding, diamonds and made-to-measure patch-in repairs.

Calle Montalbán (Jerónimos): refurbishment of the plank floor and the glue-down parquet, both in reclaimed pitch pine.

If more than 2–3 mm of wood remains above the tongue, the floor is kept: we re-fasten the boards and battens, replace broken pieces with reclaimed melis from the same period and sand it. Below those 2–3 mm the board cannot take another sanding and is replaced. On melis we apply a blocking primer before the waterborne varnish, and each primer leaves a different tone.

Before and after: herringbone and hallway in reclaimed pitch pine, and an octagonal rosette in the bay-window living room of a home.