Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Hem Fir-flooring

Gents, want to change the subject a bit.

I am getting ready to tackle a fairly big project here in a few weeks. Picked up a cabin to remodel. The subfloor is 2x6 hem fir. Been tossing around ideas to get this place perking for a few years with the least amount of $. Although hem fir is not a hardwood, has anyone ever put finish on it and called it good? Thinking of doing that and putting down area rugs where needed.

It’s chestnut I tell ya dammit

Up north there are pine floors, they look nice, they just will dent easily.

I refinished some pine floors in a depression era farmhouse and used a pre-stain condition specifically for softwoods. They turned out great. Don’t know about hem for, but I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.

The floors did mark easily despite a hard urethane finish.

Don't chase the Great Dane around the living room if you have a pine floor!

This^^^^^

Did several cabins with Lodgepole T&G floors. Hem/Fir should be a little harder and less prone to denting.

For conversation, this is my latest nightmare. Gonna take a lot of work but she had potential

I had an old house with hem fir floors. Scratches and gets damaged easily. One of the most beautiful woods you can find. Minwax Ipswitch will really bring out the beautiful red colors in it. Maybe there is some coating you can use to toughen it up - I don't know.

Hem Fir is a grade for framing. It means Western Hemlock or Douglas Fir..... I have never seen it be anything but Western Hemlock.

Douglas Fir always seemed to cost 10% extra.

Doug fir can be salmoned colored, split easily, and sprinters have a stinging feeling.
Western Hemlock is whiter, not as strong, and rots easily.
Fir and Hemlock look similar in the woods, but the hemlock has a floppy top and smaller cones.
If you cut down the trees, goats will eat all the bark off hemlock, but won't touch fir.

100 years ago my grandfather had trouble with Hemlock rotting.
36 years ago I had a sling of hemlock 2x4s on the ground with a tarp over them. They started rotting in days.

The framing lumber must be #2 or better.
That is most often hem fir around here.
#1 boards are nicer.
I have been going a still higher grade lately, SPECIAL SELECT.

Lumber can be roughly dated by how old it is. Lumber keeps getting worse and worse. Really old lumber is slow growth nearly clear and straight. New lumber today looks like it came out of the center of a pecker pole.

Some belong to the thought that a house looks best if it fits with the surrounding area. Log homes look great in a timbered setting.

If the flooring looks like native timber, I'd use it.

Calvin, that house looks like dream happening. Wishing you well.

What's the finish gonna cost including labor? I'd seriously consider a plank style wood look laminate . They are water and scratch resistant .the residential warranty is good.

Haha, we will see about that. I am going to gut, remodel, and have it as lodging for charter fishing clients starting in 2021. It’s across the street from the ocean with a great view of ocean and harbor.

Hem fir is as stated, framing lumber. It’s good for that because it is soft, takes a nail well and is fast and easy to make cuts with. It makes a poor flooring for the same reasons. A high heel will dent it. A dropped pot or glass, Kids’ toys, dog claws, a rock stuck in a shoe. If you use it, simply stain it, do not use a hard or gloss finish, as that will show damage more. Simple stained finish will leave you with a progressively “distressed” floor, where the imperfections it gains over time can contribute to a rustic look. And of course such imperfections make it harder to keep clean. Hard to beat a quality vinyl plank or similar for a cabin, easy to clean, tough under use, and easy to install. It just doesn’t feel like a rustic cabin...

Is it car decking? If not I would think it would have gaps.

2" wide straight grain Doug fir was used for years up here in the NW, back when you could get it. Held up great.
Many new homeowners are delighted to find it underneath when they tear out carpeting.Different animal than framing grade hem-fir.

Nice looking cabin.

Look at it this way, you can always lay a floor down on top any time.

Hem-Fir means hemlock or true fir (Abies spp.) NOT Douglas-fir. It is not as rot resistant as Doug-fir and will be softer than hardwoods.

Do they make 4x4 out of DF?

Saw some salmon colored ones the other day..and wondered. Seems like they could be the same as the pressure treated ones based upon split profile of center cut posts..

I was gonna say put poly on it, but if it’s truly “soft”, the earlier recommendation to simply stain it, and leave it, might be a good one. Would make it much easier to touch up spots. You could perhaps do a couple of thin coats of a water-based wipe on poly (in a satin finish), just to keep the wood from soaking up too much grime. Wouldn’t be glossy enough to show much damage, and would make for easy touch-ups.

Holy cow have I been wrong about those houses I built!

Your post straightened me out in my old age.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuga_heterophylla
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abies_grandis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_fir