Heart pine has been prized for its beauty and durability as flooring and furnishings in American homes for over three centuries.
Red Hills Lumber offers naturally grown longleaf heart pine at a substantially lower cost than reclaimed wood and substantially higher quality than most new heart pine.
Longleaf pine is harder than other species and when grown under natural conditions has a tighter grain with more rings to the inch.
Much commercially available heart pine is reclaimed from 19th- century buildings or from logs sunk in rivers and as a result is considerably more expensive.
Much new heart pine is of lower quality, made from softer species, and/or grown in commercial plantations producing less dense grained wood. Red Hills also strictly controls the grading of its products, offers personalized service and guarantees customer satisfaction.
It is a matter of personal preference and personal preference varies widely. Most choose flooring to match the character of a particular room. Our grades offer a variety of characters from the most elegant to rustic informality. Browsing the pictures in our gallery will give you a sense of how the different grades look.
Longleaf heart pine is by far the hardest and most dense of all southern yellow pine. It is rated nearly as hard as oak at 1225 on the Janka hardness scale while red oak is 1290. It is also 29% more stable than oak and therefore less likely to warp or cup.
Yes. As Heart Pine ages, within a few months natural oxidation causes the patina to become richer and deeper in color. Red Hills Lumber heart pine ranges from reddish yellow when new to deep copper or red-brown depending on pine heart content, density, finish, and exposure to light.
All refer to lumber in which the growth rings are at a 45 to 90 degree angle to the face. The result is an elegant pin stripe. Vertical grain creates the hardest flooring. Compare the tightness of our vertical grained wood with others. See the illustration on our vertical grain page.
Drying lumber to a low moisture content prevents warping and shrinkage. We kiln-dry our lumber to 10% moisture content, exceeding the Southern Pine Grading Rules requirements.
We stock 8' & 12' lengths and widths from 2-1/4" to 7-1/4". But we can customize orders to produce lengths up to 20' and widths up to 12".
We customize flooring, wainscoting and most of our other products. Custom lengths and widths for lumber and profiles for wainscoting and paneling are available upon request.
Yes. We have beams and timbers up to 45' long and in wide diameters. Longleaf has very strong structural properties so beams can be weight-bearing as well as decorative. Our beams are air-dried. We also produce cants that make stylish mantle-pieces. See our beams page.
We ship anywhere in the world. We look for the best transportation prices for our customers.
Most orders can be ready in less than 1 week. Specialty orders may take 3-4 weeks. Click this link to contact us on specifics.