Water damage is one of the few things that can put even the most durable hardwood floor at immediate risk, especially when that floor already has stood for more than a century. At Carnall Hall at the University of Arkansas, a broken pipe threatened to do exactly that, saturating thousands of square feet of a 120-year-old heart pine floor and raising thequestion of whether it could be saved at all.
Tom Stephenson and Jessica Hall of Heritage Hardwood Floors were contacted by a commercial client they had worked with previously about the restoration effort. They recently had completed work on another campus building when they were asked to
evaluate the damage at Carnall Hall, one of the university’s original structures that had been converted into a hotel. A pipe had broken on the third floor, allowing water to move through the building and affect roughly 5,000 square feet of flooring across multiple levels.
When Stephenson and Hall arrived on site, mitigation work already was underway. Drywall was being removed and dryers were running, but the condition of the floors was apparent immediately.
“All of the flooring had damage,” recalls Stephenson. “It was saturated totally. You could see major cupping on both the second and third floors right away.” The existing floor was 3¼” heart pine that had been in place for more than 120 years. Years of previous sanding meant the boards were thin in places, which made the situation more delicate.
“They really wanted to salvage it if at all possible,” says Stephenson. “They were terrified it might have to be replaced. We were concerned too because of how thin some of the boards were, but we felt confident we could pull it off if we could get the moisture content down.”
Replacement was limited to the areas that could not be saved. In approximately 500 square feet, Heritage Hardwood was able to source matching material from within the building itself.
“We pulled wood from under carpet in upstairs bedrooms that were being replaced already,” says Stephenson. “Some of that was raw wood that had never had a finish on it.”
The next phase required patience. Sanding too soon would have caused irreversible damage. “If we had sanded it while it was still cupped, the edges were so high we would have sanded right through the tongue and groove,” says Stephenson. “We had to let it dry and normalize first.”
That process took several weeks. During that time, the team monitored conditions closely and waited to see whether the cupping would relax on its own. In the end, the floor did exactly that.
“Once it finally dried out, the flooring laid back down,” says Stephenson. “That’s a testament to old heart pine. It’s resilient, and it’s aged and cured enough that it was able to recover.”
Once the moisture levels stabilized, the actual damage turned out to be far less severe than feared initially. A number of split boards and thin areas required attention, but the majority of the floor remained intact. However, time quickly became the next challenge. Carnall Hall operates as a hotel and houses alumni and visitors throughout the year.
“We were told we had 14 days to sand around 3,000 square feet,” shares Stephenson. “We started sanding, and then we were told it had to be done in seven.”
The compressed schedule was complicated further by additional work being done in the building. “They also wanted all of the wood replaced in a restaurant area,” says Stephenson.
Once sanding began in earnest, efficiency and restraint mattered. The team used a Bona Power Drive to strip the old finish, followed by a drum sander stepped through three passes.
“We always start as least aggressive as we can,” says Stephenson. “But the old finish had soaked in deep, so we had to make sure we removed it completely.”
Given the tight timeline, finish selection was just as important as sanding strategy.
“They had used an oil product before, but we went with a waterbased system,” Stephenson said. “It saved time and kept the VOCs low. We needed it move-in ready within five or six days.”
Once the old finish was removed, the character of the wood came back into view. “You could really see the tight grain and the beauty in 120-year-old wood,” shares Stephenson. “It’s a lot
different from what you see today.”
The floor was sealed with Bona IntenseSeal, followed by two coats of Bona Traffic HD in semi-gloss. The result balanced durability with the building’s historic character. Restoration projects like this always carry uncertainty, but Stephenson believes the outcome makes the risk worthwhile.
“I’m always hesitant going into jobs like this,” he says. “But it is always worth it. The floor looks better, and there’s something incredibly satisfying about saving that history. It’s not beginner work, but when you know you preserved it, that makes it all worthwhile.”
