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We're working on the planking right now, about 30% of it is up already. I'm starting to dig the look of it just natural, as is, with no coating. It's a bit light in color for my taste, but I know it will darken naturally with time.

And I AM already noticing a change (improvement) in the sonic characteristics of the room. Previously the room (still under construction) was 100% sheetrock with plywood floor, I've become familiar with the sound of it from working in there. Now with some planking up, the reflections seem a tad bit "darker", slightly more diffused sound, the flutter echoes etc seem less severe. Then again, we have some ladders, a small scaffold and some wood scraps laying around the room now, those items are probably responsible for a bit of this observed change.

The pine planking is a bit dusty and dried out looking. I'm wondering if I can wipe the wood down with something to try to "clean" it nice, without actually coating it. I've read a lot of articles stating to wipe wood planking down with mineral spirits prior to staining, varnishing, etc... I am guessing that doing so is merely to "clean" the wood... OR, by chance, does a mineral spirit wipe down actually do anything to change or improve the aesthetic characteristics? Maybe all I need is a mineral spirit wipe down...?

Another thought came to mind... I am still not ruling out coating the wood with tung oil as it seems to the be the easiest and mildest form of treatment, still leaving the surface generally rough but adding a bit of contrast and slight "shine", an almost "wet" look. But here's my concern. Let's say I rub one or two coats of tung oil into all the wood.... then say a year or two from now I decide that I wish to varnish the wood. Will I be able to varnish the wood even though it has been covered in tung oil? I'd imagine that varnish will not want to stick to an "oily" surface. Sure, the wood could be sanded a bit, but I am wondering the tung oil will soak in really deep and perhaps make it impossible to coat with anything ever again (unless severely sanded down, but this planking is only 5/16" thick, so you can only sand it down so much before it becomes near paper thin). Tung oil experts, any comments here? Perhaps the tung oil "drys up" over time and thus will not be a long-term problem?

Another thing that has come to mind... due to the natural darkening process of wood planking from UV light, I do not want to cover any of the planking with wall hangings as doing so will yield "ghosts" on the wood. For instance, if I hang a big rectangular bass trap right up against the planking, then a year or two from now when I may need to remove the bass trap, I will have a big light colored rectangle in my wood. I suppose the entire wall of planking could be sanded down at that point in order to lighten up the whole wall and effectively make the "rectangle" go away, but that would be counter-productive as I know I will like and want the natural darkened look. So I'm now thinking about how to add bass traps and other things in the room without having them be affixed directly over the planking. I'm thinking that bass traps can perhaps be suspended out, away from the wall a bit so light can get behind... do the "cloud" effect, except not just on the ceiling, but walls too. I suppose I still may encounter uneven darkening this way, but at least it will not leave severe imprints on the planking... hopefully. I may need to move the studio out of this room eventually so I am concerned about preserving the expensive work I am putting into it now so that the day I move out it will still be in dead mint condition.

I've been very careful to keep the planking at about 55% - 60% RH for days prior to and during installation, I think this is a good "middle of the road" RH. Even with AC in the summers and humidifiers in the winters, the RH can still fluctuate in my building within a range of about 40% - 65%. I always shoot for about 50%, but as anyone in the northeast knows, it can be hard to keep this ideal RH consistent without constant attention, running air conditioning, dehumidifiers and humidifiers almost all the time... gets expensive too. So I consider there will be a bit of a range. The last hardwood floor I installed here was done with the wood at about 55% RH... and it's worked out great.... in the summers it does creak a little and seems tight, but no buckling, heaving or cupping etc, at all... and in the winters some of the seams open up a tiny bit, the wood does noticeably shrink... but overall the floor has remained tight and quiet for the past few years, so the 55% RH installation seems to work well. And yes, of course, with both flooring and planking, I've left space at the outer edges for expansion.