Since hardwood floors comprise one of the largest visible areas in your home, they have a major impact on its appearance. Choosing wood species and styles that match your design and lifestyle preferences will ensure a harmonious relationship with your plank flooring and a lifetime of enjoyment. Solid wood floors can be sanded and restored many times; they’ll outlast you, so keep in mind that the flooring you choose today will likely beautify your home for generations to come.
Widths and lengths of plank floors
The term wide plank flooring refers to solid wood flooring, usually unfinished, that is greater than 3 inches wide. Most wide plank flooring is between 3″ and 20″ wide and is sold in random widths (a random number of three or more different widths). In the old days, people used the entire log or resource at their disposal, so the floors in old houses have planks of different widths, known as random widths. Single-width flooring, a more recent invention, is also available, although there is often a surcharge for single-width orders or repeat pattern orders, as this requires the manufacturer to further grade the product.
Installing random width flooring is no more difficult than installing full width or a repeating pattern. The floor will consist of three or more widths in varying amounts. You will receive a tally sheet with your order indicating how many square and linear feet you have in each width of your order. Widths with more linear feet will repeat more often than widths with fewer linear feet. For example, an order with mostly 4″ widths but some 5″ and 6″ widths might look like this: 4, 5, 4, 6, 5, 4, 6, 4, 5, 6, 5, 4 with the 4 ” repeating more often, but randomly. The tally sheet tells you how many times each width should be repeated across a given room.
Wide plank flooring lengths vary greatly depending on the manufacturer. Higher-end wide-plank flooring comes in longer lengths, often 8 to 16 feet long, and is sawn to its full length straight from the log. Longer planks mean there will be fewer end and edge seams, or transitions, in your floor, creating a clean line of sight. Because longer planks were common in the early United States, traditional and vintage homeowners often favor long planks for their historic appeal. Low end wide plank floors, made by cutting around defects in milled boards, come in lengths as short as one foot. The abundance of shorter boards creates a mosaic or ornate effect.
Since plank lengths vary widely between manufacturers of wide plank flooring, it’s important to ask the manufacturer the following questions to get the lengths you want.
- What is the length range of the manufacturers boards (from the shortest possible board to the longest possible board)?
- What is the minimum average length of the boards (the shortest average length of all the boards in an order)?
- What percentage of the planks in your order will have a minimum average length or longer?
Once you have an idea of the width and length you want for your floor, consider how you feel about wear and tear.
What is your tolerance for dents and teeth?
All hardwood floors develop scuff marks over time. This is part of the charm of wood. Some people prefer softer woods because they develop a patina more quickly. For example, wide-plank pine is very popular with traditional and historic homeowners because it quickly develops an “aged” feel. Others don’t find wear charming and tend to choose harder woods like oak, hickory, maple, and ash. Depending on your wear tolerance, you may want to factor the hardness of the species into your flooring decision. One way to compare the hardness of various woods is the Janka hardness scale, which measures the force required to push a small steel ball into a piece of wood. The higher the Janka number, the harder the wood will be. Janka numbers for wood species are available online. Although it is unlikely that your floor will ever experience the type of pressure exerted by the Janka scale, the hardness numbers can give you an idea of the general hardness of the various species of wood.
Where will the flooring go in your home?
Where you plan to put the flooring in your home can make all the difference in your wood selection. Depending on your tolerance, a harder wood may be a better choice for a high-traffic area, while a low-traffic area, such as a bedroom, may be the best place for a softer wood. Placing mats over your hardwood floor in high-traffic areas will also help reduce wear and tear. Of course, wide-plank floors can always be refinished to remove scuff marks, if desired. The beauty of solid hardwood floors is that they can be sanded and refinished many times over and still have a useful life left in them.
Consider what kind of statement you want your floor to make
Do you want a floor that draws attention to itself? Then you can enjoy a spectacular or visually exciting floor with a lot of contrast between the heartwood and the sapwood. Or you can gravitate toward character grades of flooring, which showcase the rustic beauty of natural knots, bird pecking, bark pocketing, and other variations in planks that are as unique as each individual tree.
If you want an understated floor or one that blends in a bit more with its surroundings, you may prefer a traditional option, such as red or white oak. Pleasing to the eye but not flashy, oak accounts for approximately 2/3 of all new flooring installations in the US.
Once you’ve decided on a species, you still need to consider what grade of wood you want within that species. One way to decide is to ask yourself if you prefer a floor with a light grain or one with some natural knots and markings. A clear floor (often called a Select grade) has few knots and is well suited to a more formal setting, while a floor with some knots and character markings (often called a Country or Character grade) will have a rustic, woodsy appeal.
What color do you want your finished floor to be?
Are you thinking of a light colored floor or a dark one? Lighter floors tend to give the room an airy or airy feeling and make the space appear larger. Darker floors can exude a formal, antique look. While you can stain your floor any color you like, it’s helpful to start with a wood whose natural color is close to the hue you’re trying to achieve. The cherry, for example, is prized for its reddish-brown hue. Red oak is also popular for its reddish color. Keep in mind that some woods stain better than others. Oak and pine, for example, easily absorb stains and can be finished equally well light or dark.
try a sample
It is always a good idea to ask the manufacturer for a sample of the wood(s) you are considering. This will not only give you a chance to see the wood up close, but you’ll also be able to apply the stain you’ve been considering to see what it will look like.
Is it turning green?
If you’re looking for ways to reduce your carbon footprint, choosing hardwood flooring is a great start. Solid wood flooring is an environmentally responsible choice, as it is a 100% renewable, recyclable and biodegradable material that requires less energy to manufacture than other flooring options. The energy to grow trees comes from the sun. Additionally, much of the energy used to process wood comes from the wood itself, which helps reduce carbon emissions. Do you want to make sure that your soil comes from responsibly managed forests? Choose wood grown in the United States, which has some of the strictest environmental laws in the world. And talk to the floor manufacturer. Ask them where they get their wood from. Is it from a country on the other side of the world or is it grown locally? Do they control the growing and harvesting process? What kind of forest management do they practice? Another ecological option is to choose old or recovered floors.
An investment in wood
After weighing the many options available to you and comparing manufacturers for the best product and price, rest assured that your efforts will pay off in more ways than one. According to the National Hardwood Flooring Association (NWFA), 90 percent of real estate agents surveyed in a national survey said that homes with real hardwood floors sell faster and at higher prices than those without hardwood floors. . So think of wide-plank flooring as an investment in your home that you can enjoy every day.