Wide plank floorings comprise reclaimed or distressed solid hardwood between 6 and 20 inches wide. This width is why it’s particularly known as wide planks.

Wide plank hardwood flooring will satisfy your fancy if you’re a lover of rustic appeal. It has a classic look and provides your space with an exotic feeling.

You may be looking to install wide plank flooring in your current or new home. Or maybe you want to install it in your office space.

Regardless, you’ll want to make certain considerations before installing wide plank flooring. The benefits and likely downsides of wide plank flooring are factors to consider before making the installation decision.

Therefore, we’ll take you through the pros and cons of wide plank floorings. Let’s get into it.

Pros of Wide Plank Flooring: Why Buy Wide Plank Floors

The ancient appeal of wooden flooring has become a contemporary charm for interior decoration.

This reason is why wide plank flooring has become quite famous. It lets you achieve a trendy look in your home or office using a traditional style.

Let’s help you overcome lingering questions like “should I install wide plank flooring?” First, we’ll take you through the benefits of installing wide plank wood flooring.

1. Small Rooms Appear Bigger With Wide Plank Flooring

The name of this flooring plank is not for mere christening sake. It’s actually wider than other flooring planks you’ll find around.

You can find wide plank flooring sizing around 5 inches. And they can be as wide as 21 inches.

Also, the width will depend on the manufacturer’s discretion and the wood in use. The broadness of wide plank flooring explains why installing it in your space will make the room appear bigger than it actually is.

2. They Blend Perfectly With Rustic

This floor makes you feel like you’re living the fantasy of epic movies. It gives you a traditional look that’s rustic decoration friendly.

Wide plank flooring flaunts the wood’s texture and natural grain. As such, there’s an enhancement in your floor’s visual beauty.

There are usually knots and scrapes littering over wide planks because they are made of reclaimed wood.  These imperfections add incredible appeal to your wide plank flooring appearance.

Therefore, you’ll love wide plank flooring if your home has a farmhouse, traditional decor, or shabby chic.

3. Wide Planks Have Fewer Seams

Other wood flooring planks are usually very lean. Therefore, you’ll have several seams after their installation. These seams somehow tamper with the visual beauty of hardwood flooring.

However, wide plank flooring ensures minimal seams after installation. This assertion means you’ll have little or no hindrance savouring the natural lines of the room and the wood.

These features make your floor look broader and offer a scenic sight of the vertical grains.

4. DIY Installation

Due to the wideness of the planks, you can be sure not to spend a lot of time installing them.

A wide plank can fill up the space that three or more lean ones would have taken. So, for example, an 8-inch wide board will fill in for three 3inches ones.

You not only get to cover a large portion of your room with fewer planks and in less time. But you also get to avoid the cost of enlisting installation services.

5. Wide Plank Floorings are Strong and Durable

Toughness and durability are also part of the advantages of wide plank flooring. These floors may face scratches or damage. But they’re definitely not easy to dent, especially when you take proper care of them.

In addition, wide plank flooring will withstand the heaviest foot traffic in your home or office. Its strength and resilience are never in question.

6. Cleaning and Maintenance Ease

Cleaning wide plank hardwood flooring is very easy. And you’ll have no difficulties maintaining it too.

The floor is naturally resistant to filth and liquid spills. This feature ensures you find it easy to wipe and brush your wide plank floor. Therefore, you needn’t worry about kids or pets littering your space.

Wide plank floors don’t house parasites like dust mites, fleas, and ticks, unlike alternative flooring options like carpets. Also, wide plank floors are hygienically better than floorings like carpets. Therefore, you have no worries if you have pets or any allergies.

Additionally, you no longer need to worry about foul odours pets or spilt liquids may leave in your flooring. Since wide plank flooring is easy to clean, you can get rid of any bad odours with minimum fuss.

7. Exhibit Your Aesthetic Taste

Installing wide plank flooring in your home shows your luxurious taste for beauty.

Wide plank floorings not only make your space feel receptive and cozy. But they also give your room a look of high-end elegance.

You’ll rapture your visitors in the beauty of the illusion wide planks create. And inevitably create a lasting impression of class in anyone.

8. Increases The Worth Of Your Home

Here’s one of the main benefits of wide plank flooring. This wooden flooring automatically places extra value on your home upon installation.

Except there’s something wrong, a house with hardwood flooring will sell better than that with carpets. In fact, most homebuyers will want to avoid the allergic possibilities of floorings like carpets. Therefore, wide plank flooring in a house will attract more buyers.

9. Colour Does Not Fade

Floors like carpets lose beauty over a short time. This loss is usually due to its retention of dirt and moisture.

But wide plank flooring stands shoulder high in this instance. This hardwood flooring has a steady look that stands the test of time. With good maintenance, the flooring colour, in fact, gets more beautiful as the flooring ages.

10. Refinishing is Possible

It is impossible to change the colours of floorings like stones, tiles, and carpets. Therefore, you may have to replace these flooring types entirely if you want a colour change.

But the above isn’t the case with wide plank flooring. Instead, you can refinish wide plank flooring if you want to change its colour at any time.

Apart from saving you the cost of replacement, it saves you the stress of reinstallation. For example, let’s assume you purchase a new apartment and there’s already an installation of wide plank flooring. But, you don’t like the existing flooring’s colour.

You only need to sand off the wide plank flooring colour and reignite it with your stain choice in the above situation. It’s that easy and very cheap.

11. Improve Acoustics In Your Home

The wide plank flooring is perfect for you if you’re a podcaster, musician or creative who deals with sounds.

Wood absorbs sounds and vibration. This unique ability is why professional theatres and studios usually have wooden floors. These floors aid sound production and augments sound amplification. Therefore, installing wide plank floorings in your space is ideal if sound quality is important to you.

12. Enhanced Air Quality

Unlike other floors, wide plank floors don’t retain debris such as pet allergens and dust. Therefore, the air in your home promises to be as fresh as always. A special case when to use wide plank flooring is if you struggle with frequent allergies.

However, some may argue that carpets are the only floorings that may harbour dander and dust. And this position will likely be in support of tile or laminate floorings.

The flooring options listed above may not have fibres like carpets. But, they have embossing and grout lines that can retain allergens and other forms of debris.

Therefore, wide plank flooring if you want the best air quality in your home.

13. Long-lasting

A school of thought agrees that wide plank flooring may be durable and easy to maintain. But they feel it’s costly to purchase.

However, we think it’s worth it to buy wide plank flooring. This position is taken considering the longevity that wide flooring planks promise.

For example, carpets may be less expensive than wide plank flooring. But carpets will require change almost every two years. Now, calculate the cost of replacement for carpets in 10 years. You’ll discover how cost-effective it is to install wide plank flooring one-off.

Wide plank flooring will save you money and can last a lifetime.

14. Wide Plank Flooring is in Varieties

Wide plank floorings come in an array of variants. You have different shades and grades of this wooden floor.

This variety gives you the liberty to choose the perfect finish to furnish your lifestyle. So not only do you get to choose a floor that fits your interior. But you also get to pick a grade affordable by your budget.

15. Easy to Install

There was an earlier mention of DIY installation possibility for wide plank flooring. It’s not just possible to Do It Yourself — it’s pretty easy to do the installation yourself.

Wide plank flooring is one of the few fancy kinds of floorings that can afford you the ease of installation as a newbie.

16. Ageless quality

Most floorings get worn out after a while. As a result, they appear old and unappealing.

But wide plank flooring will give you the opposite of that as it ages. It’ll spotlessly maintain its beauty and quality. In fact, it increases in value as it ages.

Meanwhile, refurbishing is feasible if you need to change your flooring look.

17. It Can Be Sanded

The thickness of your wide plank lamella usually determines how many times you can sand it. Regardless, the point remains that you can sand your wide plank flooring.

Re-sanding is like a way of re-awakening your floor after a long time. With sanding, you can get rid of likely scratches or stains you don’t want again.

18. Fits For All Interior Décor

Hardwood floors have two important traits to note — adaptability and versatility. Fortunately, wide plank flooring possesses the above qualities.

Regardless of your interior decor design, wide plank flooring will fit seamlessly.  You can decide to change your room’s decor anytime as long as you install wide plank flooring. No colour will ever look off.

Additionally, wide plank flooring will also give you colour suggestions with its natural grain colours. So you’re up for great experimentation if you’re particular about blending colours.

19. Great investment

Cost and budget are crucial variables to consider when buying any flooring type. Wide plank flooring provides you with a price spectrum to choose from to fit your finances. Also, regardless of the installation place, you’re making a great investment.

20. Underfloor Heating

The natural attributes of wide plank flooring mean they retain and emit warmth better. Heating-wise, they do better than other floorings like stone, tile, and laminate floors, especially during colder seasons.

This hardwood flooring is perfect for you if you especially live in a cold climate. In addition, wide plank flooring offers you the installation of underfloor heating. And as popularly known, underfloor heating is one of the top ways to heat your home in cold seasons.

Related Article: The Major Differences Between Chevron And Herringbone

Cons of Wide Plank Flooring: The Negatives to it

Over time, people have been turning to wide hardwood flooring due to its timeless appeal. Alternative flooring options like linoleum, carpet, tile patterns, and even stones, go in and out of vogue.

Unlike the others, wood’s charm transcends centuries and may never change. Installing it in your home guarantees you’ll enjoy the floor for the next few decades.

However, despite the numerous pros, there are also cons to installing wide plank flooring. And we’ll subsequently highlight them for you.

1. Wide Plank Flooring is Expensive

In comparison with other hardwood planks, wide plank flooring is especially more expensive. Also, the prices usually depend on the type of wood used to make the wide planks.

For instance, wide planks are relatively cheaper if made from reclaimed wood. But they’ll be more expensive if made from fresh/crude solid hardwood.

2. Wide Plank Flooring is Liable to Moisture Damage

Unlike lean boards installation, wide plank flooring doesn’t have as many seams. As a result, they are susceptible to cupping or warping, especially when the humidity fluctuates.

The above reason constitutes one of the top reasons planks aren’t recommended for climates with humidity instability.

Humidity changes cause hardwood floorings to expand and shrink. This particular problem is most intense in wide plank flooring. While you can solve the issue with kiln drying, you’ll spend more money on the installation job.

3. Their Availability Is Limited

Many hardwood manufacturers don’t just produce wide plank floorings. The reluctance to create ready-made wide planks is due to the high production cost and sales price. Therefore wide planks aren’t widely available.

As a result, you may need to request wide planks for your flooring projects. And this issue may very well prolong your project’s schedule.

4. DIY Methods May Be Difficult For You

Honestly, it’s easier installing floors like laminates, carpets, and vinyl with DIY methods. But wide plank flooring can be a handful for you, even if you’re a DIY enthusiast.

Wide plank flooring installation requires stringent adherence to procedures to achieve a beautiful and perfect outlook.

Wide plank installation requires a high degree of skill to deal with warping and cupping issues. You have to be careful of cracks too. You can only get the best result when you install wide plank flooring without gaps.

Furthermore, newly-manufactured wide plank flooring has tongue-and-groove edges. But reclaimed planks usually don’t. Therefore, you’ll need to nail them down into floor joists.

Related Article: How Durable Is White Oak Engineered Flooring?

Summary

Ultimately, wide plank wood flooring installation is a great investment that can change your space from ordinary to amazing. However, it has its limitations. And you’ve seen them in the highlights above.

Everything has two sides, no matter how great it may be. But in the case of wide plank flooring, the good far outweighs the downsides. Therefore, you’re making an amazing decision if you choose to install wide plank flooring.

At Three Trees Flooring, we offer different wide plank floors in amazing designs. Plus, they come with a long-term usage guarantee. Look through our online stores today!