The way the flooring industry has evolved, it’s hard to believe that there was a time that pretty much all hardwood flooring was wide plank flooring by today’s standards. Currently, with so much strip flooring being produced, mostly in the 2 1/4″ to 3 1/4″ range, those who want something extraordinary often set out to find something at least a little wider, hence the search for wide plank flooring begins.
What is wide plank flooring?
The answer to that question is kind of a gray area, depending on who you ask really. In certain regions, and/or according to certain manufacturers, you might say anything 4 inches or wider is considered “wide plank” flooring. I would have to disagree. I think anything that is 4 inches or wider is certainly considered “plank” flooring, but Wide plank flooring? That would be a little stretch of the imagination. But again, there is probably not a “right” or “wrong” answer to the question “what is wide plank flooring?”
That being said, in my opinion, any wood flooring that is 6 inches wide, or wider, is truly Wide Plank Flooring. I don’t care if it’s solid hardwood, engineered hardwood, or even softwood (like wide pine flooring), generally speaking, wide plank flooring is plank flooring that is 6 inches wide or wider.
