Okay, you’ve made the decision to install either: 1) real wood flooring 2) laminate flooring or 3) LVT Flooring with a wood effect – all are great choices! But now you must decide on the width – do you want narrow planks or wide planks? Hopefully, this article can help you make that decision.
Narrow Formal Planks or Wide Informal Planks
When it comes to real wood or wood effect flooring, lots of narrow planks tend to give a room a formal atmosphere. Think of your old school hall or a ballroom. Whereas wide planks give a decidedly relaxed and informal ambience. Think about hipster cafes and bookshops. So, you must decide on what effect you are aiming for? Then choosing the correct width of plank should be fairly straight forward after that.
Expensive Planks vs Affordable Planks
Narrower planks must be more expensive because I need more of then to cover my floor space; plus, its more work for the fitter, so they’ll charge me more… Wrong! Believe it or not, wide planks tend to be more expensive because the wood needs to be structurally engineered for stability. Also, installing large planks can be tricky as lots of cutting is required, so actually wider planks are usually more expensive to install! The exception to the rule is, of course, luxury vinyl tiles, where the width of the planks does not affect the size of the tile whatsoever, but the upcoming rule applies to real wood and laminate flooring for sure. Rule: Narrow Planks = Cheaper / Wide Planks = More Expensive
Big Room Wide Planks, Small Room Narrow Planks?
Not necessarily… If you have a small room then narrow planks can give the illusion that the room is longer and therefore larger. However, it can also make the room seem very ‘cluttered’. If you go for wider planks in a small room, then yes it can make your room look even smaller. However, it can also make your room seem ‘clearer’ too, if that makes sense? Let’s look at a big room now. Narrow planks in a big room will make that room seem grand and won’t create that ‘busy’ feeling, as there’ll be plenty of space. Wide planks in a big room will give the room a relaxed and calm feeling and won’t ‘shrink’ the room in any way. First, identify the size of your space, then think about the width of your plank.
In Summary
Narrow Plank = Formal
Wide Plank = Relaxed
Narrow Plank = Cheaper
Wide Plank = More Expensive
Narrow Plank = Creates ‘cluttered’ feeling in small room and create ‘grand’ feeling in a big room.
Wide Plank = Creates ‘clean’ look in small spaces and create ‘calm’ feeling in big spaces.
I hope that has helped you in some way to choose the plank width for your next flooring project.
I’ll see you on the next one!
