What counts as a wide plank?
Anything from around 190mm across is generally considered wide, and the effect becomes pronounced from 220mm upwards. Our stocked wide boards run to 220mm as standard, with wider available to order. For comparison, a traditional strip floor is often 120mm or less, which is why the change in character is so noticeable.
Do wide planks make a room look bigger?
Generally yes. Fewer joints across the floor mean fewer visual interruptions, so the eye reads the surface as more continuous and the space as larger and calmer. The effect is strongest in open-plan rooms. In a small or narrow room, very wide boards can have the opposite effect, because you see only two or three boards across the whole width.
Are wide boards more likely to cup or gap?
In solid timber, yes — the wider the board, the more absolute movement across its width. This is precisely why we supply wide planks as engineered board. The cross-bonded core holds the width stable through heating cycles and humidity changes, which is what makes 220mm boards practical in a centrally heated London home at all.
How long are the boards?
Our stocked wide planks run from 600mm up to 2200mm, with a high proportion of long lengths in each pack. Length matters as much as width for the finished look: a floor made up mostly of short boards reads as busy and undermines the point of specifying wide in the first place.
Do wide planks work in period properties?
Very well, and often more authentically than narrow strip flooring. Wide boards were the historical norm in many older buildings before machine-cut strip became standard. In a Georgian or Victorian room with generous proportions, a wide board in a natural or lightly aged finish tends to sit far more comfortably than a narrow modern strip.
Does a wide plank floor cost more to install?
Installation is usually slightly quicker per square metre than narrow strip, because there are fewer boards to lay. The material carries a premium, because wide boards require larger, better logs and yield less usable timber per tree. Net, expect a wide plank floor to cost more overall — but the difference sits in material, not labour.
