Why A Wide Plank Floor?
So many rules and trends in fashion, decor, even the culinary arts, change over time. The colors that were popular in the last decade are out of fashion now. Sadly we men are stuck with the fashion choices we made in the past because everyone knows that men never throw anything away.
Wide plank flooring, on the other hand, is not a decor trend that seems to change. Instead wider planks seem to belong in some styles of homes and not in others. For this reason wide plank flooring is timeless, and should be considered the next time that you are shopping for hard surface flooring for your home.
Where To Use Wide Planks
Wide planks are frequently used in homes with big open rooms. Small rooms can get overpowered with wide flooring, so homes with more traditional decor and defined living spaces may be more likely to use a more narrow strip floor, like a 2 ¼ or 3 ¼ inch width.
If your home features a great room, wide planks should work well.
And The Affordable Part?
Saving money on wide planks can be tricky. Historically, installing wide plank flooring in your home meant nailing down unfinished pine boards that were 6-8” wide or 
Wide Plank Options For Your Home
In today’s market we have so many more options, and almost all of them are less expensive than a floor you would have bought 20-30 years ago. And as an added bonus, any floor that you would buy today will look better longer, and require less maintenance than those pine planks we installed. In this blog we will discuss the different types of flooring that are offered in wider widths, as well as talking about the different grades of wide planks that may be available. The keyword for today is affordable!
Our Hickory Fawn and Hickory hand Scraped floors are under $3.50 per square foot.
Solid Hardwood Planks
The first flooring option that you may consider for your home is a solid plank floor. Commonly available in widths of 4” and 5”, these planks will be seen in species like Red Oak, White Oak and Hickory.
These floors have been available for decades, and have been installed in millions of homes. Solid planks have always been fairly affordable. This is because wood is a commodity, and the rules of supply and demand are always lurking.
The downside to using a wide solid hardwood is its propensity to warp and cup. If the environment that the floor is located in experiences swings of moisture, the volume of the floor will change. If a homeowner eschews the air conditioning when the warm temps make a Spring day seem like a perfect opportunity to open the doors and windows, humidity slips in unannounced as well. When your wood flooring starts to absorb that moisture it will swell. A small amount of moisture is okay, but if you see the edges of the individual boards start to raise it is time for some moisture control. A cupped floor is a bad thing, and removing the excessive moisture may or may not fix the problem.
Another thing to consider: the harder the species, the more likely it is to cup. Hickory flooring, with its high density, is bad to cup in high humidity settings. If you want solid Hickory flooring in your home you should either consider using narrow strips, or keep your moisture levels below 50% relative humidity.
One very popular hand scraped solid Hickory hardwood floor is the American Hickory Camp Hickoru that we offer from Bruce Hardwood Flooring. This is a great deal on a first quality floor that we liquidate for Bruce, and you will not find this deal anywhere else in the USA. Not Home Depot, not Lowes, and not any other discounter. Trust me. Or don’t! Shop around and then you can trust me.
Engineered Wide Plank Hardwood Floors
The solution to a solid wood floor with moisture issues is an engineered hardwood floor. While some customers may be predisposed to dislike an engineered floor, I have put them in my last 3 personal houses. Today’s engineered floors are available with face-sawn veneers, which means they look exactly like a solid floor when installed in your home.
While the lower-end engineered flooring that is made for the builder market can look a bit cheap due to the rotary peel method that is used to cut those veneers, all of the first quality, Builder, and Blue Label grades that we offer at ReallyCheapFloors.com feature the face sawn method. TThis means that the veneer for those floors was sliced across the face of the log, just like the solid wood floor was cut.
That veneer is then placed upon a 5 layer hardwood core, resulting in a high-quality 6 ply floor that will resist dents and expansion, keeping your home worry-free. Even when you leave those doors and windows open!
All of these options are made in the USA by Somerset Hardwood Flooring, in Somerset KY. We offer these products in 3 different grades, each with it’s own look, warranty, and level of value. If affordability is a big issue to you, please remember that all 3 grades are made on the same line, so the cheapest Blue Label features the same construction, materials, and finish as the most expensive options. Expect more color, natural defects, and shorter board length in our Blue Label flooring.
Vinyl Plank Flooring
The newest addition to the wide plank flooring lineup is LVP or luxury vinyl plank.
Here I will give you a brief introduction:
LVP is made of layers of vinyl on either side of a hard core. The core may be made with stone powder (SPC) or a softer wood product (WPC). 
At ReallyCheapFloors.com we feel that the WPC floors on the market today do not offer the dent-resistance needed in our customer’s homes, so we only offer SPC vinyl planks.
The result of this construction is an extremely dense floor that can be offered in any species or color, with no worries about cupping or warping. Well….no worries if you buy a well-made product. Stay away from any LVP that utilizes a wearlayer of less than 12 mils. Those floors lack the stability needed in your home to resist direct sunlight or temperature swings. The only reason to buy those really low-end floors is to save money, but you will find that we offer our 12 mil first quality LVP at lower prices than you can find the junky stuff, so you have no excuses.
LVP offers a great option when budget is a concern, but don’t feel like you are getting an inferior product. Our Made in America LVP floors are made to last for longer than you probably want them to!
Another advantage of LVP flooring is its easy installation. The click-together installation method make this vinyl plank flooring a DIY champion, so it is even more affordable. Saving money on installation is always a good idea.
Ceramic Tile Planks
Another option for your home is ceramic or porcelain tile. Just before the LVP market took off we were seeing wide planks offered in the ceramic tile category. While these options are still available, and offer great durability, the cost of the product, plus high installation costs for tile, allow the other wide plank options to bury the ceramic tile planks.
Affordability is the Key
And at ReallyCheapFloors.com, we know affordability. If saving money on quality flooring for your home is a big issue then give us a look. While we will not offer the huge selection that you see at a box store, our liquidation business model, and partnerships with the largest manufacturers in the US assure you that we can save you some big bucks on the inventory that we offer. We can also help you with fresh ideas and installation help. Remember, cheap flooring is our middle name!
