Why Plank Length Matters in Wood Flooring

why length matters in wide plank flooring - view of a 16 foot long board
Our floor salesman, Greg Anderson, stands 6′ 5″ but is dwarfed by this very long Eastern White Pine floor plank.

The lengths of the floor boards you choose for your room will have a big impact on the overall look of your floor.  Longer plank lengths create a clean visual line because there are fewer end or butt seams/joints (places where the ends of the boards butt up against each other). In fact, depending on the dimensions of your room, you might be able to eliminate butt seams all together by using long planks.  We frequently get requests from clients looking for long planks in order to avoid butt joints on their floor.

Red Oak wide plank flooring, Norwich, Connecticut
Figure 1: Wide and long board red oak flooring brings a sense of history to this reproduction colonial home. (Hull Forest Products Red Oak, floor #359). Longer planks create a cleaner visual line with fewer butt seams.

In contrast, using shorter planks will result in more end seams on your floor, and if you go with especially short boards, you will get a patchwork effect. See figure 2, below:

look of shorter floor boards is patchwork-like
Figure 2: Using shorter plank lengths (the ones shown are around one to two feet long) results in a patchwork effect. If this is not the look you are going for, you should consider longer planks.

At Hull Forest Products we offer two plank length classes: long and extra long.  Long is our standard length class, which features much longer average plank lengths than other manufacturers (generally 3 to 8 feet long), but at the most budget friendly price.  Extra long (generally 4 to 10+feet with a 7 foot+ average plank length) is for those who want an extra  luxurious long and wide plank floor.

To get long and extra long plank lengths, we have to start with very high quality timber so we can saw it full length off the log without having to cut around defects. Most wood floors out there today feature shorter plank lengths because they are made by cutting around defects in lower quality wood.

Long and wide floor planks are our specialty; please let us know what we can make for you. 1-800-928-9602.