Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - 5" wide planks engineered wood floor

We are preparing to purchase engineered wood floors for our townhome. Many stores are selling the larger 5" wide slats of wood. Do you feel this will make the room look bigger or smaller? We live in California the all the rooms are small. Many vendors say it will make the rooms look bigger if we use the large width wood. I'm not convinced. Any advice on how the width of the wood flooring effects the feel or space of the room?

Wide plank, does make the room look smaller, just as big format ceramics do.

It is faster to install, and the company most likely doesn't give you a break in installation labor cost compared to a 2¼" strip floor, like I do. Profits are up! Off the blood of the installer.

Thank You! It was as I thought, but needed confirmation!

smaller tiles make a room look smaller, whereas bigger tiles make it seem bigger. the reason is the grout lines - bigger tiles mean fewer busy grid lines everywhere, which gives a sense of greater space.

i would think it would hold true for wood flooring, too.

obviously, at some point, you would just need to consider proportion. no one would want freaky-big 2x2' tiles in their bathroom. but you're familiar with those tiny hexagonal tiles in old bathrooms. LOTS of grout lines = busy pattern.

5" isn't super wide. i would think you could use that in any normal sized room and be fine. your choice of plank size will have minimal effect on what makes your room seem big or small. wall color, windows, furnishings & their arrangement, etc will have much more influence.

go with what you like.

Now we have her confused!!!


This is where my experience is from.


Removing laminate plank, and installing wood strip.


The wood strip made the rooms look bigger. The end users noticed, and all I could do is agree with them. I didn't live there enough to compare. Wow! It makes the room seem bigger. Everytime I've done it.


My thinking is there are more lines in the floor making it look like it is holding more stuff. The illusion it is bigger.

Everyone sees things through different colored glasses. That is what makes us unique!

Now we have her confused!!!


yep, you're probably right.

i really think that it's just not going to matter all that much. the main things that will make a room seem big or small are going to be wall color, the size of the furnishings, and how they're arranged, and lighting. narrow planks or wide planks, it's still a wood floor. the color of the floor will be more of a factor than the plank size.

therefore, i still say, just go with whatever you like, and with whatever fits your style best. to me, wider planks say "more primitive/country/old house", whereas narrow planks say "traditional".

sorry if we've confused you!!! :o