What does “Wide” Plank mean in Cork, Bamboo and Hardwood Flooring?

It is very important to note the differences in what a “Wide” plank is considered as you compare cork, bamboo and hardwood flooring types for your next project. Interior Designers, Contractors and flooring installers may all have a different opinion on the true definition of a “Wide” plank. I always recommend to double check the specific dimensions of your flooring to be sure you are going to receive what you truly expect during this major flooring purchase.

Plank Cork flooring is typically 12″ wide, which is actually a standard width in plank cork flooring. However, when considering bamboo or hardwood flooring “Wide” is typically 5″ or wider and it is usually limited to a maximum of 9″ wide. The standard width of bamboo and hardwood flooring is typically 3 – 5″ anything under 3″ is considered narrow width and anything above 5″ would fall into the “Wide” Plank Category.

Due to the standard plank width of 12″ in cork flooring, anything less than 12″ is considered narrow plank and any size wider than 12″ is a wide plank in floating plank cork flooring.

For both floating and nail down bamboo and hardwood floo

ring these standards described are correct. In glue down cork flooring the standard is a 12″ x 12″ tile although other sizes are available on the market. For floating plank cork flooring the standard plank size is a 12″ x 36″ plank. The narrow and wider variations of floating cork plank flooring are as described above.

As you can see there can be quite the difference in terminology when comparing different flooring types, such as bamboo, cork and hardwood flooring. Once again I strongly recommend to double check the specific size of the product you are interested in purchasing to be sure it will meet your design criteria for your flooring project.