It is a good choice. In some respects, the best choice. Narrow boards cup less and remain flatter. It will not trap dirt like carpet and produces minimal dust from ordinary use. We have a tile foyer, which I also like. We change to "house shoes" (moccasins) in the foyer and wear those in the house to minimize scuffing of the floor finish.

Great idea about the moccasins, thanks for that. Thanks for responding!!

3/4" is the normal thickness. 2 1/4" wide is called strip flooring. If the rooms are large you might want to go with a wider board (3" -4"). But that is aethetics, not function.

If it is guaranteed for 10 years I assume it is a prefinished product? Make sure you look at it before hand, installed. Prefinished flooring has a bevel edge between the boards. Some people don't mind it, others do.

Site finished is another option.

Are you doing red oak or white oak?

Hi Sue,

Thanks for sharing. We like the look of what we've saw of the Oak flooring. We'll have one room that is quite big, so the wider boards would look better, glad you thought of that! We're thinking of red Oak. Thanks for responding.

My father has 3 1/2" red oak floors - very nice. I have the same thing in white oak, the paler toast color matches my colors and furniture better.

The joints between wider boards WILL open more during heating season.

BrickEyee..so you're saying its best to stick w/the thinner boards?

We have maybe three areas in the house with visible (to me, and no one else) gaps. All are between the wall and the heating grate, areas that get very dried out. The gap is still very small. Make sure the wood is well acclimated to the house (2 weeks). The house should be at a stable humidity level, around 50% is preferred.

Winter is the best time to install wood. But most people can't choose the time of year. Ours were done in August. Probably the worst time here. The wood was in the house two weeks with AC and dehumidifiers running. DH thought I was excessively anal (his words), but it worked out well.

Thanks Sue for the info. Good to know info about the installation in the winter. That is when ours will be layed...so works out well for us. I'm just wondering if we put the wider peices in the big room, will it look weird w/the narrower ones throughtout the rest of the house. Hope that makes sense. What I'm trying to say is...is it best to have one width throughout the house. The whole house will be white oak (had a blonde moment when I responded w/red oak the other day). I don't want tile and carpet mixed in.
Thanks again for sharing your knowledge!!

Why not do the wider boards thoughout? I have over 3000 sf of white oak floors in my house, all the same width. The rooms range from large (around 20x20) to very small (1/2 bath).

Good idea, I need to look into that. Thanks so much Sue for sharing. Do you have pics of your floor by chance to share?

Hi,
I have 3/4 inch prefinished oak floorboards in my current house, and I love them. We are getting the same thing in the house we are building. Ours are 3 1/4 wide, I think. I prefer a board at least that wide over the 2 1/4 boards, BUT that is just a personal preference. In our current house, we have cabin grade boards, which means there is a little variation in colors and grains, and also there was no warranty on the finish. In our new house, we are getting a higher grade with a warranty. We had one batch of wood in our current house that never seemed as good, and it has faded rather badly in front of a glass door. That's our only problem with it.

Here is a link that might be useful: My progress blog

Owl, I love love love your house. Fabulous design!

Kate.

Thanks for sharing your progress Owl. Love your house....and the cows!!

Any pets or small kids in the house? Be prepared for scratches. Not harmful, just cosmetic. I have 3 house dogs and will install unfinished oak and use Waterlox to finish it. It is very easy to spot-repair a waterlox finish. Prefinished floors are impossible to spot-repair. Also I suggest you don't use hardwood in the laundry or bathrooms. It is too easily damaged by water. You will get small gaps opening and closing with the seasons, but these gaps are less noticable on narrower boards. The wider the board, the larger the gap will be.

nothing against oak, it's just not my favorite as far as aesthetics go. if you're building a house why not look around at other options before committing? have you seen walnut? cherry? any of the exotics? go shopping and have some fun!

Thanks, Kate and Jacqueocs!

Prefinished Flooring is gaining popularity these days. There are pros and cons and a whole thread devoted to pre-finished vs. site finished floors. We're going with prefinished because we've seen it in other homes and like the look. Also, there is a decent cost savings going with prefinished wood. We were able to go from a basic oak strip to a 5" Asian Mahogany and we're saving money by doing it.

owl_at_home I saw some pictures you posted of your home- it will be beautiful! The property is what caught my eye- I love green rural! In one of your pictures, you show blown in, insulation. It is a wall- plese, what knid of blown in is it? It looks like a loose kind, but it is in a wall cavity, and I didn't see anything keeping it up such as a sheet of plastic Is it the blown in kind with a 'glue' so it won't settle? Did you do it yourself- if so, was it as simple as blowing it in an attic? Is it the spray foam? It looks very 'even'- no gaps when you put up your drywall. Thanks

"When did the environmentalists become the bad guy?"

Narrower boards.
The thickness (vertical dimension) of the boards does not matter except for the ability to sand & re-finish.
Wood movement is expressed as a percentage of the dimension.
Oak might move 2%, so a 1 inch wide strip changes by 0.02 in., a 2 inch strip by 0.04 in., a 3 inch strip by 0.06 in., etc.
The grain also directly effects movement.
Wood is very anisotropic and moves more tangential (relative to the growth rings in the tree) than radially.
Quartersawn wood has the least movement in width, while plainsawn has the most.
Plainsawn wood also has the most cupping behavior.
See Figure 3-3 (page 8) in the link below.
The quartersawn wood is at 9 o'clock, the plainsawn at 12 o'clock.
Quartersawn wood has nearly perfectly straight grain, while plainsawn has what many think of as a more 'wood' appearance.
Most common hardwood flooring is a mix, while quartersawn wood will be more uniform and more expensive (more work & lower yield from the log).

Here is a link that might be useful: Wood Handbook, Chapter 3

Ours are site finished red oak, to tie into existing 60-year-old floors. If you're going this route, rather than prefinished, make sure you're getting either #1 Common or Select grade. #1 Common can work if the installer is willing to cull pieces with appearance problems, and it's cheaper. Select is more expensive, but it's more even in terms of appearance.

We did a water-based finish (Bona's Traffic) and are very satisfied. We have managed to put a few scratches into it in the past 18 mo.s. Call it character. If I had it to do again, I might look into one of their low VOC finish options. That said, it's best to go with a finish the installer is familiar/comfortable with. There's just something to be said for how quickly the Bona finish was cured and ready for walking on.

Here is a link that might be useful: NOFMA oak floor grading guide

We have quartersawn white oak for our floors. The grain is a little tighter, and less "swoopy" than a conventional cut.