I think it's more a matter of preference and what is currently in style. In my area the 5" is kind of expected in newer homes but in older homes 3" is standard and buyers expect it in those homes. I'm currently looking for a home and while I'd prefer the 5" it's not as if I would rule out a home because it has 3" hardwoods. It's really dependent on what you think looks best in your home.

You have 5 but want to go to 3? Hm. That is backward from what the current trend has been, as far as I can tell.

What type of wood are you putting in (other than handscraped)--oak?

Yes, an engineered oak with a medium dark stain.

I think the other consideration you might ask yourself about it, how many "grooves" do you want in your floor.

The 5" stuff will have fewer grooves (usually every plank in that kind of floor has a mitered edge) per linear brooming foot versus the 3" stuff.

Personally, I'd want the 5, but it depends on what you like.

It is your house... go with what YOU like!

Well, it doesn't really matter what I like. We are going to put the house on the market next spring if the market continues to improve, and if we can get enough out of it to buy a couple of small fixers.

What is going in in new construction in your area?

I just installed new floors in three rooms and didn't care about resale, I installed what I wanted (admittedly I am not selling soon). I found a square edged floor with no bevels in a 2 1/4" white oak, and couldn't be happier with my traditional decision!

And after just living through this project, I can't say I'd ever consider it a small project or do it just for resale. I'd just rescreen my current wood floors if they are beat-up. Installing new is not only costly, it takes time.

I don't think the width makes a big difference.

When we bought the current house, we thought the 2 1/4'' wood floor in the conservatory is a bit too narrow, but that wasn't a factor in our decision-making process.

Over the years, we put in 5'', 4'', and 3'' wood floors in different rooms. I personally like 5'' the most. It's a very versatile width.

I would be consistent throughout the house. That would be more important to me as a buyer. I don't like houses that change flooring, looks like piecemeal updating.

I would be happier with wood floors, even though they do show dust more. And if it ends up that we stay here, I'd be happy with either 3 or 5 inch. Although now that you mention it, the 5 inch would probably take less time to clean with less grooves.

We have to replace wood in the living room and hall, and most likely the carpet in the master. We had a water leak that damaged the current wood floor and stained the carpet in the bedroom. I didn't notice it until last night so don't know what the insurance company will say about that. Either way, it needs to be replaced. I don't want to live with a big wavy line in the middle of the floor.

Posted by kirkhall : What is going in in new construction in your area?

I'm not aware of any new custom homes near me. Mostly it's tract homes that call themselves custom because they are very nice (nicer than my house) and let the buyer pick the finishing touches. From the photos on Zillow it looks like most have carpet throughout, but a couple have wood.

Houses in my neighborhood don't go on the market very often, but most of the ones I have been in that have been upgraded in the last 5 years have wood, at least in the living room.

There is a nearby older neighborhood with high end custom homes with several for sale. Photos on Zillow show a few of them have wood floors, but it doesn't look like the others have been updated since the 80's or 90's.

Posted by cmarlin20
I would be consistent throughout the house. That would be more important to me as a buyer. I don't like houses that change flooring, looks like piecemeal updating.

We have carpet in the family room and bedrooms now and can't afford to replace that now, especially since it is in perfect condition - except the new stain in the master.

Ideally, I would put wood everywhere, but from the photos of our comps, I don't think it will hurt us.

This post was edited by marti8a on Fri, Aug 2, 13 at 12:39

I'd not worry about having carpet in the bedrooms and wood other places. I think cmarlin was saying (or, this is how I interpreted it) that it looks bad to have 2 inch in the kitchen, 5 inch in the living room, 3 in in the new dining, etc. Whatever floor surface you choose to have wood in, should be the same wood.

I did a random mix of 2-1/4, 3, and 4" birdseye maple which I like quite well. It was also more cost effective because it let the mill make optimal use of the available boards when cutting my flooring. You have to look pretty closely to tell what it is though, a properly finished floor shouldn't ever have "grooves" but may have small cracks between the boards when the weather is dry. The wider the boards are the more likely they will open up when the house is dry or cup when humidity is high. Traditional 2-1/4" strips have relatively little movement, so very little gapping.

I suspect the current trend to wide boards is due to cost of installation, it's about half the time to put down 5" boards vs 2-1/4, so flooring contractors can make a lot more money using wider boards.

"Whatever floor surface you choose to have wood in, should be the same wood."

One word-- boring. (IMHO!) Changing species, color, and use of borders and inlays has always seemed a great way to set rooms apart from each other and create different tones or moods. You wouldn't paint all your rooms the same color so why the floors?

You wouldn't paint all your rooms the same color so why the floors?

Au contraire, many people prefer a consistent color throughout the house. Especially in a smaller house, I think you want consistency in the wood flooring.

"Changing species, color, and use of borders and inlays has always seemed a great way to set rooms apart from each other and create different tones or moods" - which often makes a house feel choppy with poor flow. And, it makes it more difficult for buyers to envision decorating because what granite would they choose to go with all that different flooring?

I guess I have the advantage of not having to worry about buyers, unlike the OP. For selling purposes, yes go with "landlord white" on all walls, and plain neutral floors finished to be as invisible as possible. Narrower planks are less likely to open up distracting cracks, plainsawn white oak, for example, will have minimal figure and board-to-board variation so the floor will look like one uniform field.

For myself, I love houses where not only the flooring but also the woodwork changes as you move through the house, so the library might be done with walnut woodwork and a dark finished floor, while the dining room might be in a strongly figured mahogany with parquet and the living room in quartersawn oak. This obviously doesn't work with a modern open floor plan and probably not in a small house, but in a big Victorian or Edwardian house can be lots of fun.