Maybe on HGTV. In real life the "standard" has not changed. You need to remember the tv show home improvement shows are all staged and not even a semblance of real life.

As millworkman says, I would say 'Standard', in this context means FASHIONABLE. And like all fashion victims it is a painful lesson to learn that not EVERY house has the right 'fit' for 7" wide planks. And not every homeowner has the right BUDGET to get the high fashion look. And like all things that are high-fashion, the knock-offs are a poor substitute for the real thing.

When something fashionable (ahem...gorgeous and EXPENSIVE) goes wrong it goes REALLY WRONG. A 7" wide plank is a SPECIAL duck. It requires an EXPENSIVE plank production. It needs a very specific humidity range (expensive HVAC upgrade = several thousand dollars for most people). It requires a very specific installation technique (full glue = expensive glue + expensive professional + expensive labour costs).

If you try to mimic the high-fashion but do NOT spend the money needed to get it to work, you too will be a victim of fashion.

Yes, I thought it sounded really off. I haven't heard of anyone using anything that wide, other than heart pine. We are using 5" maple in the house we're planning our build for now, and our builder seemed surprised that we wanted anything wider than the "usual". Of course, he is a bit old school. So, when I saw that comment on HGTV, I thought maybe I was just hopelessly behind the times. The last time we built a house was in 1999, and we used typical narrow (2.5" I think) oak hardwood. I've had that in two houses now, though, and find it boring so wanted to do something different in the new build. Thanks!

Hello Emily! We are a custom wide plank flooring manufacturer in the United States and 7" wide would be one of our most common widths. 5" and wider is where we specialize, but we do also mill a lot of floors 2 1/4" - 5" wide. The widest solid we mill is 11" wide and the widest engineered is over 20". Quality milling and installation is the key for a wide plank floor.⭐

These are some of our 18" French Oak floors - minimum 20' lengths :)

It depends on what you're looking for. In engineered prefinished flooring the standard widths used to be 3", went to 5" and now many (if not most) items are around 7-1/2" wide. Narrower items are scarce and some major brands have eliminated them.

In solid flooring all of the same widths as ever are largely available and it seems odd to call any one of them "standard".

@Timothy Winzell, I was really just curious about calling 7" "standard", as I haven't seen it much here in NC, but I haven't been in too many brand-new homes lately. We have already chosen 5" select maple solid hardwood for our build, which will be finished in place. Our builder suggested that we could cut costs a bit (as we are far over budget for the full home build) by going to a 4" width, but we are holding out for the 5". Would not want to go wider for cost and other reasons mentioned above.

It all depends on context.

Personally I would go for the 4", save money, and have a floor that's more dimensionally stable when subjected to humidity changes. When going from 4" to 5" width in solid hardwood flooring we require the floor be glued in addition to nailing/stapling.

I'm more driven by logic and practicality so to me the 4" does the same job as the 5" and looks quite similar. A more design oriented person may disagree but to me, both 4" and 5" Maple are what I consider a background floor. They're an attractive, quality backdrop for the balance of your home, in contrast to something that might have a lot of character or a floor with a pattern like herringbone.

@Timothy Winzell, Interesting. Did not realize there was quite so much difference in just an inch wider plank. We may have to revisit our selection. Got some thinking to do! We do want more of a "background" floor, as we like simple design, nothing too flashy.

Long ago we laid an alternating 3", 4" and 5" solid Oak combo, nailed with no glue in a new home. Years later we returned for a poly recoat and I noticed that while the 3s and 4s were largely flat, every 5" board had a slight dish to it. If you'd put these 5" pieces next to each other over the entire floor you'd clearly see a washboard effect. Every solid wood floor should be installed in a conditioned space but the wider you go, the more exacting one must be with conditioning the space and possibly acclimating the wood ahead of installation.

Thanks, @Timothy Winzell. I think we're going to go with the 4". Did not realize there was that much difference in performance, and we do like to open up the house occasionally, when the weather is nice, rather than having to use A/C all the time. My husband doesn't care about the aesthetics, just the performance, and I think the 4" will look good too. Especially if it doesn't washboard! Really appreciate your feedback here.