The Finest Wide Plank Flooring For Chicagoland
Carlisle Wide Plank Floors handcrafts some of the finest wood floors in Chicago. Every Carlisle floor is a masterpiece that’s truly an expression of your sense of style and beauty crafted specifically for you with unmatched pride and passion. Your Carlisle wide plank floor will be a defining feature of your home or business, continually amazing you each and every time you enter the room.
Aquila | ID#12231
Architect/Designer: Lenore Weiss Studios
Builder: Triad Builders
Installer: H&M Flooring Design
Photographer: Norman Sizemore
Our Chicago Showroom
Visit our showroom in the Merchandise Mart building in downtown Chicago to experience the incredible beauty and incomparable design of Carlisle wide plank flooring.
Our Chicago Team
Our Chicago area Wide Plank Specialists offer expert guidance and unmatched customer service as you explore, plan, and design your wide plank hardwood floor.
SCOTT COOK
Director, Central USA
ALEXANDRA ANDERSON
Wide Plank Specialist
Allie swanson
Wide Plank Specialist
Arsalan Qureshi
Wide Plank Specialist
Trends and Styles in Chicago
The latest looks, colors, and treatments for Chicagoland hardwood flooring.
Custom Hickory | ID#12623
Designer: Tracy Kurc Interior + Styling
Transforming Chicago Homes and Businesses
See how Carlisle Wide Plank Floors are raising the bar for design, beauty, and sustainability in the Chicago area.
Reviews from Chicago area customers
Carlisle WPF (Wide Plank Floors) are as advertised, truly the best floors in the world. After installing and experiencing them in my home, I don’t think I could live in any home that doesn’t have them. To say I love the Carlisle floors in my home is an understatement. And, now I love my home more that it has Carlisle WPF. My overall experience was superior — exceeding my stated requirements and unstated expectations.
Kenneth Berry
Reviews from Chicago area customers
Carlisle is top shelf when it comes to the details. We always sort through the planks for irregularities, and the reality was that every piece was high-quality grain with long runs. The consistency and quality across the batches were excellent.
Loren Wood, Owner, Loren Wood Builders
Reviews from Chicago area customers
We will be having one of our first projects with Carlisle installed in a few months, but so far customer service has been great. We have had a great experience with Alexandra Anderson, she is very helpful, communicative, and informative. I highly recommend working with Alexandra if you will be working on a project any time soon.
Konstant Architecture
Reviews from Chicago area customers
Working with Carlisle Wide Plank Floors on this project was a collaborative and rewarding experience for us at McCroskey Interiors. Their team’s support throughout the design and implementation process was invaluable in bringing our vision to life.
Laura McCroskey and Leann Lynn, McCroskey Interiors
Reviews from Chicago area customers
The product is beautiful, beautifully milled, precise. You know, no complaints. That precision is particularly important on prefinished products, where you put it together, and you’re done—there’s no sanding to make it flat. In those cases, it’s important that it’s milled properly so you don’t get that overwood and underwood. Carlisle consistently hits that precisely, and it installs easily.
David Merrill, Owner, Totallywood Flooring
Chicago Wide Plank Flooring 101
Are engineered or solid planks better for Chicago and the surrounding areas homes? From wood grains, stains, and treatments to the look of White Oak vs. Maple hardwood floors, this guide prepares homeowners and designers alike with everything they need to know about wide plank flooring in Chicagoland.
Picture Frame Chevron | ID#11066
Inspiration for Chicago Area Homeowners
Our catalog features dozens of handcrafted wide plank floors. Explore all your options for wood, width of planks, color and finish, patterns, and more.
FAQs
Answers to all your questions about Chicagoland wide plank flooring.
How do I get in touch with a Chicago Wide Plank Specialist?
You can reach us by phone at 312-464-0633 Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM CST, or on Saturdays from 10 AM to 3 PM CST. Prefer texting? Send us a message at 312-728-7458.
If you’d like to schedule a consultation, click here to request a time and day that works best for you.
What are wide plank floors?
Wide plank floors are made with floorboards that are much wider and longer than standard flooring. While traditional wood flooring is usually 2 ¼” to 3” wide and approximately 4’ long, wide plank floorboards run from 5” to 20” wide and 12’ to 16’ long.
What are the benefits of wide plank floors?
Wide plank floors are a stunning design feature of any home, providing greater elegance and visual interest. With far fewer seams, wider planks look less busy and cluttered than standard flooring. Longer and wider boards provide greater stability, and they’re easier to install as well since there are fewer planks.
Are wide planks more expensive?
Wide plank floors are more expensive than standard flooring, since there are fewer trees that can produce floorboards up to 20 inches wide and 16 feet long. Crafting wider and longer planks also involves more labor, which adds to the cost of producing the floor.
Are wide plank floors stable? Don’t wider planks tend to move more than thinner floorboards?
While some wide plank floors may be less stable than surfaces with thinner floorboards, Carlisle’s floors are fashioned from timber cut from the oldest and most stable part of trees grown in the best environments to improve dimensional stability. Additionally, for flooring in basements or over radiant heating systems – where relative humidity may fluctuate more – Carlisle’s engineered floors provide a more stable surface.
Do wide planks work for smaller rooms and spaces?
Yes! Wide plank floors help smaller rooms seem more spacious, since fewer seams make the floor seem less busy.
Do wide plank floors show dirt and dust more than standard floors?
Not necessarily. The amount of dust and dirt that’s visible on the hardwood floor is determined more by the color and finish of the floor than by the width of the planks. Darker floors and floors with more gloss in the finish tend to reveal dust more easily, while lighter floors with a matte finish will likely appear cleaner.
Can wide planks go over concrete, gypcrete, or radiant flooring?
Yes. Carlisle’s engineered flooring is ideal for these substates and performs better than solid hardwood.
How long do the floors need to acclimate to a new environment?
Acclimation is the time required for flooring planks to adjust to the environment of a space before installers can finish installation. Carlisle wide plank floors may need 5 – 14 days to acclimate, depending on whether the floors are solid or engineered hardwood planks, whether they are prefinished or finished on-site, and what type of substrate they will be installed over.
What is the best way to clean and maintain Carlisle wide plank floors?
Prefinished Carlisle floors can be cleaned with LOBA Hardwood Floor Cleaner. Floors site finished with Tung Oil can be cleaned with Waterlox Cleaners. All other finishes should be cleaned at the direction of the finish manufacturer. Avoid excessive water sitting on the surface of the floor. We do not endorse the use of steam mops/vacuums.
What are prefinished hardwood floors?
Prefinished hardwood flooring is cut, sanded, stained, and sealed under factory-controlled conditions in our facility before the floor is delivered to your home or business. This eliminates the mess and odor of sanding and finishing a floor on site, as well as the inconvenience of needing to vacate the premises while the floor is installed. Refinishing allows craftsmen to apply multiple coats of stronger sealants to all the sides of each plank, helping to improve durability.
Is engineered or solid hardwood better?
Solid wood floors are made from a single plank of hardwood. Engineered floors are made with a thin veneer of hardwood that’s adhered to multiple layers of a backing material. This construction allows engineered floorboards to perform better in locations below grade, over radiant heating systems, on concrete slabs, and in other locations with higher levels of relative humidity. Both solid and engineered flooring offer a stunning and durable surface – the choice comes down to personal preference and the location where the floors will be installed.