Old houses usually have wide plank hardwood floors. It was the practice during the colonial times to cut through the tree to the center. The boards produced varied in width as they moved closer to the core.The bark was removed from around the edges. The boards were then smoothened and straightened. The end results were floors featuring boards in different sizes.Hardwoods for FloorsDifferent kinds woods are suitable as material for floors. The most common, although most expensive, are oak, chestn… There are solid wood floors, strip, plank and parquet including herringbone, block and other patterns. Engineered wood floors, two strip, three strip, single plank, solidengineered or semi-solid engineered wood flooring in 2 ply, 3 ply and multiply construction. Not forgetting, of course the laminate flooring that is some sometimes confused with real wood engineered flooring products that are manufactured by a laminated construction process. Hardwood flooring is still the most popular type of wood flooring, but the price, maintenance and installation process means that people still look to other types of flooring which will create the wood effect, such as laminate wood flooring.