There are quite a few decisions you’ll need to make when buying new wood floors for your home. As well as picking a wood species and a colour for your flooring, you’ll also need to think about what design you’d like.

When browsing floor designs, you are likely to come across 1-strip, 2-strip and 3-strip floors. Newcomers to wood flooring probably won’t have a clue what the difference is between these design options or how to choose one, so here’s a quick run-down of what each actually is:

1-strip floors

Also known as plank floors, 1-strip floors consist of boards made of one continuous piece across the width. As the boards are so wide, these floors allow the full character of the wood to be shown off and can also help to create the appearance of more space in a room.

2-strip floors

The boards in 2-strip wood floors are split down the middle to create two strips. Some manufacturers, such as Kährs for example, offer 2-strip floors in two varieties, one with shorter strips and one with longer strips. The former is best used in smaller rooms, whilst the latter is ideal for larger spaces.

3-strip floors

The boards in these floors are similar to the 2-strip floors except that they are split into three and have shorter staves to create a denser design. It is recommended to use 3-strip floors in smaller areas to add depth and texture to the room.