Hello… I thought we had our floor decided and ready to go until I began my bad habit of obsessing and reading what the internet has to offer… We originally picked out some 5” hand scraped hickory 3/4 floor. We are putting this on our main level and upstairs hallway. We are over a basement (currently unfinished) and subfloor is plywood - not OSB. For context, we are in SE Missouri so humidity is definitely a factor although the weather is rarely nice enough to have the windows open so we rely heavily on HVAC with few exceptions.

My question is, are we asking for problems if we go with a 5” plank and what about hickory? If so, what should we be looking for? We are not dead set on a species so very open to other thoughts and suggestions.

We have 3 children and a couple dogs so want something that will hold up and last with our family. Sales guy says we would have no issues but we’re working with an outlet store and it’s what they have on their floor - so they’re really pushing the product.

Is the flooring solid wood or engineered? Solid will expand and contract and engineered stays the same over variations in humidity. It will be more important to install with the correct moisture reading allowances for your area using solid.
5 inch width is recommended to also be glued down. There are only half as many fasteners as a two and a quarter inch width per plank.I recommend fastening the tongue end of each plank along with the tongue on the side. Staples will seldom splint the ends when fastened in the center of the end. Plywood is going to be a great sub-floor. If the ceiling is open in the basement you could add some insulation with a craft face to reduce possible moisture issues from below.
Hickory is a hard hardwood and will hold up better than oak for dog nails. If it is pre-finished, you will get the best value. You can always add a coat of finish in 5-10 years if you like the color and never need to sand the floor to get it flat. I like a light brown color so it anchors the architecture.

Make sure the unfinished basement has moisture and humidity levels the same as the area above it. Otherwise you will have problems.

Watch the video on my homepage. It discusses in detail, problems and their causes with wide plank solid hardwoods.

http://www.uptownfloors.com/

Thanks for the responses. It is solid 3/4” hickory. We did look at another yesterday that was still solid 3/4” but in oak. We like it but it is pretty dark (Paramount Heritage Brown Bear) and I have some concerns about the kids and animals on a dark floor and showing scratches, etc. It also seemed like the box of oak we saw in the store had a high amount of short boards when compared with the hickory - wasn’t a fan of that. Is cupping inherent to wide planks in general or more problematic with hickory vs oak?

Hickory does have a higher coefficient of expansion so the average expansion per increase of moisture content is slightly more than oak. Planks will have more chance of cupping than strip flooring. Although the width of a 5 inch board's expansion and contraction will be the same as a 5 inch section of a strip floor there are reasons why a narrow board floor will not have as much of a cupped appearance.