hardwood flooring project

[christo]

Time to rip out the carpet and replace with hardwood. This is my first time installing hardwood flooring.

Found some prefinished white oak that matches the other flooring pretty well. It's solid and 3/4 inch thick. It's got a micro beveled edge so it looks almost like old school hardwood flooring.

Quandy I have is that the bathroom door runs 90 degress to flooring direction. As a woodworker in a previous life - my inclination is to use a piece of flooring to breadboard the edge at the opening. Having the marble tile transition next to the wood looks a bit odd to me.

Anyone have any ideas on what I can or should do here?

Picture below is what I mocked up for the bathroom entrance.

Thanks!!!

Christo

[dmun]

Re: hardwood flooring project

Your door edge treatment looks good. It's actually a good thing that your end grain hits the marble sill - wood shrinks and expands sideways relative to the grain, and my door edge to sill treatment grows into a sizable crack when it's dry in the winter. That's what that quarter round is for at the base of the baseboard, to cover the crack when it appears.

[christo]

Re: hardwood flooring project

Thanks for the reply, Dave.

Do you think I'm asking for trouble if I lose the breadboard edge as in the picture below?

I don't think I have a any issues with expansion/contraction on the breadboard as its not glued.

From a structural POV - I like the breadboard. From an esthetic sense - I'm on the fence...

Christo

[RTflorida]

Re: hardwood flooring project

Christo,

hard to tell by the pictures, is that marble sill at the same level as the tile and wood?
There is an alternative that is made specifically for the transition shown, a "T" molding that is usually made by the same company that makes the flooring. It has a plastic channel that screws to the subfloor and then the T molding clips into it. The molding itself is about 2 inches wide - giving you plenty of "fudge factor" or expansion room. I have hardwood flooring throughout my living room, foyer, hallways, and office; with the bedrooms carpeted and the kitchen/dining tiled. I used the T molding to transition at each doorway to the different surfaces.
I do see 2 possible problems in using the T molding in your case. 1) If that marble sill is already taller than the tile and/or hardwood it would make the transitional "bump" even taller. 2) It may not look right with the marble sill (would look like 2 different transitions - to me, that is what your breadboard idea looks like). Any thoughts to pulling up the marble sill? Just a thought......

RT

[Xabia Jim]

Re: hardwood flooring project

Cristo

I think they both look good. It's one of those things you're looking at now in detail but will probably not notice when it's done.

Kind of like look at cracks in your newly built WFO.

I agree with the T molding or trim strip. If you have any issues in the future, you can find these transition strips....kind of a flattened half round that bridges the two floors. I think I've seen them in wood and for sure in vinyl.

-) kind of shaped like that (rotate counterclockwise though)

....but again, I liked the look of either picture

[christo]

Re: hardwood flooring project

That's an option I had not considered - removing the marble transistion - it sits taller than the tile floor and hardwood by about 1/16 of an inch. Jim makes a good point, too - I tend to obsess about minor imperfections of my work and 2 months later, don't give them a second thought...

Thanks for the responses. I have until Saturday morning to figure this out, so if you have any more ideas between now and then - please fire away!!

Christo

[Xabia Jim]

Re: hardwood flooring project

Christo

those are not imperfections, they're character

...be proud!

(Strive to be perfect ....settle for excellent! )

[james]

Re: hardwood flooring project

Hey Chris,
We just did the same thing, using a wide plank Walnut. I like the look of the horizontal board through the doorway. The theory is that when the door is closed, you only see the flooring from that room when you are inside. Only wood in the hall, and only tile in the bathroom.

Our finish carpenters glued and top nail the horizontal board. We're not done, so I hope you can ignore the dirt. :-)

Hope this you decision making.
James

[RTflorida]

Re: hardwood flooring project

James, THOSE are nice transitions. Any chance of sending those carpenters to FL when your through with them? We could sure use a few guys that use more than a chainsaw, caulk, putty, grout. I grew up believing fine woodworking was an art...it is definitely a "lost" are here.

[james]

Re: hardwood flooring project

Before this project, I was a great believer in white baseboards and trim, and lots of spackle and caulk. :-)

James

[brokencookie]

Re: hardwood flooring project

Before this project, I was a great believer in white baseboards and trim, and lots of spackle and caulk. :-)

James

This is what happens when your wife watches HGTV ( home and garden television). Your work suddenly multiples

Bruce

[Dutchoven]

Re: hardwood flooring project

The method you proposed is as far as I knew quite traditional...becauses as dmun said the expansion acts perpendicular to the grain...if you have a router you could go to your local building supply and get the tongue and groove set and rout tongues to fit the groove in wooden thresh-hold...pain in the tushy removing a marble sill...adn my experiences with those strips was not good...just my opinion
Dutch

[jwnorris]

Re: hardwood flooring project

J<snip> We could sure use a few guys that use more than a chainsaw, caulk, putty, grout. <snip>

WHAT! They don't use duct tape? Oh, the humanity.

J W

[jengineer]

Re: hardwood flooring project

Had a similar problem with our transition into the bathrooom. The original 50 yr old wood floor was about 1/2 inch lower than the bathroom because I put in 3/4 plywood followed by wonderboard (fibre version not cement) and then tile. My dad was laying down full size maple flooring in his house. I took a look at it and said hey dad can you cut the tongue and groove off of one of those for me? I then took a router and made the wood look like an L when looking at it edge wise. Put a quarter round on both laterals and then used brass screws to screw it down. A thin bead of caulk on the bathroom side finishes it off.

[dalucca2003]

Re: hardwood flooring project

Hey Chris,
We just did the same thing, using a wide plank Walnut. I like the look of the horizontal board through the doorway. The theory is that when the door is closed, you only see the flooring from that room when you are inside. Only wood in the hall, and only tile in the bathroom.

Our finish carpenters glued and top nail the horizontal board. We're not done, so I hope you can ignore the dirt. :-)

Hope this you decision making.
James

James,

We have a Butler Pantry and I want to install an old world look hardwood floor but have some questions. Currently, the pantry and kitchen are tile and the pantry has no doors. I was wondering how to handle the issue of height difference between the two floors. I am on a cement slab and really would like to see the two floors pretty level. Any thoughts or suggestions?