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hardwood transition to tile

JeffyT | Posted in Construction Techniques on July 24, 2008 06:17am

I’ve got a question here that I hope one of you flooring folks can give me suggestions on.

I’m doing a floor in a reno with ceramic tile in the kitchen area meeting hardwood in the rest of the great room. The HO has a particular prefinished hardwood in mind to match stuff used elsewhere in the house.

How do I transition betweeen the two?

Oh yeah, the transition line is an S-curve.

If it was old-fashioned hardwood finished after installation I’d laminate up a little accent strip with some oak and some accent brass or something and then sand it all down with the rest of the floor. Here I don’t know – I see that the last mag issue has an article on stain matching but … I don’t know about that.

thanks all

JT

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  1. frenchy | Jul 24, 2008 04:42pm | #1

    Jeffy T

     If it were me and I've imagined the problem correctly I would just go ahead with a brass transistion insert.  Say a piece of 3/16ths thick brass set on edge to follow the curve. You would have to screw it into the wood since screwing it into the tile would be problematic.  Then nail that first piece (pieces) down and work from that point on. 

      You might have to do some careful layout so you don't wind up with the final wood strip against the opposite wall a sliver or narrow piece..

     The cool thing is once you bend the brass strip you can use that as a guide to draw the cut line in the wood. 

    1. User avater
      JeffBuck | Jul 24, 2008 05:22pm | #2

      " You might have to do some careful layout so you don't wind up with the final wood strip against the opposite wall a sliver or narrow piece.. "

      for an average size room ... it's useless to layout. Just start with a full piece at the focal point and see what happens ...

      like the old time flooring guy told my buddy once ...

       

      "if yer off by a 64th of an inch ... over 64 rows ... yer off by an inch!"

       

      Jeff    Buck Construction

       Artistry In Carpentry

           Pittsburgh Pa

      1. frenchy | Jul 24, 2008 05:54pm | #3

        JeffBuck.

          The focal point is likely to be that curved joint.. thus starting at the opposite wall will have you in a spot where you can't install the brass strip.. remember it's on edge so it must be attached to  the wood and then installed.  From there on you install your flooring as normal but you don't want to wind up with the final piece being a sliver or narrow piece..

          Since you are working from a curve that won't be as critical but you need to do the layout from the opposite wall and work towards the curve. However when laying the wood flooring you need to start at the tile and work towards the opposite wall hence the need for careful layout..

        1. User avater
          JeffBuck | Jul 24, 2008 06:02pm | #4

          if you're talking measure back from the curve ... then layout toward the curve ... so all the pieces at the curve look good ... then work back to the other side of the room and let the carsd fall where they may ... I agree 100%.

          another thought ... depending how big the tile area is ... I'd be trying to fit a schluter expansion strip in the field tile somewhere if the area was big enough to think about tile expansion / contraction.

          Might even wanna run a soft / flexible schluter transition strip ... I think they're pvc ... along side that metal insert. maybe one of the smaller ones ... width wise ... on both sides ... one for the wood and one for the tile. That limits the gorut colors though, as matching grout goes a long way in hiding them

           

          Jeff    Buck Construction

           Artistry In Carpentry

               Pittsburgh Pa

          1. JeffyT | Jul 26, 2008 04:58am | #5

            Yeah, I should have mentioned about planning for an expansion joint at that transition. I hadn't actually thought about those shulter strips so thanks for that. One other thing I should have said is that in order to tie in with floors elsewhere in the house the hardwood will run at 90 degrees to the axis of the S-curve. In other words, the boards will butt to the transition strip. Problems there? I sure expect there to be with expansion and contraction opening and tightening the joint. I'm planning to squash the s-curve as flat as the client will allow to minimize this problem but eventually I plan to just go with it and see what shakes out. Am I beggin for a callback?thanks for your all's thoughts on this oneJT

          2. frenchy | Jul 26, 2008 05:50am | #6

            JeffyT

             Ahhh end grain! My error, I'd assumed that the wood was parallel to the tile.    No real need for expansion strips at all! Wood swells in width not in length  (not by any significant amount).

          3. JeffyT | Jul 27, 2008 06:32am | #7

            **No real need for expansion strips at all! Wood swells in width not in length**Except that it will tighten up and loosen at the same time at different points along the s-curve due to the width expansion. I think if the curve is flat enough it should tolerate the motion. thanksJT

          4. frenchy | Jul 27, 2008 06:27pm | #8

            jeffyT

             I'd assumed that we're talking about typical strip flooring 2 1/4 inch wide. It would require a very steep curve in order to affect something that narrow.

                True, I have planks up to 22 inches wide and if the curve was sharp enough to affect the shrinking and swelling of each plank some allowance would be needed..

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