Bridging the gap between two wooden floor types

chabsey

A few years ago we had the house renovated and got an extension built. The extension got new flooring and we tried to match the existing flooring as closely as possible. In the end the wood type is a pretty good match but where the two floor types met the builder put in a huge saddle board. He said it was made from a hard wood to bridge what is presumably quite a large gap between the two flooring types.

I don't know for sure but I imagine there might also be a slight level difference between the two, possibly not but there might be.

Since it's installation we've tripped over it numerous times and it just generally gets in the way. I'd prefer to get something made out of maybe steel ,much lower profile but obviously it'd need to be bespoke.

Either that or have another craftsperson look at it and suggest a solution. You can see from the photos the height of the ridge it produces.

So, if getting a steel solution is viable where / who to ask about it? I've called various places but none would deal in anything like this.

Any suggestions as how I get this lowered or (ideally) flush with the floor levels?

listermint

Genuinely. You will have to lift it to get the clearest understanding of your options

Supercell

Maybe something like this might work?
I put it in 10 years ago in our house after we removed the carpet flooring in the living room and got bamboo flooring instead and opened up the living room to the kitchen area.
There was a sizeable gap between the tiles and the wood so i put a bamboo strip over cement with a slight slope to it (to lift it up about a cm or so) and then two metal strips either side to tidy up. The hole in the top strip is for the dividing doors to lock when we have them closed.

It's taken a battering over the years with prams and three little monsters but its low profile and noone has ever tripped on it, might be something worth looking at. Got the metal strips in Woodies.

DublinDilbert

Do you have spare boards for either floor type? you'll probably need to extend one of the floors to meet the other one and put down a narrow joiner bar.

I would imagine when you lift the saddle board you will have all sorts of un-even boards which will need to be leveled out. Also under the saddle boar is probably not level/straight. It is not trival, but it could definitely be done.

You can get long strips of sticky back "flat" profile in carpet right.
something like this but they are gold or silver and extremely sticky

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Self-Adhesive-Aluminium-Transition-TMW-Profiles/dp/B07WG43VLP/ref=asc_df_B07WG43VLP/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=430958423258&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4265736127439308400&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007850&hvtargid=pla-909220191523&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=97419445822&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=430958423258&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4265736127439308400&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007850&hvtargid=pla-909220191523

chabsey

Supercell wrote: »

Maybe something like this might work?
I put it in 10 years ago in our house after we removed the carpet flooring in the living room and got bamboo flooring instead and opened up the living room to the kitchen area.
There was a sizeable gap between the tiles and the wood so i put a bamboo strip over cement with a slight slope to it (to lift it up about a cm or so) and then two metal strips either side to tidy up. The hole in the top strip is for the dividing doors to lock when we have them closed.

It's taken a battering over the years with prams and three little monsters but its low profile and noone has ever tripped on it, might be something worth looking at. Got the metal strips in Woodies.

Thanks but I suggested it at the time and the builder said the gap was too large to be bridged by anything off the shelf. I've seen some photos of people putting concrete down and laying a row of tiles in the gap, something like this



But I don't think the gap is going to be level and it would mean we'd need to cut the boards back to form an even edge on both sides which I'm guessing is not there currently. Wish we'd just replaced the entire floor when we got the house done.

chabsey

DublinDilbert wrote: »

Do you have spare boards for either floor type? you'll probably need to extend one of the floors to meet the other one and put down a narrow joiner bar.

I would imagine when you lift the saddle board you will have all sorts of un-even boards which will need to be leveled out. Also under the saddle boar is probably not level/straight. It is not trival, but it could definitely be done.

No boards of either of the flooring left unfortunately. It's very frustrating cause I just know a bespoke steel solution would work but have no idea where to get one made.

You need to take that saddle board up and see how wide you need it.
You won't get a bispoke steel one made because they are made by extruding aluminum and it's a serious process.

GrumpyMe

Look at German company https://www.gradus.com
Their brochures are transition strip porn!

Supercell

chabsey wrote: »

Thanks but I suggested it at the time and the builder said the gap was too large to be bridged by anything off the shelf

My wooden floor isn't level either!, you are maybe overthinking this. Those boards would have gone under a skirting board originally before we cut the hole though to the kitchen so they were not even nor sitting down straight when the wall was cut though as the skirting board previously pinned them down flat.
The bamboo strip across the middle is full width and the metal strips are screwed into that. That allows the uneven bamboo planks (vertical to the strip) to be held in place by the metal strip and expand an contract slightly as the room heats and cools.

Heres a quick rough sketch i drew up to show what i mean in case it helps.
In your situation I would be afraid the sticky type ones would just become unstuck, I did consider them too for my flooring and discounted for that reason.

listermint

I would hope your flooring isn't unevenly cut underneath your cover. If it is whomever installed it did a terrible finish job. It should be even right across the cut.

Triboro

Maybe lift the saddle and cut straight lines on either side so you can fit a flush saddle in the same material as flooring.
Take a bit of toying around with it but worth the effort!

Lumen

Triboro wrote: »

Maybe lift the saddle and cut straight lines on either side so you can fit a flush saddle in the same material as flooring.
Take a bit of toying around with it but worth the effort!

Oooh, fancy!

Are there any expansion gaps?

awec

listermint wrote: »

I would hope your flooring isn't unevenly cut underneath your cover. If it is whomever installed it did a terrible finish job. It should be even right across the cut.

I bet you it isn't.

When the installer knows it's never going to be seen, I bet it's cut almost the same length on each board, but not perfectly straight across.

listermint

Lumen wrote: »

Oooh, fancy!

Are there any expansion gaps?

Expansion gaps are for under skirting at the walks. Not transitions. The floor should shift away from the walls on all sides not from adjoining floors.

Outkast_IRE

You need to lift it and understand how wide the gap actually is.
Quickstep do strips for bridging gaps like these that can be profiled with the tool they provide with it . The Quickstep Incizo doorbar is worth a look they are a really solid product that work really well on site they are 2.15m long and can be cut to suit , or more than one used for longer.

https://www.quick-step.ie/en-ie/accessories/qswincp03095_incizo-profile-matching-colour

Lumen

listermint wrote: »

Expansion gaps are for under skirting at the walks. Not transitions. The floor should shift away from the walls on all sides not from adjoining floors.

Oh, right. I assumed that expansion was the reason thresholds were designed such that the flooring slides underneath, but are you saying it's just to make them easier to fit?

e.g.

https://www.screwfix.ie/p/vitrex-medium-oak-variable-height-wood-laminate-floor-threshold-0-9m/2643h

Supercell

listermint wrote: »

Expansion gaps are for under skirting at the walks. Not transitions. The floor should shift away from the walls on all sides not from adjoining floors.

This wasn't a transition though originally, he built an extension so presumably, like mine, the installer didn't feel they needed to be super clean when cutting the line under the skirting which was where the flooring terminated.

Triboro

Lumen wrote: »

Oooh, fancy!

Are there any expansion gaps?

Expansion around walls and under jambs alright,not as much of an issue where theres a border with 5 or 6 boards.
Op wouldnt need it considering the direction the floors in the two rooms are running.

mick121

Lumen wrote: »

Oooh, fancy!

Are there any expansion gaps?

The two dark strips bordering the center piece of wood could well be cork to allow for expansion

Triboro

mick121 wrote: »

The two dark strips bordering the center piece of wood could well be cork to allow for expansion

No,they are strips of solid jatoba either side of the maple.
Expansion was left at walls and under door jambs.

hero25

Looking at your photos, it appears you may not need the full height of the saddle board. why not have the top of it planed/cut back to reduce the height it comes off the floor?
you'd be left with a larger surface area but less of a "step" to trip over.
we did this in the last house we were in, but i dont have a picture of it.

chabsey

hero25 wrote: »

Looking at your photos, it appears you may not need the full height of the saddle board. why not have the top of it planed/cut back to reduce the height it comes off the floor?
you'd be left with a larger surface area but less of a "step" to trip over.
we did this in the last house we were in, but i dont have a picture of it.

This might be an option, although the builder assured us it was the size it was for strength reasons, but that might just be cause he didn't fancy planing it down.

Lumen

chabsey wrote: »

This might be an option, although the builder assured us it was the size it was for strength reasons, but that might just be cause he didn't fancy planing it down.

Have you lifted it yet? Pointless speculating.

chabsey

Lumen wrote: »

Have you lifted it yet? Pointless speculating.

I haven't yet, mainly cause the screws holding it in were covered with something and then stained to match the wood. So, if / when I lift it, time will be ticking as there won't be much tolerance for it being uglier looking when the screws are visible!

listermint

chabsey wrote: »

I haven't yet, mainly cause the screws holding it in were covered with something and then stained to match the wood. So, if / when I lift it, time will be ticking as there won't be much tolerance for it being uglier looking when the screws are visible!

Duct tape. She'll be fine with it. .... ..

chabsey

Raising this post from the dead as I finally bit the bullet and lifted the saddle board. Turns out the gap isn't wide at all but the builder had planed the boards very roughly so the reason for the massive saddle board appears to be to cover up that mess. See attached photos.

Roughly 2.4 M long and about 10cm wide should cover all the damage done, if I was getting metal made for this I don't think it needs to be thick at all because the actual gap it is bridging isn't wide.

Any opinions as to what I can do here? I'm thinking a basic strip of metal, 1-2mm thick with softened edges to stop cuts etc. Either glued or screwed into position should do the trick. Where to get such a thing made up though and what might it cost is another thing entirely.

mick121

Any half decent carpet/flooring shop will have lots of different transition strip's you can choose from.

10-10-20

I hope I'm wrong here, but don't think metal is going to work. If you were putting down a metal strip you would probably have it made up using a piece of narrow angle steel which is tack-welded onto the underside of the 10cm x 2.4m strip. Firstly, looking at the planing which went on (which I think might have been done as a necessity) the metal strip in that form will become very rigid and inflexible and won't want to conform to the surface on both sides. Secondly, even if you get it to fit, I think you'll have a lip in places which may be unsightly.

A welding-fabricating shop would normally do this work, but they aren't architects and you would want to be very sure of what you needed and whether it was going to work before approaching them.

chabsey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813099#Comment_118813099

Not at 10cm wide they won't. I've pretty much tried everywhere, even up north and the same reaction of 10cm wide is just too wide for off the shelf.

chabsey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118814937#Comment_118814937

Thanks for the feedback. I was thinking that a simple strip of steel would be enough, no need for the narrow angle being welded underneath because I thought (possibly wrong) that the strength of the steel alone would be enough to bridge the gap without any 'down' part if you like. Given the lack of that fin or down-part I think the rigidity would be less of an issue. I got a quote for 75 quid for a strip of stainless steel that length and 2mm thick. Do you think that's not likely to work?

10-10-20

I'd just be afraid that it will look like a patch-job, that's all.

Is the s/s strip on offer beveled/turned in at the edges and how is it finished and how is it fixed? Is it peaked slightly in the center too?

The strip ideally should be almost perfectly straight and preferably not follow the contours of the floor, otherwise it will reflect light and appear shoddy. The addition of a bevel on the two long edges will help to support it, but you'll still need to think about how you'll adhere and support the strip without adding height. A thick adhesive or epoxy which sets solid might do that best as adding shims are just likely to create impressions on the surface over time.

Oh and you should also try measure the height variation over the width of the floor at the very edge of this strip using a laser and ruler. If the variation is minimal (such as less than 5mm), I'd guess it will be fine - if you're happy with it.

chabsey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118819797#Comment_118819797

I believe it's slightly beveled on the edges but I got the impression that this wasn't something the person in question was used to making so I think maybe it wouldn't be up to the standards I'd hoped for. Also definitely not peaked in the middle, completely flat. In terms of finish they offered powder coating for a few quid more, but I feel that given this is on the floor it'll scrape and look bad within days if it's powdered. In terms of adhering it I was thinking of asking for a few screw holes to be drilled into it and I'd screw it like the current saddle board was screwed.

Let me ask a different question - if this was your floor and if you wanted to avoid saying 'rip it all up and lay a single board type' what would you think might work and look ok?

The current solution is fine except for the size of the saddle board, it keeps tripping people up and looks huge on the floor.

10-10-20

Yeah, that's a fair question! Good turnaround on that. 😀

I'd look into getting custom hard-wood strip (rebated reducer) made-up, but first I would clean-up and widen that gap by cutting the ends of the boards on the left of the photo using a circular saw. If you then had a 6cm gap (with ~1cm for expansion) then fit a hard-wood strip of 8cm wide (with 1.5cm each side as an overlap). The depth of the overlap would need to be checked out as I get the impression that the flooring on the left is higher than on the right. If the overlap is too long then the strength of the wood will be lost at the edge and it will sustain damage. Also the base of the reducer strip should be shallow to allow you to adjust the height of the strip along the length (such as 5mm short of the natural floor height).

So in effect it would be this, but sized to suit your void.

https://www.woodies.ie/trojan-14mm-solid-reducer-1m-oak-369955?gclid=CjwKCAjwiuuRBhBvEiwAFXKaNMgylcC40ejwn90N-98n9xknK0Zb48qqAgTHaq7ieqUyTcld5UF6NRoCoPYQAvD_BwE

I'd then screw that down to the joists/sub-floor below, pulling the flooring tight and hopefully closing most gaps. Then finish off with a good sanding and reapplication of floor varnish.

There - I made it sound simple!