Stumped over door threshold

[Brlymeguy]

Hi all. I just had a door installed and will be putting a laminate floor down soon, but I’m stumped over this threshold. I am by no means an expert on flooring, but I have put down a handful over the years without any major trouble. I know the gap of the flooring should be hidden by the threshold, but with this one, the thin piece on the interior side goes all the way to the floor. I can’t figure out what to do. Is it the wrong type of threshold? Can I do something to make it work? I’ve wondered if I could just cut the strip so that the floor barely sits underneath. I also thought about trying to replace that one strip with something else. Maybe there’s just a better threshold altogether. The flooring and underlay will be 15 mm thick. I’m just stumped. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[C.J.]

Make your own transition piece. Go get a piece of screen molding and stain it to match. Or modify a matching transition to achieve the same purpose and look. Attach it with silicone and 23 ga pin nails. When you’re done pull up a chair and have a beer while admiring your own awesomeness.

 

[Brlymeguy]

Make your own transition piece. Go get a piece of screen molding and stain it to match. Or modify a matching transition to achieve the same purpose and look. Attach it with silicone and 23 ga pin nails. When you’re done pull up a chair and have a beer while admiring your own awesomeness.

Thanks for responding. So are you saying that this transition piece might not have been the best choice? The installer chose it, and I am honestly clueless on stuff like this. I do know that it came as one piece, the aluminum and the wood looking part. I wasn’t sure if it wasn’t installed correctly to accommodate the floor or if it just wasn’t made to work how I need it to. I don’t really think I’d have success trying to custom make something. I was hoping I could add a simple piece of trim to this one, or maybe replace the threshold with someone that would possibly work better. I just don’t know, and I feel stuck. Probably not nearly as complicated as it seems to me.

 

[C.J.]

The aluminum threshold in the picture is part of the door. Don’t mess with it. What you will do is have the floor installed up to the aluminum threshold while leaving the required expansion space up to the door threshold. The expansion space will then be covered with the screen molding that you will stain to match. Or another option is to get a T-mold or reducer that matches the floor and modify it with a table saw so it matches the look of screen molding.

 

[Brlymeguy]

The aluminum threshold in the picture is part of the door. Don’t mess with it. What you will do is have the floor installed up to the aluminum threshold while leaving the required expansion space up to the door threshold. The expansion space will then be covered with the screen molding that you will stain to match. Or another option is to get a T-mold or reducer that matches the floor and modify it with a table saw so it matches the look of screen molding.

I sort of see what you’re saying, but do you mean the small wooden-looking piece that’s mounted on top of the aluminum currently needs to be replaced with a reducer molding? Like I said, I believe it all came as one piece. I included a picture of something similar. If I could swap that one part with a reducer, that might be the best way to go if it would work. Thanks for your input.

 

[C.J.]

Don’t mess with the aluminum threshold at all. That is an exterior door. That is what seals your door from the outside. Treat it like any other vertical abutment.

 

[Brlymeguy]

Don’t mess with the aluminum threshold at all. That is an exterior door. That is what seals your door from the outside. Treat it like any other vertical abutment.

Got ya. So I looked up the screen molding y’all were talking about. Just want to be clear. I would cover the expansion gap from the exterior transition molding with something like that, as if it were quarter round, like I’ll be doing around the baseboards? I know how clueless I must sound. If that’s what y’all are talking about, that would be sort of what I had in mind to start with. I just didn’t know what type of molding it would be. If so, my problem is solved.

 

[Mark Brown]

That is exactly what he means and see, you knew what you wanted all along. Just didn't know how to describe it and now you know you were right
WINNING

 

[Brlymeguy]

That is exactly what he means and see, you knew what you wanted all along. Just didn't know how to describe it and now you know you were right
WINNING

Ha ha. At least I know what type of molding will look good now. I had to look up screen molding to see what it even was. Glad this should take care of it. Thanks a lot everyone!

 

[C.J.]

Often times people will put 1/4 round there but screen molding or a modified transition looks better to me. It’s just a cleaner look as well as it has a lower profile so it won’t have the potential to be kicked loose as you walk in n out of the door.

 

[Mark Brown]

Chris.... the reason they install q.round is because the part that sticks up over the door threshold is for cleaning dirt off your boots before you come in man. Gotta teach you everything buddy

....for everyone else, this is sarcasm. I agree whole heartedly with my man.

 

[C.J.]

I’ve gone back to replace more 1/4 round at doorways than I care to admit. Whether it got kicked off or the customer didn’t like the look doesn’t matter. I’ve ran 1/4 round through the saw to reduce the profile, bought smaller 1/4 round and stained it to match, planed down planks, modified transition pieces and made my own transition pieces from 1x to achieve a desired look that will last. Once I walk out the customers door I don’t want to have to go back for any reason unless they’re having more work done.

 

[Csason]

I’ve gone back to replace more 1/4 round at doorways than I care to admit. Whether it got kicked off or the customer didn’t like the look doesn’t matter. I’ve ran 1/4 round through the saw to reduce the profile, bought smaller 1/4 round and stained it to match, planed down planks, modified transition pieces and made my own transition pieces from 1x to achieve a desired look that will last. Once I walk out the customers door I don’t want to have to go back for any reason unless they’re having more work done.

I see shoe molding turned flat used for odd transitions . I’ve also seen virtually every kind of base molding etc used for transition- shoe molding is pretty common

 

[C.J.]

In the Carolinas it’s standard. I’ll clean up a threshold from all the old gunk, cut sheet vinyl tight to it then caulk it only to have the customer ask me to put 1/4 round there. Same thing with tubs. Whatever, you’re the customer. I don’t take too many pictures of my work anymore because there just isn’t that much I want to brag about because of stuff just like that.

 

[Csason]

If you can find a match in the extra transition piles you’re better off it’s plastic wrapped with a durable underfoot mils thick plastic does much better than painted surface which lasts one day
Most shops have a couple drums with leftover transition pieces

 

[C.J.]

I started to rip T-moldings in half and use them or pretty much anything else besides 1/4 round. If I just do it then show the customer the finished result after it’s done, they’re pretty happy. If I try and give them a clean caulked look, they’re so used to seeing 1/4 round that it doesn’t look right to them without something there. Now if you go somewhere else in the country things will be different depending on where you go. It’s all good, it’s our job as professionals to figure it out and to produce acceptable results. I just don’t think 1/4 round is acceptable even if the customer does. I can do better than that.

 

[Brlymeguy]

I appreciate everyone’s input. I know next to nothing about transition pieces and custom making anything. Ideally the side piece of trim of the threshold that I pictured up top would look more like a reducer, angle down toward the floor I'm installing, as opposed to just standing up totally flat. Even if I do the screen mold as suggested, there would be about a 1/4" difference in the transition to the new floor. I attached a photo of what I had in mind, just by taking that piece off and angling it down. This may be out of my level of ability to have it like I have in mind. I may just go with whatever is most simple for me. I just didn’t know if I could buy a piece with this sort of profile already, to make it look like this.

 

[C.J.]

You got options. If making or modifying something isn’t up your alley, Here’s a piece of 1/2” 1/4 round I stained to match. Smaller profile. Whatever you end up doing you kinda have to make sure it’s bulletproof since you’ll be stepping on it all the time. Watch out for curling brad nails.

 

[Brlymeguy]

You got options. If making or modifying something isn’t up your alley, Here’s a piece of 1/2” 1/4 round I stained to match. Smaller profile. Whatever you end up doing you kinda have to make sure it’s bulletproof since you’ll be stepping on it all the time. Watch out for curling brad nails.

View attachment 12375

That actually doesn’t look too bad. I might look into that idea, as I just don’t have the skills to custom make something. I would also fine with the flat piece of screen molding. I just worry about it being wide enough to cover the expansion gap, but I guess it would. I’ll just have to make a decision. I appreciate it.

 

[Csason]

I appreciate everyone’s input. I know next to nothing about transition pieces and custom making anything. Ideally the side piece of trim of the threshold that I pictured up top would look more like a reducer, angle down toward the floor I'm installing, as opposed to just standing up totally flat. Even if I do the screen mold as suggested, there would be about a 1/4" difference in the transition to the new floor. I attached a photo of what I had in mind, just by taking that piece off and angling it down. This may be out of my level of ability to have it like I have in mind. I may just go with whatever is most simple for me. I just didn’t know if I could buy a piece with this sort of profile already, to make it look like this.

I slip the edge of the flooring under every threshold I can . This flooring these days isn’t designed to “move around” get real it doesn’t stretch a quarter of an inch and shrink back with changing temps even carpet is more stable than that. We ship transition materials to every job with flooring and underlay and trim etc but if I can lift a threshold a bit and slip it under all the way across I do it all day long twice on Sunday and I have zero callbacks been with the same shop off and on since 1982