The new floor in the family room is in! I like it a lot!!




Except for the threshold b/w the front room and the family room. I wasn't there when they did it. The guys who did the work didn't say anything to Mr. SK and as they were leaving, he asked about this threshold and was told they couldn't do anything about it. I don't actually believe that, and we have a contract that says we're supposed to be satisfied or they will make it right. So I'm going to assume that they will fix it. I just think I probably need to figure out how I want it to be fixed.

So here's the problem threshold:








There was carpet covering this spot previously. I don't see why they couldn't bump out the threshold and put a little strip of new flooring on the family room side, it seems like that would have solved the problem. That's what they did b/w the family room and kitchen, it's not perfect but you don't notice it unless you get your face up in it:

Threshold to the kitchen


An alternative would be something like we have between the kitchen and dining room, except I think this is rather ugly:


Anyway, I'm ticked off that they didn't consult before finishing up. And I'm worried about how that threshold is installed there, if it's glued or otherwise hard to get out. (I'm also frustrated because I want to be done with this, and I really hope I don't have a fight on my hands to get it fixed.)

Anybody have any suggestions?

BTW the original hardwood has likely been refinished or sanded or something (it's too nice for the actual surface of it to be original to the house). So maybe one solution would be to do the same to the strip of original threshold here... Except I don't know that we know what would need to be done or what materials could be used that would match the original hardwood....

So I guess I think it would be best to get a thicker threshold installed or some other "cover-up" solution....

There is no way I would accept that work. Get their boss over and see what s/he suggests.

What Steve said.

quote:

There is no way I would accept that work.

I know. And I'm not going to.

I'm so sad. I really don't want to have to deal with this.

Nice floor! But yeah, they need to fix that transition.

The transition can be fixed; it's not a big deal.

The challenging part was picking a floor to match what you had, which you were 100 percent successful in accomplishing! That is a very big deal, and should be the source of great rejoicing!

AdagioM, thanks!

quote:

The transition can be fixed; it's not a big deal.

This is what I needed to hear!!

quote:

The challenging part was picking a floor to match what you had, which you were 100 percent successful in accomplishing! That is a very big deal, and should be the source of great rejoicing!

Yay, thank you!!

I think it looks great actually. And (don't say this too loud) but the new floor is definitely better quality that that of the kitchen/dining. Which is good, because the family room is a lot more floor space.

Anyway, I'm quite pleased with it. (Except for that stupid threshold).

So do you think adding a narrow strip of flooring (ala the threshold to the kitchen) to the family room side and pushing the threshold out so that it is flush with the hardwood would be the best solution?

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:

quote:

There is no way I would accept that work.

I know. And I'm not going to.

I'm so sad. I really don't want to have to deal with this.

I don't think it’s going to be a big deal. It’s been my experience that tradesmen (the boss) take great pride in work that has their name on it and would not want their name on that transition.

It won’t be hard to fix and my expectation would be that the boss will step right up and fix it nicely.

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
AdagioM, thanks!

quote:

The transition can be fixed; it's not a big deal.

This is what I needed to hear!!

quote:

The challenging part was picking a floor to match what you had, which you were 100 percent successful in accomplishing! That is a very big deal, and should be the source of great rejoicing!

Yay, thank you!!

I think it looks great actually. And (don't say this too loud) but the new floor is definitely better quality that that of the kitchen/dining. Which is good, because the family room is a lot more floor space.

Anyway, I'm quite pleased with it. (Except for that stupid threshold).

So do you think adding a narrow strip of flooring (ala the threshold to the kitchen) to the family room side and pushing the threshold out so that it is flush with the hardwood would be the best solution?

You’re paying for expertise in this area. I see no reason for you to come up with the solution. Your contractor is being paid to do that, and not being paid if he doesn’t.

I’d sit back and see what happens.

quote:

I don't think it’s going to be a big deal.

I hope you're right!!

quote:

You’re paying for expertise in this area. I see no reason for you to come up with the solution. Your contractor is being paid to do that, and not being paid if he doesn’t.

Good point!

Well, rest assured I'll report back whatever happens!

No, I would not accept that either - the transition is difficult so they use TWO transition strips side by side? I would take both of them up and use a transition strip of the new material. The hardwood one doesn't look like it matches either floor.

Revisit: It doesn't. It is pine, not oak.

Ok, so they are coming back tomorrow to correct... The guy who did the installation said he did it that way because the "rule" with transitions from one floor to another in doorways is that the transition strip for one flooring is supposed to take up half of the doorway's threshold. And that's what he did, and normally would be fine except that the original hardwood doesn't have the right kind of transition and looks horrible. And that spot was previously covered with carpet, so we didn't know that it looked like that. So... I am pretty certain that what he's suggesting is to do something like this, where the current transition strip will be pushed out (to where I have the red arrow in the second photo below), and he'll add a strip of flooring between the new floor and the transition (the flooring strip added will match the new flooring, there are leftover planks).

So this kind of approach, except the direction will be the same (the transition, the strip and the flooring will all go the same direction)





Does that seem like the best solution? Does anyone have any thoughts/advice?

TIA!

His proposal is the way to go and will work great.

His explanation of the typical approach is not unreasonable, except for one thing: Yours is not the typical situation so the typical approach doesn't apply because it won't look right. The installers should have known better.

They should have brought you (the homeowner) over and explained what the normal approach is and explained how it would look, and then offered alternatives. They didn't, but the boss did, so that's fine.

In a perfect world, you'd patch that oddball piece of pine with oak flooring and match it to the living room. But it's not worth the effort to do all that in order to have the threshold centered in the opening; running the new floor up to the old and covering the join with a threshold will work just fine.


They just have to be careful that whatever they do with that funky piece of stained pine results in a subfloor that that's stable and the same height as the family room subfloor so that the new flooring just runs up to the oak floor smoothly, and the slight step up from old flooring to new is covered by the transition strip/threshold.

The other thing that does is hide the fact that the jamb is undercut for a thicker floor, one that was closer in height to your new floor than the old one. You can see how much of a gap there is between the pine strip and the bottom of the jamb. Where your new floor and transition strip are, the floor is higher and the undercut jamb looks better. By running the new floor all the way through the doorway, I think it will look better.

By the way, these kinds of glitches are typical for home projects. Everyone can make a mistake/error in judgment, but if they're willing to make it right, that's what is important.

I think the proposed solution will look great!