DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi all,

I have recently fitted some new laminate flooring to my living room floor. This floor meets directly with the tiled floor of the kitchen. I'm looking to fit some sort of transition bar between the laminate floor and the kitchen tiles, however, the complication is that along with run of the length of where the two floors meet, the height difference between the two floors changes.

I've uploaded a gallry of pictures that will show the problem:
http://imgur.com/a/3jDTX

The first picture in the album (when looking at the pictures from top to bottom) shows the two floors as they meet (this length is approx 2 metres). I couldn't quite get the complete length in this picture, but it shows most of it. The second picture down shows one end of where the two floors meet. This is the end at the top of the first picture in the first photo. The third picture in the album shows the other end of where the two floors meet (this is not shown in the first photo).

There is a small "channel" between the two floor types, and this channel is slightly wider at one end than the other (as can be seen in the 2nd & 3rd photos) - the width of that channel is approx. 30mm at the end shown in picture 3 and approx. 20mm at the end shown in picture 2.

The bigger issue, I believe, is that on the end shown in picture 2, the height between the top of the tile floor and the top of the laminate floor is approx. 5mm, whereas the height difference between the top of the tile and the top of the laminate in picture 3 is approx. 15mm.

I am aware that, under normal circumstances where the floor differential was consistent along it's length, I'd simply fit a "reducer" (i.e. something like this: http://is.gd/ZlpqyK or even this one in PVC: http://is.gd/YSvljW) however, I've no idea what to do in my case where the height differential fluctuates along the length of the floors meeting.

I've considered a PVC based reducer that will have some inherent flexibility, which may need to be "shaved down" in order to stay flush with both floors at both ends, however, I've no idea if this would work (or how difficult it would be).

Has anyone come across anything like this before? Anyone got any ideas what the best approach would be to finish this job and fit an appropriate "covering" that would transition the two floors correctly?

Thanks in advance.

Alan.

alanangle,
Well done embedding the images it makes your problem a lot easier to understand.
Either buy a strip of matching timber wider than the gap and gradually plane it down using a rabbiting plane to fit the two profiles.
Or get a piece of stainless or aluminium with two opposing folds along it's length - look for tin bashers locally who will be able to make this for you.
end

you state that the floor is uneven from 5mm to 15mm first of all fill in the strip with sand and cement, then level the floor with a self level compound then personally I would lay the 2mm foam underlay and lay laminate flooring over the tiles to bring the floor level. If the kitchen floor is to high I would remove the tiles and use the self level compound to even the floor.