The New "What did you do with your Z today" (with off topic replies) XXVIII

Originally Posted by JLarson

My projects this weekend included cutting, gluing, staining, and installing thresholds.

First floor of my house is actually a concrete slab. When I installed the flooring (oak, aged, hand scraped appearance), I did it by placing a vapor barrier, blue screwing 3/4 inch plywood to the concrete, and installing the hardwood over top. In the rooms where we carpeted instead, the carpet + a thick pad still means there is a height disparity of about 1/2" between the carpet and the top of the hardwood.

The trick was that whatever I picked had to overlap the carpet, and snugly fit against it (if that makes sense) without allowing a gap that allow the threshold to crack if someone stepped directly on the edge.

So I took a cheap piece of pine, did my mockups using that, picked up some oak threshold pieces from Lowes, and cut them to shape. Used a table saw to slice additional thin strips of oak, glued and clamped them to the threshold lip, stained the whole piece, pre drilled, countersunk, and screwed it into place (sounds hot!)

I'm pleased with the result. Snug fit, no gaps, stain color matched my floor perfectly. I'll throw a little poly on there next weekend to seal it. Tomorrow, we start the first floor bathroom rehab.