Argh.

Went to Home Despot because they rent out Bostich MIIIs. Well, for 3/4" they only do nailers. So yeah, I got a nailer, dammit.

Then we left the 'soft mallet' which comes with it back at the store which is an hour away. Question here: any reason a regular soft mallet won't work here other than presumabily having to hit it harder? I get to the house at around 7pm and do a few hours of work on it a night during the week, but if I have to go pick up the mallet it's going to blow a day's work.

The exterior doors (2) have aluminum thresholds which sweat. As I stated in another thread, the idiots didn't include any kind of baby thresholds in the ordering but they've since ordered them. Can someone give me an allowance on how much space I need to allow for it when it gets here? Any thoughts on replacing the existing threshold and how difficult it would be to find a wood one that won't sweat and replace it?

Next question: Have I mentioned lately how awesome you guys are for holding our hands as we work through this?

You will be ok with a rubber mallet. The metal side of the mallet that came with it, is used to rack and tighten gaps, used as a tapping on the tongue sides lightly.

Any words of wisdom on the threshold? At least shoot me a number to leave as a gap?

I expected a more complete reply from a moderator, you know...

<cheesy grin>

I don't start an installation until I have all the trim pieces in my hand. THEY ARE ALL DIFFERENT, from different manufacturers.


Who's a Moderator???

Son of a... #%*$&!!!

It took two f'ing weeks for the "thresholds" and new (unscratched) bull nose for the stairs to arrive.

Bull nose is about three shades darker than the rest of the floor. F'ing lovely.

And the "thresholds?" They're just squared-off 2" wide pieces of flooring. I went into great detail explaining to the f'ing salesman that I wanted a "baby threshold" so that I could have some room for movement by the doors (same guy told me not to leave *any* gap around *any* of the edges, even though the manufacturer's printed instructions state that I should leave 3/4".

WTF!?! If I just wanted a trimmed piece for the end I could have *made* a trimmed piece. Now I have a 1" gap in front of the doors awaiting trim. <mumbling incoherently>

I'm going to find out if we had to pay for these and if we did I'm going to invite the salesman to put these somewhere very uncomfortable (and no, not the back seat of a Volkswagen) and demand a refund. Either way, I'm going to just buy the damned things elsewhere. I'm tired of dealing with these incompetent tools.

Before I go off on the dude, though, is it possible that he sent me the right piece for the job even though he didn’t get me what I wanted? I mean, have you guys ever gotten what is basically a trimmed piece when you ordered a baby threshold?

Trims for prefinished flooring have always been a pain. Don't match in color, sheen, shape, T&G is off, wrong size, expensive, etc. Sometimes, I will just make my own, like those simple baby thresholds. But for stair nosings, I get the manufacturer's trim. I once tried to make my own on a 3/4" solid and the homeowner was real picky and caught it. So I had to rip out all the trims I made and get factory ones and install those. But for a threshold, yes, you could probably make those IF it's in a wood you can get easily (oak, maple, cherry, etc.) But if it's an exotic wood, as they say in NY, fuggit about it. Then you'll have to get the manufacturer's trims.