My house has a plank subfloor.The bedrooms,den and living-room have original hardwood over the planks.I have a long hallway that leads to the kitchen.A previous owner covered the plank subfloor in the hallway and kitchen with 3/4 plywood.
If I add new hardwood in the hall and kitchen it will naturally be 3/4 higher than the existing hardwood in the other areas.If I use a flat reducer to transition from the hall to each of my bedrooms and den ( in place a where a saddle would usually be in the doorframes) will this be ugly?Or is this common?My friend says I should rip up the plywood down to the planks ,all328 square feet,so the floors will be at the same height.I know this will obviously look better but is it worth it?The doorframe moldings will have to be addressed in this new situation as well.
Basically what I want to know is do transitions like this look cheesey or do they blend in?will it look like a pro job ,or should I spend 3 days ripping it up and deal with all the issues of door moldings.help........

Rip the plywood out. the new floor should be the same height as the plywood, if the flooring is 3/4" thick. All the wood at one height will look the best.

But then he will be installing right over the existing hardwood floor. That is a no-no also.

Floorguy, To save confusion,the existing hardwood will stay hardwood and I wouldn't go over that.the existing hardwood is over plank subflooring.The new hardwood would be over an original plank subfloor and then a layer of plywood if I leave it.Anybody else have an opion?Are these stepdowns ugly?

Everyone agree with pig pen ?Anyone have anything else they can say to help me out?

I agree with pigpen--nice name--hehe.

Yes, I would consider it cheesy not to mention being a trip hazard. Even though it will require more effort I'm sure you'll be pleased with the final results.

Hey Ken:
Pig-pen is really Dave WY Pig-pen was my name before I went dustless. When I use to waer my dust home. My wife said I was like pigpen on Charlie Brown. LOL

Duh? What was I thinking.

I didn't comprehend what was typed.


Carry on...

Oh...okay. Couldn't you do better with location other than being "lost" Btw, one of your customers has been in touch. I just figured she went elsewhere for that Virginia Vintage as I hadn't heard from her in three weeks. Now prices have gone up

Thanks everyone.The plywood is all up.I'm sure glad I took your advice.Now I'll have a nice pro job.It wasn't that bad , just took a little time.Cut it into manageable pieces with a skill saw and pulled it up.Done deal.