I finally finished scraping up the thinset from a section of tile at my front. What a painful, slow moving job! It took me quite a while, since I got mad a quit several times. I used a couple different grinders, blades, brush cups, even a demolition hammer (made holes in my concrete), etc. All the cheap solutions. Never again.

So now I'm near the point of starting the install of my Kahrs Woodloc. One issue that I still cannot figure out is how I will get the butt end (the end cap, not the long side of the 84" boards) of the flooring to mate nicely with my front door. I'll be installing along the baseboards when I reach the front and the accompanying mouldings. Kahrs states that one can trim off the locking tabs to allow a tongue/grove glue installation (for slipping under door jambs, etc., where angled locking is not possible). Should I use the glue-in procedure when I arrive at the front door? I would probably have to glue about four or five rows this way before I transition back to clicking. These rows will, of course, be the first pieces of flooring stepped on when entering the home. Are there any special considerations for using this method (maybe using straps, somehow, to ensure a tight install)? From the front door, my hall runs about 25 feet, so the boards near the door would be glued, and the rest would be clicked. So OK?

Against an exterior door sill a "square nose reducer" also called an "end cap'' is the type of transition that works the best. Sometimes I will have to run it underneath the door casing too when needed. You should not have to trim but 2 or 3 boards since it is perpendicular to the door. Gluing is plenty strong.

If you dont want a end cap at the door you can get a colored silicone at the local flooring distributor that is color matched and still allows for your expansion. Just keep your cuts straight.

Poste some new pics to my website for reference. The newer pics are the last three.

Not sure what you mean by colored silicone. Not sure if the end cap would work. Once I have the floor fitted under the mouldings around the front door, I was just going to put a 1/2" or so finished strip of wood against the metal threshold to cover that edge of wood (see my pics).

https://home.comcast.net/~rtbrick/flooring_issues.htm

Jerry, any pics of the end cap solution?

And now that I re-read the email, I get the silicone solution.

Anyone else care to weigh-in on a solution or technique?

TKS.

I may have pictures of that, sorry but I did not realize that was you who emailed me.

Keep in mind you don't have to always be brand specific on transitions if the color matches and they will work better for you. But a floating floor you do have to be more careful and sometimes modifying their specific trim works best.

The wood to tile transition, looks like a reducer would work good, might have to modify the bottom where it sits on the tile. Or if you have good straight cuts on the tile you can use a square nose reducer leaving the tile edges exposed and use sanded color matched grout caulk in the crevices.

Send me an email again and I will find the pictures showing some different ways to transition the front door, several ways to do that.

All, I've updated my website (don't get excited, its a simple page) to show the area I am working on, show a couple of problem areas and ask for advice. Take minute to browse then post up any advice or comments. TKS.

https://home.comcast.net/~rtbrick/flooring_issues.htm

Looked at the pictures.


Do you have a jamb saw? hopefully an electric jamb saw! Your going to need it for several places, I see.

You have the right idea at the front door. Do not break the floor at the stairs. For the tile use a roto-zip saw with the dry cut diamond blade. You would need to take the base down so you can cut at the walls. A grinder will cut that too. You can leave the tile and make it work, but it would look neater if the transition was backed up into the hallway more.

Thanks Gents.

Floorguy, I intend to rent an Crain doorjamb saw -$28- from HD. I did some manual sawing during the tile install and have had enough of that.

Jerry, I agree that the transition would not look so hot sticking out into the long hall. Trimming the tile would be worth the effort.

What I'm saying is all that needs to be undercut, by the front door.

Yep, I was just concuring with your advice. And that I was going to do it the easy way!