I have 5/16 Red Birch installed in my house and recently had a Vinyl sliding glass door installed. (flooring boards are 5" wide.) (see picture)



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By my own fault I didn't press the window installers to address the gap created in the flooring before they got away.

Another learning moment for me (!) especially now that I look at the problem:

• Taking out the door is not an option, neither is relaying the floor, so it can only be "laid in" vertically (think "fill in trench")
• The gap is 2.25" x 10 ft. long
• There is no groove or tongue on the flooring side—just smooth surface
• I have super limited amounts of original, matching flooring

I'm not against hiring a pro to do this, I'm just not sure I can find someone with enough experience to solve it correctly, hence my reach out to any pros out there.

• How to attach the flooring into the gap? Nail, glue, (and/or screw?) into existing floor? And also vertically to the subfloor? (I assume no nailing/gluing into the soft Vinyl sliding glass door—I'd like not to blast any holes into the vinyl if possible.)

• Do I need a rubber/foam gasket along the door side? (Sliding glass door is Vinyl and faces West which gets pretty warm in the summer, and is exposed to average Utah winter.) Not super worried about moisture as this is Utah and it's pretty dry here.

and/or

• Plan to leave a small gap (how big) and have a smallish transition piece/quarter round molding over the gap? Attach the transition piece to the door or the floor or both?

Sorry if this is an easy one...computer nerd here, but I appreciate solid woodworking and don't want to mess this up.

Yes, I'm attempting to post an image... But I can't figure out how to do it, so here is a link>

http://imgur.com/a/iIR5n

One sided reducers installed on top and against the slider metal/vinyl? always looks good in that scenario.

Reading more into your question a custom reducer would cover the current gap. With 5" wide material (leftovers?) and some creative table saw work, along with something to support the underside...nail/glue some one footers here and there and glue the reducer to them.

Hopefully I've provided some starting points or direction to go. Keep in mimd considering this is prefinished the table saw work would have to be done on the underside.

Anyone else see a better idea?

Good luck:)

What does the flooring manufacturer recommend for an expansion gap? What is the height difference between the top surface of your birch flooring and the top lip of the door track? Have you checked out what is available for transition reducers in red birch i.e. thicknesses and widths?
What to you have for tools?
If you hire somebody make sure they have good finish carpentry skills.....check some of their work or get references.

Wondering how you ended up resolving this.