Hello. I started laying the hardwood living/dining room floor and will finish this weekend. I believe I will need to use a reducer to transition to a tile floor which is 1/4" lower than the hardwood. I do not have the reducer strip yet, but don't want to put off finishing the installation of the rest of the flooring. The planks are perpindicular to the doorway where the transition to the lower floor will occur.

How large of a gap should I leave between the wood floor and the start of the tile floor in order to accomodate the reducer strip that I don't yet have? Thanks...Guy

If it is a 3/4" solid hardwood. you can create your own transition strip.

The top female side of the flooring material is approximately 1/4" lower than the finished surface of the flooring.

Simply cut your turned board at the transition. (See topics is forum)
Then follow these steps to finish your transition.

1. Cut the bottom edge of the female groove off.

2. Router a new groove running your guide bearing against the part you just cut off in step one. This will deepen where the groove was.

3. Cut off the bottom of this new female groove.

4. Use a chamfer bit and bevel the top leading edge of the finished flooring.

5. If the product is pre-finished then apply a bit of sealer/ stain and finish to the beveled edge.

By deepening this you can create a transition strip that you can overlap and still give yourself a minimum of 1/4" space between the tile and the hardwood.

Thanks, Barquios. It is 3/4" hardwood. I just don't have the tools to follow up as you suggested. I need a premade transition (reducer) strip that I can cut to length and install. My real question is how much gap to leave between the two flooring surfaces to be safe so that when I do find the strip I need I can make it work. Thanks again.

I would leave a gap that imitates the gout joints. Then fill with color matched caulk. It can come sanded to match the grout in your tile floor.

If your going to do that with a solid, especially a ¾, I'd use a foam backer rod, before I fill with sanded caulk.