Do you have shoe molding in your house against your wall? (That little curved piece that goes from the ground up to your wall?) We had a height difference and ran a length of that between the two doors. It curved right from the ground to the seam of the threshold, covering the raw tile. You still see the whole threshold piece, but that's ok b/c usually you can see those.

Good luck - I'm sure that must be frustrating.

You should be able to get a stone threshold, or craft an oak or maple one.

I think it was very unthoughtful of the tile installer not to plan for this.

In my opinion, I think you would trip on quarter round or base shoe molding. A custom made wood threshold tapering down to the wood floor using the whole width of the door casing would ease the transition. You could stain it the same as your wood floor so it wouldn't be so noticeable from the bedroom side when the door is closed. The carpeting (for now) could be turned and tucked butted up to it?

-Babka

A marble threshold is the traditional solution to this common problem.

Ah, Babka, you're right - I didn't notice that it was at the back of the door area, not the front. I think Babka's suggestion is a good one!

We have saddles that are beveled toward the lower floor that are cut to fit in the doorways.

The only real way to avoid a height difference altogether is way back in the framing stage. I've seen the subfloor actually recessed to height of the floor joists by sistering 2x stock onto each joist but 3/4" below the top of the joist so that the subfloor is actually placed on top of these extra boards, in between the joists.

Thanks for all the great advise. Unfortunately, we kinda asked for this considering how much we wanted him to beef up the floor to handle the marble (2nd plywood underlayment, DITRA, etc.) I knew it was going to add height, but I guess this is one of those things that you don't realize how material it will be till you see it. Our previous threshold sat directly onto the subfloor and cracked straight across the middle, so we wanted to avoid that happening again.

Talked to our contractor today and he mentioned that he is planning to stretch the carpet a bit so that he has room to beef up the padding in that spot and will roll the carpet to cover the DITRA/mortar, etc. So that will help wiht the height transition for now.

I think if we decide at any point to refinish the hardwood floors underneath we will do as Babka suggested and have a custom made wood threshold tapering down to the wood floor.

Thanks again for all the great advise. I knew we couldn't be the first people with this issue. :-)

We had this same situation. I did some research and found that you could either make or buy a "ramp" made for just this purpose.
Ours was installed under the carpet pad and its made of a very heavy rubber. Tapered on the sides as well as the approach and it spans the whole width of the doorway. and about 24" long so you've got a nice gradual transition.
It's absolutely a perfect solution. The carpet installers ordered it and I couldn't be happier.
I'll try to attach a photo of ours tonight.
Ours were similar to this as they were rubber
http://www.johnsonite.com/WallBaseFinishesAccessories/FinishingAccessories/SubfloorLevelerSystem/tabid/813/Default.aspx
But I'd suggested the website
carpetshims.com
to the carpet installers when we first realized the problem. The ones from caroet shims.com are wooden.
I'd have been majorly unhappy with the look and tripping hazard of a step up/ uneven threshold.

I made oak thresholds for my bathrooms. I rabbited the edge so it projected over the bath floor. that required a half inch higher threshold, but it was good. The contrast was good between the carpet and bath floor and we never had people tripping into the bathroom.

I came across this thread because I have exactly this issue. But I found an idea somewhere else which I'm going to try. The idea is to use some tile, backed by thin-set mortar to make a tapered transition across the door frame. Once the mortar is set the gaps can be grouted. With the taper extending the full width of the door frame it should look natural and also avoid a tripping hazard..

Is it possible to purchase a tapered stone threshold that complements your tile?

I doubt it, but I can report that I did make the tapered transition described above and it worked great. I used a flush trim saw to cut the door stop on either side so the tile slips underneath the door stop. I put down enough mortar to support the tile that spans the transition. Once the mortar had hardened I grouted the gaps and edges. It makes a perfect tapered transition across a difference in floor level of about 1". Since it's the same tile for the transition that was used for the floor there is no problem with appearance.

I ran into this issue and would love to see photos of your solutions, especially those referencing the tapered tile, etc. thank you!!!

That is what happens when you tile on top of tile as opposed to removing old tile first. A lot of contractors do this because you are quoted a price for bathroom, and then they follow the easiest path to doing that which does not include demo and rebuilding properly. All of these measurements should have been done before even starting any work in bathroom. All it takes is a tap measure, or a finger to estimate. This is why you should educate yourself before begging any project and either monitor or better higher a project and design manager to monitor and control what contractor does.

4 yr old thread. Hire wisely, all this is spelled out in contracts w detailed scopes if you have hired wisley

HU-439814112,
As Mint Tile mentioned this is an old thread, and was my bathroom. My contractor did not tile on top of old tile. He actually spent a considerable about of time to remove tile from my 1970’s bathroom that was laid with metal mesh and concrete.

If you read my post I explain why there is a height difference. Unfortunately the subfloor underneath did not seem to be the greatest and we were installing marble so he reinforced with a second layer of sub flooring, installed a DITRA mat (to reduce stress and breakage on tile) and heated floor mat which raises the floor higher than it was originally.

I will say the threshold isn’t that bad after we got new carpet installed in our bedroom and our new marble floor has not cracked at all.

GREAT to see that you were the original poster, and that you were able to come up with a fix. Must be nice to step on a warm floor in the bathroom.

-Babka