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How to handle different height floors?

14 years ago

I am wondering what is the standard way to handle different heights in flooring. My new project will have 3 different types of flooring:

- 5/8" wood

- ceramic tile

- carpet

There will be all 3 possible transitions.

I am not sure how thick the ceramic tile is, and not even how the thickness of a carpet would be determined, since it is not a rigid material.

I understand that typically a wood floor can a cap for the interface with tile, but what about for the carpet? What about between the tile and the carpet? Would a cap work there as well?

It seems that the transition between tile and carpet involves the carpet being hemmed in by a small metal piece. Is this accurate?

It seems that the carpet must be higher than the solid floors or else there would be the possibility of stubbing on the interface.

Would there be some sort of underlayment - perhaps some sort of concrete tiling that would be placed under the ceramic tile to give it the proper height?

How should I proceed with this? Thanks

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Comments (4)

swampwiz
Original Author
14 years ago
bump

I can't believe that no one here has anything to add this discussion!
weedyacres
14 years ago
Tile + underlayment should come close to the height of your wood. Cement board is 1/4" thick and Ditra is 1/8" thick, so add that to the thickness of your tile to see how it would compare to your wood. You can also use a T transition between tile and wood.

Between tile & carpet I used an edging on the tile like so. It's pretty much covered up by the carpet.
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They still make a 5/8" T&G plywood subfloor, Lowe's item #12250. You are a little confused about the minimums for a plywood substrate. The minimums are this for joisting 16" OC. If installing tile directly to plywood the minimums are the subfloor (bottom) layer to be 19/32" T&G subfloor rated plywood with a layer of 15/32" sq.edge plywood underlayment installed on top... equaling 1 1/8". This is for residential, light commercial settings state both layers to be a min. of 19/32" thick.... equaling 1 1/4" thick. If you are incorporating either CBU backerboard or Ditra membrane between the tile and plywood the minimums drop down to a "single" layer subfloor using a minimum of 19/32" T&G subfloor rated plywood. Those are the absolute minimums as far as plywood substrates go. I personally go thicker in both cases. Bottom line is 3/4" (23/32) T&G subfloor rated plywood is OK to use underneath CBU or Ditra. These minimums are straight from the Tile Council of North America 2007 Edition Handbook.
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I don't know how you do this without doing almost a full gut and remodel of this unit. You rightly point out the kitchen cabinets would have to be removed and either replaced or re-installed after the new flooring goes in, so it really depends on how much you're willing to spend on this and whether or not the added expense is worth it to you. I think if I was in your shoes, I wouldn't buy this unit. You could do a short-term solution of putting in rubber "ramps" to ease the transition and prevent tripping, but it's not ideal aesthetically and you'll still have to do the remodel at some point.
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The 'lowering' of floors is just as tough as RAISING the floor heights. Sigh. There are ways to deal with the trim (as G S states). It is not usually advisable to install wood DIRECTLY over top of concrete. There are ways to do it...but it all depends on SOOOOO much stuff that it makes the average flooring person's HEAD SPIN. Now imaging the headache that would come from someone just entering the world of flooring (like a new homeowner). If you move to laminate (yes...laminate can be VERY high end...and out perform low-level vinyl) you could add in cork underlayment to RAISE the floors back to the wood/tile levels. But vinyl is NOT ALLOWED this type of treatment. Of course you could increase your budget and work with the 8-10mm thick vinyl/WPC/SPC products. They are double the price but they are also double the thickness. As for NOISE going underneath the doors, you can always add a door sweep on the back of the door so that noise does not intrude when the door is closed. Rehanging doors is a pain. Super duper pain. As in "rip my eyes out" PITA! Being a cork flooring person, I would work with a 12mm (1/2") cork floating floor and I would add 3mm (1/8") or 6mm (1/2") cork underlay to get the new floor back up to the height it used to be. Sadly vinyl doesn't allow you to do that. Sigh.
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Yes it is an old house 1920s. So you are saying they make the floors straight but they follow the slope? So it would require less concrete? My contractor was saying it was a 2 inch difference from the front of the kitchen to the back, so by leveling that we are losing that amount of space. And these tiles are thick so in total it's like 3 inches from the hardwood that joins it to the top of the tile. I am getting new hardwood floors installed on top of the old hardwood floors. I haven't paid him and he said if i want him to he can pick up the tile in the kitchen and break the concrete down. He said the if my floors were not level it would be visible on the toe kick? But I actually will talk to him about this idea, that seems a better solution. I don't even noticed the slope when I walk in the house. Regarding the penny tile my contractor is saying once it is grouted we won't see the lines. We said if we still see them we want him to tear out and he said he would. Also said he will fix the kitchen and not charge us, so seems he is willing to fix everything. Oh and penny tile is bathroom. WIll attach a photo of the kitchen tile - it's a spanish style home.
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swampwiz
Original Author
14 years ago
OK, so between cement board & Ditra, I can raise the floor in increments of 1/8". I take it that it is common for folks to just have it all one height.

I suppose that for the carpet, simply a thicker backing could be used. Does that sound accurate?
frank59
14 years ago
What type of substrate do you have to work with? Much easier in the install to try and find the wood and tile flooring in the same thickness.

Always use the most dense padding (no less than 8# I believe) under your carpet that you can afford. That's one key to get the most life out of your carpet.

FWIW as an option, about 14 years ago we had ceramic tile and berber carpet installed on our concrete floors. For the transition where the carpet met the tile, the installers used a strong flooring glue and "tucked" the edge. I was apprehensive with this practice, but the installers assured me and wrote out a guarantee/warranty from the company to cover if failed.

I haven't had one issue with any seam and the carpet has held up extremely well, although will stand a good cleaning after the remodel.

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