Right, hi there everyone, newbie alert!

I want to lay a laminate floor throughout my lounge and kitchen - it is quite open-plan so I think I need the same floor in both rooms. I have chosen the laminate that I want, but, in the kitchen, my back door sits too low and will scrape the surface of the wood. What can I do?

The door is only too low by about 2mm, so would I be able to saw, shave, plane the bottom off? It's a uPVC door though, which I believe may give me some grief. Somebody suggested that I might be able to "lift" the door on it's hinges, but someone else said that wasn't possible. HSS lease out a door trimming saw, but I don't know if that will be uPVC-compatible - probably not.

This is really important to me, so I would appreciate some help with this one. Does anyone have any other ideas that we haven't thought about? Someone did suggest using lino in the kitchen and laminate in the lounge, but then it is unlikely that the 2 floors will look the same. I could use lino in the kitchen and lounge, but that would look horrid I think! Another ideas was to embed a door mat in the area that the door swings, but the kitchen is only small so it might look a bit odd.

I don't know...

Please help

 

I'll attempt this, though there may be some differences since UK doors may be consructed differently.

I'm assuming this is an exterior door--that is a door that leads outside. 2mm is not much so you should be fine, On a US door there will be a a wood block on the bottom of the door, I'll assume your uPVC door is the same, though I couldn't determine that from the comany's website.

There may be some kind of a "sweep" on the bottom of the door that seals out the weather when it's shut. If so there are two possibilities, one is that this sweep is adjustable and you can simply turn a few screws to get it to the height you need. If not you'll need to remove the sweep, cut off what you need to with an appropriate saw (it's a good idea to clamp a guide onto the door to get a straight line), then replace the sweep.

Sweep or no sweep you'll need to readjust your door threshhold, in the US there are normally several large screws you turn to do this, if you don't have those, remove the threshold and shim it (put something the right thickness under it) to get it to the right height, if you don't do this, you'll get a draft under the door (or would that be a draught?).

 

Thanks Caleyg. I don't think there is a "sweep" on our door. There is literally just a plastic door that hangs inside the door frame (opening inwards). We only need to raise the door by 2mm so I thought that chopping something off the bottom would be fine. I spoke to a local tool hire company about their door trimming saws, but they told me that it wouldn't be suitable, for a number of reasons. They suggested that there might be metal rods running through the bottom of the door - something to do with the locks (?).

If we can't do anything about the door we may just use an embedded doormat and then place laminate around that, but that isn't what I want to do. I want my door sorted! LOL