Hope you guys can help!
Installing 3/4 red oak solid flooring. Have a surface to surface transition piece to go from the HW to a tile floor and a reducer transition to go from the HW to the linoleum. The problem is with the underlayment the reducer will not sit flush. The transition also has a groove but the flooring is running the other way so it would be groove to groove instead of a tongue feeding into it. My only options seem to be to find a way to make the reducer work, try to use the transition piece, or come up with something totally new. Does anybody have any suggestions?

 

Groove to groove... You need a slip tongue or also called a spline.

 

Thanks for the info. If i use the slip tongue i will still have a height problem because of the underlayment in other floor. The kitchen floor is too high to fit the reducer properly. I can't see a way to make the reducer work right because of the height difference unless i cut down the reducer (which i think will look too sloppy). My thoughts are to rip a spline and install it into the tongue of the floor (to fill the gap and prevent it from breaking from foot traffic) and use the transition piece to go from the HW downward to the linoleum floor, almost acting like a piece of quarter round. I think it would look a little cleaner and do the job. Does this make sense?

 

You can use the edge sander to sand down your reducer (worked for me) after you secure it. Finish it off with a palm sander to smooth out any ridges.

 

You were looking for new ideas so here's one. It may not do the trick on hardwood but what the heck.
I'm pretty cheap so I don't buy the outrageously priced T mold and reducers that go with the laminate flooring. . I buy 12 foot brass transition strips, reducers and binding strips that are used for carpet to whatever.
I use 1.5 inch brass screws and put the brass strips in just as I would a T mold or reducer. I am carefull not to clamp down tightly and if you push on the laminate floor by the brass strip, it needs to move or you have it too tight. I am also careful to leave 1/4 inch between the screws and the laminate to allow for expansion.
If there is any gap, I use a clear silicone but really its just for athetics because the brass will bend very easily to conform to the floor without much preassure.
The brass seems to work really well with almost any coloured wood. A couple of carpet installers that also do laminate thought it looked great and didn't foresee any problems.
So far I have done this on four floors now and have not had any trouble with the transitions (levelling was another problem ).
Hope this helps.