Expansion Gap Where Wood Meets Tile


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Old 09-10-15, 08:38 AM
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Expansion Gap Where Wood Meets Tile

Hello everyone,

I am getting ready to install hard wood in my living room. I am aware that I should have a 1/2" expansion gap around the floor, but I am curious as to what I am supposed to do where the wood meets up with the ceramic floor. In a perfect world I would like to see it flush against the ceramic, but that means I don't get an expansion gap. Am I supposed to leave the gap and then hide it with a reducer/trim, or is if OK if for that section, there is no gap?

Also, when I installed my 3/4" ply, I shimmed the sub floor with roof shingling. It worked great, but I made a mistake and it needs a bit more. Can I shim directly under the hardwood with shingles (with felt paper between the shingle and wood)?

Cheers!
Nic

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Old 09-16-15, 06:29 AM
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:/ anyone ?
 
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Old 09-16-15, 12:53 PM
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Is the opening with tile into a large room or is init to a hallway? Is the floor nail down or float?
 
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Old 09-16-15, 02:30 PM
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The tile isn't glued to plywood is it?
 
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Old 09-17-15, 09:42 AM
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czizzi - The opening is about 13', it's an open concept thing between my kitchen and living room. There is also a wall that runs across before and after that opening, which means that if I sacrifice my expansion gap for the opening, I also sacrifice it for the entire wall.

That being said, I've done some research in the last few days and it seems the best approach to leae a gap and install a t-molding. (let me know if you think this is a bad idea).

To answer your other question, which will probably allow you to answer the question about shimming with shingles, the wood is nail-down.



@sam floor.... glue? I am assuming you mean thinset, and yes, the tile is installed.
 
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Old 09-17-15, 10:31 AM
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The opening is about 13', it's an open concept thing between my kitchen and living room. There is also a wall that runs across before and after that opening, which means that if I sacrifice my expansion gap for the opening, I also sacrifice it for the entire wall.
Was trying to determine if this opened into a small hallway that was 3' across, you could sacrifice the gap on one side near the tile provided you maintained it on the opposite wall.

Not a fan of leveling with shingles. How bad is the issue? Is it just a level thing or is it a major hump?

Sam's question was referencing if the tile was installed directly on plywood or is there a cement backer. I'm pretty sure we had you with backer from your other projects.
 
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Old 09-17-15, 11:45 AM
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For some weird reason, people around here very seldomly use backer board under a ceramic floor. Even in new constructions, they install ceramic directly on the plywood. That's not the worse either. I was working in a big project in Ottawa (next to my town) where they were building 600 000$ houses and tiling around tubs/showers directly onto drywall, and using glue.

To answer your question though, I am Mr. Overkill when it comes to those things and yes, I used backerboard, and yes, I used cement board and thinset around my shower.

The plywood added in the living room (where the hardwood would go) was installed after the ceramic floor was all said and done.

Now that we got that out of the way. There's not a huge hump in the floor, it just wasn't that level. There's a bit of a slope towards the end of the trim, and the only real concern for me is that the height of the hard wood compared to the ceramic would differ from one end of the opening to the other, and that would annoy me very much. the difference would be probably 1/8" to 1/4". Would trim hide that?

That being said, the opening is mostly into a living room, but after the opening (where you can see where the wall starts in my picture), it's a 3' hallway.
 
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Old 09-17-15, 12:42 PM
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Get your trim and test fit it over some flooring to see if the drop annoys or not. I've seen some pretty nasty things that never get noticed by the average joe, but then again, I am trained to look for those things. From your picture, I am not seeing the dip.

Just some points for those reading down the road. You did use deck screws to fasten your plywood, correct? And you are going to install your hardwood perpendicular to the floor joists, correct? If you want some installation tips, be sure to read this post between myself and XSleeper when he did his parents home. http://www.doityourself.com/forum/so...hrow-away.html
 
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Old 09-18-15, 05:49 AM
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Woah!!! I am running them perpendicular, but I got lucky on this, because I didn't know that was something to consider at all. This is a weird thing. If my joists ran the other way, I don't think I could ever run the hard wood in a different direction (I think it would look pretty ugly to have hardwood running perpendicular in a 3' hallway).

I used flooring screws for my sub. Everyone always suggests deck screws around here when it comes to flooring. I don't know if it was you who told me these but apparently flooring screws are hard to come by in some places in the US?

As for the dip, I will start by doing what you suggest with the trim and take it from there. Basically, the dip it's towards the end of the metal trim on the picture. for about 3' it gradually goes down to about 1/4" - 3/8" before reaching the wall. Maybe it won't be noticeable, I don't know.

Also, I know what you mean about how it feels being trained to look for those things. The more I learn about this stuff and work on my own house, the more I look at craftsmanship everywhere I go and notice how things are very rarely (never) perfect. It actually took some time to get used to - it was driving me nuts at first!
 
 

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