Hello All. New to the forum here and looking to get some opinions on a project I'm planning for.

I'm installing approx. 1000 sq ft of laminate flooring I bought from Costco with the foam underlayment attached in my grandpa's house. He's old and we've been advised to switch out his trip hazard carpet out for laminate. What I'm trying to decide is how to reconcile the different transitions from the new laminate floor to where he has either tile or vinyl, which is staying. When I remove the carpet, there will be four transitions to vinyl that will be approx. .600" above the OSB subfloor and then one transition to his kitchen tile that is 1" (the bigger problem...). The floor and underlayment together make a thickness of .450". The way I see it, I have two options as I can't leave a transition of .550" from the tile to laminate into his kitchen (trip hazard).

A. lay 3/8 OSB underlayment down throughout where the new laminate will go to "split the difference" between the transitions. .225" down to all the vinyl transitions and .175" up to the tile in the kitchen.

B. No OSB underlayment but remove the first row of 12" tile in the kitchen and 'ramp' new tile down to the new laminate floor. It would have to be ramped approx. 1/2" over a foot to meet it flush.

Is option B just a complete no-no? or is it even possible to partially demo a portion of tile and match new with the old without looking terrible? He does have spare matching tile. I just thought that might be a way easier/cheap way of taking care of the transition than laying new OSB subfloor throughout the 1000 sq ft. I also want to do it correctly and don't want to cut corners which makes me lean towards option A. Any other thoughts or ideas? Am I being nit-picky with these transition differences or are my concerns warranted? I appreciate any input. I'm looking to get started and if needed buy the OSB and get it in the house to start acclimating.

Picture 1 below is the tile transition. Picture 2 is that transition with the carpet pulled back and the last picture is one of the vinyl transitions for reference.

 

Without addressing the question I'm curious about the reason. I've just gone through a similar senior proofing of my Mom's house working with several consultants and never was carpet ever discussed as a trip hazard.

Rugs on floors, rungs on rugs are a big issue but my take away was that carpets, assuming nothing like a deep shag, were acceptable materials.

 

That's interesting Marq1. I haven't heard that much of carpet being super risky either I suppose. I guess in his case he has had two minor falls because of the carpet already to which we are hoping a smoother surface will help. It also requires less maintenance with spills... I'm not sure who all was in on the decision to change from carpet but that's what they want to do at this point.

 

Hard surfaces are a bad idea if you have foot or back problems. That can make them worse.

 

At this point I'm leaning towards the 3/8" OSB underlayment... With that, I'm planning on laying it perpendicular to the floor joists, staggering joints with the subfloor and using 1/4" x 1-1/2" crown staples. 4" spacing on perimeter and 6" in the field. Does this sound ok? I recall reading something about divergent staples... would I need to use those or are normal straight ones enough to hold them together?

I did have a couple questions. If I cut a sheet of OSB, do I need to seal the exposed edge with a sealant or is this unnecessary? Laminate will be going over it with foam underlayment attached.

From what I've read, it seams that butting the OSB sheets together lightly is fine rather than including an expansion gap. Do I need to apply a sealant or filler in the cracks between two sheets?

The flooring is only going in the living room and rooms, no bathrooms or kitchens. Though we do want to protect from potential spills.