How To Make A Transition Between Floor Heights From Tile And Wood

How To Make A Transition Between Floor Heights From Tile And Wood

In this video we show you how to transition between different floor heights from tile floor to wood floor installations. Be sure to watch our Master Class video: DIY How to Install Laminate Flooring Hardwood Floors: https://youtu.be/wtTyxH8wk3o

A the end of this video please note I goofed and placed the floor transition strip piece flipped around, late at night, assistant in the hospital, distracted by my malfunctioning zoom lens, I corrected this wood floor transition piece after filming, rotated it.

Here I give you two examples on how to transition between 2 uneven floors like laminate or wood to tile. In this case today, you have the bamboo wood floor and tile interface at the entrance to the kitchen. Here we solve the problem of how to transition the wood floor of the living room when the tile floor in the kitchen is a lot higher than the wood floor. This is useful info if you are trying to transition between different heights of floors.

The second flooring transition example is between the bathroom floor tiles and the bamboo floor of the master bedroom, using a long thick metal spacer strip to aid with the difference in elevation.

This should give you a great head start in on your next installation of wood flooring, and you’ll be ready to handle any difference in floor heights, to build your perfect wood floor transitions.

50 Comments

  1. Adriana Cruz on August 5, 2022 at 3:56 am

    How
    Would you take this off if it dried and you put it the wrong way?

  2. Bill Foster on August 5, 2022 at 3:57 am

    Right at the end of the video, you laid the transition strip in exactly backward of how you did the first one. It’s not covering the edge of the wood and butting up to the tile. Why not show the,  "Oops, I need to turn that around," segment?

  3. Jamal Compton on August 5, 2022 at 3:58 am

    My tile is NOT straight and the transition leaves a space. Will that grout caulk be enough?

  4. MStar10 on August 5, 2022 at 3:58 am

    I have the opposite problem… Ie the wood Floor is higher than the tile… And I can’t find any transition piece to match that opposite angle. Any suggestions?

  5. Jeffrey Massey on August 5, 2022 at 3:59 am

    You are right about PL
    adhesive, and not Liquid nails.

  6. priceandpride on August 5, 2022 at 3:59 am

    that looks so ugly

  7. Alex Beis on August 5, 2022 at 4:03 am

    Nice uneven tile right in the middle of the transition in the washroom LOL

  8. Kevin Ward on August 5, 2022 at 4:03 am

    When door is closed tile will be showing on wood flooring side. Transition piece should be located under door jam to rectify this.

  9. effyou128 on August 5, 2022 at 4:08 am

    Caulk does not hide that big tile lip!

  10. simone vannoli on August 5, 2022 at 4:10 am

    The best cowboy job even…. what is that gap left in the end?

  11. Yusi on August 5, 2022 at 4:12 am

    Thought the edge of the reducer needs to be on top of the higher end of the floor? otherwise, the edge will be broken eventually?

  12. jeffeverde1 on August 5, 2022 at 4:13 am

    I hope this was your own home and not a paying customer. The kitchen transition looks to have a 1/4" height difference *after* installing the transition, that you apparently finished with a caulk bead ?!?!? No surprise that you didn’t include a pic of the *awesome* finished job on that one. On the bathroom transition, you left the uneven endcuts of the wood flooring exposed, with an obvious gap on the left side. This isn’t even good DIY work. A real tile installer would have used a marble threshold for the bathroom. In the kitchen, that last course of tile should have been replaced with a 5" wide threshold to avoid such an abrupt height change

  13. Rama Lama Ding Dong on August 5, 2022 at 4:14 am

    That’s a large transition there. Would not have been better with luxury vinyl flooring instead to decrease the lip? Or any thinner flooring material for that matter? We are having the same dilemma.

  14. Lonestar on August 5, 2022 at 4:16 am

    Thanks for posting. Making videos isn’t easy. Not sure if it was mentioned: I think, might be wrong, but it appears that the Transition from the Bathroom was laid down the wrong-way-round.
    Anyhoot. Would using a couple screws, reassessed and filled, really secure that transition?

  15. Will Yllera on August 5, 2022 at 4:17 am

    How would you do it if it were the opposite? Hard room to the bathroom tile is 1/4higher. Tile guy accidentally used 1/4 boards instead of 1/2 for bathroom floor. It ended up being free.

  16. Jesse Dover on August 5, 2022 at 4:17 am

    You are absolutely right. ‘LIQUID NAILS’ IS CRAP!!!
    Don’t buy that GARBAGE. I’ve hated that JUNK for 30 years.
    It is pure SH*T.

  17. Kirsti Shaw on August 5, 2022 at 4:18 am

    Firstly I’d like to say thank you for your easy to follow videos 🙏🏽 I’m after a bit of advice if possible. I will be laying new laminate full way through the down stairs of my house, however the itches and hallway are tiled and then the roo in between is concrete sub. Do these all need evening out before installation? Many thanks x

  18. Kodi Ham on August 5, 2022 at 4:20 am

    Any recommendations on inexpensive sound proof underlayment?

  19. Bob Scott on August 5, 2022 at 4:20 am

    isn’t that last transition put in backwards?

  20. NTD on August 5, 2022 at 4:21 am

    Hi Jeff,

    Vladimir here with NTD Television. Our team was very impressed by your videos and our editors would like to showcase them by uploading and crediting you on some of our social media pages and websites so that our fans can see it. We are one of the world’s fastest growing media companies with over 100 million fans and 1 billion monthly video views across all of our social properties. Our motto is truth, hope, and humanity. Can I send you more information in my next message / email?

    Thank you!
    Warm regards

  21. cuddly pandas on August 5, 2022 at 4:23 am

    Finally a bloody video I find easy to understand. My product came with some stupid picture instructions that didn’t make sense 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️Thank you!

  22. JimA Anders on August 5, 2022 at 4:24 am

    This is a very useful video.
    A few years ago I had a similar situation at my house. I told the workman to make a transition between the floors; otherwise, he more than likely wouldn’t have done it.
    99% percent of time it’s ok.
    Only occasionally would you fall on your face or twist your ankle. I am sooo picky.

  23. Bluffton3 on August 5, 2022 at 4:26 am

    Where did you buy that or did you make it yourself. I’m at this point now that I have the same problem, not as bad, but I can’t find anything. Thanks for the video.

  24. Mihai Dodita on August 5, 2022 at 4:27 am

    Is this wheelchair friendly?

  25. Joli Moli on August 5, 2022 at 4:27 am

    I heard cork compresses over time and within a couple years it’s near paper thin?

  26. DennisTheMenace on August 5, 2022 at 4:27 am

    Is that cork code everywhere? Shit I hate that stuff. It is what was used on my original tile and it was horrible shit. It doesn’t really bond to the plywood subfloor so the thin set and tile above basically floats and we had so many cracked tiles. And squeaks.

    I removed that underlayment, scratched a coat of thinset on the plywood, laid 1/4” hardie and drilled it into the thinset over the ply, thinset the tiles over the hardie, and it’s a rock solid base. If anything has less noise lol 😆 the old floor squeaked and creaked.

    Who knew fixing an issue was against code. Wow. Good info here though.

  27. Jared Chua on August 5, 2022 at 4:28 am

    Very informative video! Also, what’s the space measurement in between the tile and the laminate floor for the that transition to fit?

  28. NTD on August 5, 2022 at 4:30 am

    Greetings Jeff,

    This is Vladimir from NTD Television. I wanted to kindly remind you that I sent you a message regarding your videos. Please see my previous message.

    We would be happy to know if there is any special requirement for publishing your videos that we could fulfill.

    I am looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you
    vladimir.holecka@ntdtv.com

  29. Jon Davis on August 5, 2022 at 4:30 am

    Why not use a piece of solid marble for a threshold/transition? Looks better, especially for bathroom applications.
    Why wasn’t a cork underlayment used with the flooring if required by code?

  30. AwesomeRedKite on August 5, 2022 at 4:31 am

    why did you do the transition one way and the flip it around and do it the other way in the bathroom?

  31. totally not a famous person with a fake name on August 5, 2022 at 4:32 am

    no offense but 8 minutes to watch you glue down a a piece of wood? seriously?

  32. InMyOpinion Wisdom on August 5, 2022 at 4:38 am

    @jeffostroff: After the servicemen took out the carpet and replaced it with ceramic floor tiles…it left the DOORS way too high. You can literally see under the doors as people utilize the bathroom! 🙁
    Q: What can we use to make the transition between (hallway) carpet to (bathroom) ceramic floor tiles? Additionally, what do we use to make the transition from (bathroom) ceramic floor tile to (inner bathroom, toilet room) to ceramic floor tiles (same type, same height floor tiles)?
    *Note: The rooms use to have padding & carpet in them, but we felt that the tile floors functioned better for our lifestyle VERSUS the "carpeting" in the bathrooms (our kids kept splashing water on the carpeted floors repetitively! Hence, the REASON for taking out the carpet and "replacing" it with the ceramic tiles for the flooring. Any advice that you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! ;-D

  33. mike requadt on August 5, 2022 at 4:41 am

    Transition piece cool beans, we have nice Rimu hardwood under our carpets but tile on the kitchen , and laundry floors. Now I know how to solve the transition situation cheers.

  34. jeffostroff on August 5, 2022 at 4:41 am

    ✅ WATCH: How to Install Laminate Flooring, Hardwood Floors [Master Class]
    https://youtu.be/wtTyxH8wk3o

    ✅ WATCH: How to Transition Wood Floors to Carpet Floors, Uneven Floor https://youtu.be/ZXmmQmSEb0o

    ✅ WATCH: How to Transition Wood Floors to Curved Tile Floor https://youtu.be/zpXJuxqibP8

    ✅ WATCH: How to Transition Wood floors to Sliding Glass Doors and Tile https://youtu.be/zUTYpKiRT1Y

  35. Patti Delvillan on August 5, 2022 at 4:44 am

    Where to buy transition piece?

  36. sentino68 on August 5, 2022 at 4:44 am

    Did you say cork, or “quark”??

  37. fleabug Perry on August 5, 2022 at 4:45 am

    My husband and I are going to tackle tiling the kitchen floor ourselves. It will transition to hardwood flooring in the living room. Thanks for the very helpful video!

  38. John Henley on August 5, 2022 at 4:47 am

    Great vid, thanks…

  39. Kevin Ward on August 5, 2022 at 4:48 am

    Transition is backwards and awful gap between board and reducer.

  40. James Jett on August 5, 2022 at 4:48 am

    How much higher is the tile than the wood floor? My tile floor it’s gonna be about 1” higher than wood floor in hall. There is no valley between them like yours.

  41. marksamuelsoncable on August 5, 2022 at 4:49 am

    I’ve learned this: if you ever want an insane exhibition of "first world problems" find your way to the comments section of any Youtube instructional video related to tile and flooring!

  42. xlayer8 on August 5, 2022 at 4:50 am

    Looks like at the end the transition when the other way arround… the longer piece should it gone to the wood part… how he place it before n after looked different to me I could b wrong

  43. Voyager Aria of Harmony on August 5, 2022 at 4:51 am

    Instead of that metal stick to fill the gap can you just use a similar size piece a wood

  44. dragon0361 on August 5, 2022 at 4:51 am

    Yall know he put the last one in backwards right?

  45. Yuriy Synytsya on August 5, 2022 at 4:53 am

    Is it possible to do this on a curve?

  46. eed on August 5, 2022 at 4:54 am

    some serious lippage on that bath travertine

  47. hot flash on August 5, 2022 at 4:54 am

    Why not use a thicker underlay for the vinyl plank side?

  48. William Molchan on August 5, 2022 at 4:54 am

    I’ve been a professional flooring installation contractor for over 20 years and I see a few things wrong with this and one thing right I see you’re using the incorrect molding that’s an end cap molding and you put it in backwards the lip should be going the other way and overlapping the tile so that the wood can move without stopping expansion and contraction against the tile . You are using the correct adhesive for this application but the incorrect molding and putting the wrong molding in backwards . Doing it this way will cause problems with expansion and contraction because the flooring is attached to the molding and has nowhere to go where it meets that tile . This will cause problems later down the line such as buckling squeaking creaking and other issues . The correct molding to be put there should be a overlapping reducer and you only add adhesion to one side or the other so that the floor can move if it has to .

  49. tom jones on August 5, 2022 at 4:54 am

    Great video… One small challenge.. No one sells those molding profiles. Do you have a source?

  50. Michael Zona on August 5, 2022 at 4:55 am

    Thanks for your help. Good video.

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