If you have different types of material for flooring throughout your
home installed, it is likely that you will need something to transition from one type of material and another between different rooms. For example, it is quite common to have wooden flooring throughout a home and marble or tile flooring in the bathroom or kitchen. Floor thresholds can be made out of a variety of materials to suit the flooring that you have and can elegantly ease the transition between one room and another. Three different types of floor threshold will be discussed here.
Thresholds Made of Metal
Metal thresholds are made out of thin metal and come in a variety of finishes to suit whatever flooring you have installed. Metal thresholds range from one quarter of an inch to half an inch in size and can make for an elegant transition between wood and tile, for example. Metal thresholds are finished off with a powder-coat to match different flooring types. Conveniently, they can be cut in the home while installing the flooring. This type of threshold is only really suitable if the different types of flooring to be transitioned are at the same height.
Thresholds Made from Wood
Wooden thresholds are made specifically for transitioning between hardwood flooring and other types of flooring like tile, marble or granite. They can be made to suit the exact colour of hardwood flooring that you are installing and can often be bought at the same time with the flooring itself. They are typically quite small in size and one advantage is that if one side of the flooring is lower or higher than the other, a reducing threshold can be used to smooth the transition. A reducing threshold is one which is higher on one side than the other to make up for the difference in height between the floors. Different heights can occur because of significant differences in thickness between one floor and another. For example, you may install a very thick hardwood floor in one room and a very thin tile floor in another. In this case, a reducing threshold is perfect and can be made to suit the gap.
Thresholds Made from Marble
if you have a marble floor installed in your bathroom and you have a pre-existing hardwood floor, marble flooring can elegantly transition between the two, evening out any height differences. The widths available for marble floor thresholds include four, five and six inches. These days, it is possible for the majority of stone fabricators to make thresholds to very closely match any colour of marble or granite floor. The profiles available for marble floors include both single and double bevels as well as eased edges. Marble thresholds can also be cut on site to suit the size of the doorway they are being fitted into and many readymade colours are available.
Considerations
it is entirely possible to buy readymade thresholds and attempt to fit them yourself. However, unless you really know what you are doing, for the most professional finish, it may be advisable to hire a trained professional to do the job.
