Transition between uneven floor; reducer is wobbly

Question

sorry if it's a stupid question. I self-installed some laminate and the flooring manufacturer provided some reducer transitions. I have two doorways where the new floor meets vinyl plank tile I am installing. There is about a 3 mm height difference, but the reducer is meant for a greater difference, and the height difference is also too great for a T transition. Any suggestions of what to do here?

TL;DR, floors are too uneven for T transition, not uneven enough for reducer.

Additional info: I am not equipped with the tools to manufacture my own custom transition, so if that's your solution please advise where I can get someone to do this for me! Thanks!

Answer 1

This is a quite common scenario. I ran the reducer thru a table saw to take off a bit of its thickness. I tape it before cutting to minimize the chipping of the top coat.

I would be also interested in knowing how others deal with this because cutting this reducer isn't easy at all and I have broken a few in the process.

Answer 2

It just doesn't fit! I would suggest you measure every dimension of that transition very carefully, and make a rough profile drawing (pretty much exactly like your picture) to record what you measure. Take your drawing to some of the big box stores and possibly some specialty flooring places too, and see if you can match anything up (a caliper might be helpful). Those transitions are really tricky to deal with, so you might need to get creative.

You could try something like this:

this will span the gap and handle the reduction, but you'll need some sort of shim to support it. For that, it might be possible to get a wood strip that fits in the gap area, or you could look for some sort of rigid, dense foam that you can cut with a knife.

The best solution is to find something that you like and that is close to fitting (what you have pictured would work perfectly) and cut it to size using either a table saw or a routing table. Of course, you'll either need to own the tool or have access to one somewhere. Both will require some feather boards and guides to get a clean and safe cut, but this way you are guaranteed a good fit.