I'm trying to replace some tiles, but the transition between the hardwood floor and tiles has caused me some trouble. The hardwood floor was installed sometime after the tiles, so the transition strips were on top of the tiles.
I broke apart and removed the old tiles, and was hoping I'd be able to simply (but carefully) pry up the transition strips, install the new tiles, and then put the transition strips back in place. Unfortunately, the transition strips seem to be attached to the rest of the floor somehow.
It feels almost like a tongue-and-groove connection, as I can't get the strip along that edge to come up more than maybe 1/32". That just is surprising to me, because it seems like it would be very complex and difficult to have a cut angle like that and still have a tongue-and-groove connection. I was expecting glue maybe, but because of the way it bends it doesn't feel like glue or epoxy. I can work it back and forth and it doesn't seem to weaken or give any more.
Using the pry bar, I haven't pushed it really hard yet, easing up as soon as I can feel the floor start to move a bit, as I'm trying not to break anything (yet). I also haven't tried putting anything between the strip and rest of the floor, as I'm fairly sure I'll damage the surface by doing so.
Before I go to the fully destructive option (and just replace these with new T-Strips or something), can anyone give me some insight into how these are attached? What would a profile view of this board look like?