What should I use to transition from tiles to hard wood floor?

Question

There's currently some kind of solid filling between the tiles in my kitchen and the hard wood in my living room. During the summer when it gets hot and humid, the hard wood expand and cracks the solid filling. After a couple of years, there's not much left of the filling. Here's how it looks:

That filling is also used to connect hard floor from living room to my bedroom:

What should I use to re-fill those gaps so that when summer come, the filling doesn't crack and break? I'm fairly new to DIY, so links to the mats and tools needed are much appreciated.

Answer 1

If you don't want to use a transition, you could consider using a sanded caulk on the wood to tile spot; that will have some give in it. I used that between ceramic tile and wood, and it worked well.

If that still has too much movement, a silicone should work, but it likely won't look as nice.

Answer 2

You want to look for pieces called hardwood flooring transitions. They can either be "T" pieces, reducers, or threshold pieces. Here are some examples:

Answer 3

That is an expansion joint and it must be filled with a flexible material. The proper choice is a foam backer road topped with 100% silicone sealant. You can color match the silicone to the grout to hide the seam.