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I am going to be installing hardwood flooring (Oak) on place of carpet. The wood will mate up with a schluter (sp?) strip with tile on other side.

After I remove the carpeting I see they have shims for the carpeting to match the tile height. Is it an accepted / recommended practice to shim the wood floor to reach the height of the tile ?

Would the ~1/4" shims create any problem for the wood floor long term ? Or should I install 1/4" plywood over entire floor to raise height? (I'm talking about 13 sheets single layer across entire floor)

I am not a big fan of transition pieces as they create a tripping hazard, but I do recognize that to be a solution.

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  • Could you add a picture of the transition area and a part of the room surrounding it? It would help determine if tapering the floor over a given distance is the right solution. But for now, I see no harm in tapering it out over an 8' run in all directions. That way it would be undetectable. One more question, the oak is 3/4" thick?
    – Jack
    Commented Mar 8, 2020 at 15:55
  • Oak is 3/4" thick. I can't get a picture at the moment as the carpet is sill down and we are in demo mode. I believe what you are saying is that you need about an 8' run so the new flooring does not bow and it becomes undetectable. These 2 doorways where I have this issue open to a living room / dining room from a foyer / kitchen.
    – B. Smith
    Commented Mar 8, 2020 at 17:21
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    I want to know our installer will work toward best solution. I think, to try and shim that much, it would be worth it to raise floor with 1/4" plywood everywhere.
    – B. Smith
    Commented Mar 8, 2020 at 17:28
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    "shims for the carpeting to match the tile height" I would like to see that. how does that work. Put a sub floor down that will give you the height you need.
    – Alaska Man
    Commented Mar 8, 2020 at 20:13
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    If you are leaving it to the installer, they will most likely not want to do tapered shims. But they surely should get your underlayment in place, since everything will be opened up to make it easy to do so.
    – Jack
    Commented Mar 8, 2020 at 20:25

2 Answers 2

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Either 'shim' up with subflooring that comes as thin as 1/8" or use self-leveling concrete. If you piecemeal the shimming then you're likely to get squeaks and other issues in your hardwood flooring

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The installers use some very thin shingles of all things to level things out. Very good job, very pleased. Wood floor is flush to the adjacent tile and slope is unnoticeable if I did not point it out. Great feedback from the community. Thank you

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  • Thanks for coming back with your experience. Would you add some details, and perhaps a picture or two? And, you can "accept" the best answer by clicking the checkmark.
    – Daniel Griscom
    Commented Aug 9, 2020 at 12:12

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