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Imagine I have two rooms connected by a doorway (no door). You start setting hardwood in both of them independently but at the same side. After X rows of hardwood, you will reach the doorway from either room and then you will need to join the two independently started sets of rows.

The problem is, except for of some geometrically perfect house and 100% perfect row setting with no gaps, it is highly unlikely that the row sets from the two room will line up so that, when they do, you can join them with a single piece.

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One solution I was thinking of is to introduce some kind of divider WHICH I WANT TO BE FLUSH WITH THE FLOOR (so no aluminum dividers), which would delimit the two row sets and eliminate the need to have them line up. Is there something like a 6" wide maple (which is what my flooring is) threshold that is 3/4" thick so that it is flush with the floor and looks like a projection of the doorway jamb on the floor?

If such a piece is unavailable, I was thinking to makeshift my own out of 3 strips of hardwood where the one in the center would be whole (tongue and groove), and the two facing out would have the tongue and the groove respectively ripped off so as to join the center piece but be square at the edges where they would be meeting rows of regular hardwood on either end.

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Yet another thing to do would be to not start room 2 until I reach the doorway from room 1, then set one binding strip and work back room 2 from there but that would involve rotating the tongue-groove position which is moderately PIA but it can be done with spline and wood glue (done it once already, don't ask me why).

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    I think you answered your own question!
    – shirlock homes
    Commented Mar 13, 2014 at 21:19
  • you think a threshold is the way to go ?
    – amphibient
    Commented Mar 13, 2014 at 21:21
  • An actual threshold would be a bit higher than the floor. So what you described by cutting stock is a good answer. Just be sure to back cut the angle slightly ( 2 to 3 degrees) on both the transition piece and the perpendicular floor boards so they will fit nice and tight.
    – shirlock homes
    Commented Mar 13, 2014 at 21:32
  • BTW, they do make lots of pre-finished thresholds, but they all are raised and overlap the flooring.
    – shirlock homes
    Commented Mar 13, 2014 at 21:34
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    i use 1.5" staples out of a hardwood nailer wherever it can fit, otherwise shoot it with a trim nailer from the top near the walls. when i had to flip the tongue-groove position, i used a spline with some wood glue to make a tongue out of a groove
    – amphibient
    Commented Mar 13, 2014 at 21:46

2 Answers 2

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I think your plan is good. I use a metal L to do my transitions like this. You have to figure out where you want your "perpendicular threshold" boards to start and screw in the Ls on each side. This way you can start at the doorway and jam the boards against the L. This will give you a nice straight line. I have also left the Ls in some transitions and it gives a really cool look. But if you don't want them then take it out after your surrounding rooms are done and nail in your threshold area last.

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When I had to get two separately laied areas to meet up, I tapered several rows of boards (cutting new grooves on a router) to ease them into alignment.

For the exact issue you post, I sighted throughnthe doorway first and worked tongue-first frommthere to one wall and groove-first to the opposite wall. You don't hqve to start at one wall, you know.

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