Question:
What do I use when hardwood flooring butts up to carpeting?
Thanks for your help.
Richard
Answer:
Dear Richard
The idea is not to have the end butts of the hardwood floor strips come up against any type of other floor. You need to lay what we call a header piece at the doorway, that is at right angles to the run of the hardwood floor. This way the carpet can be tucked under or neatly up to the straight header piece. And in some cases this header piece can be a tapered reducer strip if the carpet is quite a bit lower.
The header floor piece has to be installed as you work your way up to that doorway. And it will be locked in with the tongue or the groove depending on which way the floor is running. You will have to face nail this piece, but if it is prefinished floor try to place the nails holes in a dark grain, and fill with a colored latex filler. If you have already installed the floor by know, let me know, and tell me just what type of hardwood this is. I should be able to talk you though a method to neatly trim these rough ends and install a header.