# Tile to Hardwood Transition



## Creter (Oct 13, 2009)

Phase One Project contains a kitchen/wet bar tile floor leading into the living room. The designer has the tile ending in a full tile along a straight line with a curve.

Similar to a lower case j

The next phase is going to be removal of carpet and installation of hardwood flooring.

Right now the designer is calling for a Schluter strip at the edge of the tile



What are your thoughts on this? 

Do you have a suggestion that would make more sense than the Schluter?


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## ohiohomedoctor (Dec 26, 2010)

Schluter trim and silicone.


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## angus242 (Oct 20, 2007)

Skip the trim and just have hardwood butt to tile with 1/8" gap. Silicon matched to grout color. 

In the interim, you can have carpet tucked to tile.


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## Creter (Oct 13, 2009)

angus242 said:


> Skip the trim and just have hardwood butt to tile with 1/8" gap. Silicon matched to grout color.
> 
> In the interim, you can have carpet tucked to tile.


Thank you Angus for reassuring to me what I wanted to do in the first place. :thumbup:


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## SuperiorHIP (Aug 15, 2010)

If possible I think its much cleaner with just tile butted to wood (as Angus said).


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## overanalyze (Dec 28, 2010)

All in favor of tile to wood butted and caulked?...I.


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## ccoffer (Jan 30, 2005)

Why not use Schluter? I don't get it.


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

ccoffer said:


> Why not use Schluter? I don't get it.


No exposed edge no need for profile.


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## ccoffer (Jan 30, 2005)

Inner10 said:


> No exposed edge no need for profile.


If tile meets a caulk joint, it's unsupported, which means there is very limited impact resistance. It's really no big deal to bend a piece of Sheine. Hell, you could do it one board at a time and use the wood to hold it into place and then grout the tile side. I suppose you could also just have the wood come a tad bit taller than the tile and it would be a moot point. Bending a little 1/4 inch batten around the tile would look pretty cool.


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## Bill_Vincent (Apr 6, 2005)

ccoffer said:


> Why not use Schluter? I don't get it.


Why add another material to the joint, when you can abutt one to the other and caulk it, for a much cleaner looking transition?


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## ccoffer (Jan 30, 2005)

Bill_Vincent said:


> Why add another material to the joint, when you can abutt one to the other and caulk it, for a much cleaner looking transition?



Because as I already wrote, a caulk joint does nothing to protect the edge of the tile. It's residential, so it's probably no big deal; but as a standard practice, something like sheine (or grout, more specifically) is supposed to be against the exposed edge of ceramic tile to keep it from spalling under impact. That's why the schluter profile was specified in the first place. That's what the stuff is for. It's not some decorative ornament. It serves a function. I like my idea of running a batten or even two around the arc to come off looking like a header. (like the header in your picture)


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## Bill_Vincent (Apr 6, 2005)

So long as you keep the two surfaces flush to each other, that's all the protection you need. The hardwood will do EXACTLY the same job as the L strip, without the intrusive look of the 3rd material.


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## ccoffer (Jan 30, 2005)

Bill_Vincent said:


> So long as you keep the two surfaces flush to each other, that's all the protection you need. The hardwood will do EXACTLY the same job as the L strip, without the intrusive look of the 3rd material.


There might be a universe where caulk and grout do "exactly" the same thing, but this one ain't it. It's mostly theoretical crap anyway. In residential situations that don't involve rolling traffic, it's a moot point.


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## Bill_Vincent (Apr 6, 2005)

On that, we'll agree. For commercial applications, I've yet to ever even see a REAL hardwood to tile transition, and if there were one, I'd think there would have to be some kind of "cap" transition, like a "T" molding-- otherwise there'd be a small void or gap between the strip and the hardwood, and if there IS no gap, then the installation isn't to spec, because there HAS to be room for expansion and contraction of the hardwood.


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## Floormasta78 (Apr 6, 2011)

Sorry that this is the only example I have of tile to Hardwood. I'll have a different one soon. But here was 1/16 filled Latiseal . No grout filler


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## dvatt (Apr 16, 2009)

Any concern for no expansion on the side you but the tile and hardwood up against?


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## GTBuilds (Aug 31, 2013)

I vote for Schluter, because it will give a more finished look to the transition. Otherwise, you're dealing with cut ends of hardwood planking, assuming the planks run perpendicular to the tile edge, which could look a little funky. 

The Schluter would also cover a small expansion joint. 

Do you have a drawing?


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## Jspence (Mar 10, 2013)

Color matched grout caulk does the trick


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## ArtisanRemod (Dec 25, 2012)

Jspence said:


> View attachment 100683
> 
> 
> Color matched grout caulk does the trick


It's my opinion that several of the pictured floors here have not allowed enough room for wood flooring expansion. I will usually suggest at least 3/8 if the wood runs parallel to the tile, depending on the width of the room. If a homeowner builder, designer, architect etc want less they have to sign off and i will run it their way. 
Lots of these floors will look good for a year or two but problems invariably pop up. I have fixed quite a few.


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## Jspence (Mar 10, 2013)

That's 3/16 expansion, never had a callback due to expansion problems in 5 years

3/8 expansion lol I'd have to shoe mold and baseboard on every install


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## ArtisanRemod (Dec 25, 2012)

You will sooner or later. The Nofma calls for 3/8" expansion agains immoveable objects for a reason.


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