OT: (Maybe) Hardwood floors

[SonomaProducts.com]

Thought I would ask here first but if someone can point me to a better forum that is a good answer also.

Designer convinced me to do hardwood floors all through main part of house. Has carpet and linoleum now. I will also replace all interior doors and front door with new pre-hungs. I am a furniture guy not a construction guy so haven't done some of thes ops.

1. Do interior door jambs sit on top of hardwood?
2. Where hardwood hallway meets carpeted bedroom, should hardwood extend full depth of jamb and transition to carpet take place at inside face of jamb in bedroom?
3. Doing built-in book case\desk along one wall in living room. Should they sit on subfloor or on hardwood.
4. In Kitchen, I have decent cabs, is it OK to leave them in place and just run new floor up to them?

[Luigi Zanasi]

Good, smart designer!

Bear in mind that hardwood floors will last 50+ years. In the house I grew up in Montreal, they were installed in 1930 and are still fine.

I would put them on top, it's a PITA otherwise: You need to make a very clean cut as you can't cover the joint with quarter round or shoe moulding. You'll be replacing the jambs anyway, so it's not a big deal. You might have to cut down the doors & jambs depending on how the opening is framed, but that is not hard.

Yes.

Hardwood, in case you or somebody else decides to remove or rebuild the built-ins.

I would remove & put the cabinets back on top of the floor. this is even more of an issue than with your built-ins as the kitchen cabinets are sure to last less time than the hardwood.

This is my advice, YMMV, and is worth exactly what you paid for it.

Luigi

[FrozenNorth]

Yes, undercut, or replace as necessary.

This is probably more aesthetic than anything, but what you are suggesting sounds good.

Yes, hardwood underneath.

What kind of counter/backsplash have you got? Ideally it should be underneath, but if you have a solid surface top, tile backsplash etc, it may be too much hassle/money. The problem may rear its ugly head when you or the next owner of the house decide to redo the kichen, are they at least stock sizes?

Just my 2 cents.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I'd be far less concerned about a kitchen remodel 20 years from now than a dishwasher repair next week. Be sure you can get it out.

[PDQ]

In = news: [e-mail], SonomaProducts.com dropped this bit of wisdom:

Yes

Should meet "under the door" if you go to either end of the jambs, it = will not look right. At least that is what happened to me. And it = still looks wrong!

If you can, put the book case on top of the hardwood. Looks better and = is easier to fit.

That is usually the way it is done. I did mine the other way -- pulled = the base cabinets. I like that look and it was easier to install the = hardwood.

From my point of view, it may take a little longer (?) but the finished = look is worth the effort.

P D Q

[dadiOH]

Normally, yes. I know of no law that requires it but it is easiest that way. Probably unnecessary but it can't hurt to bevel the bottom of the jamb so the visible edge meets the floor well. _________

Better that than the reverse but I like transitions under the door. ___________

Hardwood _________

I see nothing wrong with doing so, mine are that way although floor is tile rather than wood.

Someone mentioned the possibility of new cabinets in the future and voted for flooring under "just in case"...I can't see that as a reason as new cabinets should fit in the same space as the old; if not, ripping off a narrow strip of floor or adding a thicker kick plate would fix any discrepancy.

Someone mentioned dishwashers too...a valid concern as you need enough distance between new floor and cab bottom to get the dishwasher in/out.

I have never put flooring under a dishwasher (my places have always been slab floor). I *do* put flooring under the front edge of the dishwasher, not quite up to where the front feet will rest, for appearance and put strips of wood from that flooring to the wall to rest the washer on.

[Phisherman]

Yes, the jambs sit on top of the floor.

Half way under the door is ideal. But either way is acceptable.

On hardwood.

Yes. You can run the floor under the kickplates. I would not recommend a hardwood floor in the kitchen, though. If you must, buy a few battery operated water alarms, they are very inexpensive and can save the floor.

[Andrew Barss]

: 1. Do interior door jambs sit on top of hardwood?

Yes, also on top of laminate floors. If you're installing new jambs, no problem. If you have current jambs you want to keep, undercut them neatly with a jamb saw, and slide the flooring underneath. Use a scrap of flooring, plus whatever underlayment you're using, to calculate height, then cut and see if the height was correct.

You can get a handsaw that will do this, but I recommend a power jamb saw -- like a cross between a router and a circular saw (circular saw blade, about 5" diameter, at the end of a motor arbor with height adjustment). Fast, and easy to use. They're rentable (I got mine at Home Depot rental center, $19 for four hours, $26 for a day).

-- Andy Barss

[HeyBub]

Just as good is a Harbor Freight Multifunction tool (on sale this week for $34.95).

I've used just about everything the amateur DIY has: Dremel, offset jamb saw, angle grinder, cross-cut saw, remove the molding, and nothing even comes close to the accuracy or ease-of-use that's to be had with a multifunction tool.

[SonomaProducts.com]

Wow!!! Thanks everyone. Great responses and very helpful.

If I make the carpet and HW meet under the door, what happens to the jamb at the floor? Do I notch it down the the sub on the carpet side?

Great catch on the dishwasher. That is exactly the type of disaster I usually create with these things. I could just see myself sawzalling apart the old dishwasher to get it out when it fails a week after I finish the floor.

The cabs have a crappy laminate counter top that I am going to replace and it has the splash on it with no tile splash or anything so I think I could easily pull the cabs and put them back in an inch higher. Maybe I'll just lay the HW a few inches under the front edge and fill in with ply as needed for a solid footing.

Now that it was menti> Thought I would ask here first but if someone can point me to a better

[HeyBub]

Depends on where the wood stops and the carpet begins. Obviously the interior jamb is not notched, since there's no wood under it. So, then, you notch as far as the wood goes, then put in a transition piece. Most will install the wood completely under the door so the carpet cannot be seen from the hall.

Heh! I used a cheap (thin) laminate for a couple of guest bedrooms. I had some left over, so I used the remnants for the kitchen countertops and backsplash. Looks like butcher-block and turned out swell.

[krw]

I had bamboo installed in my previous house. The installer didn't run the floor under the bedroom door so a strip of carpet showed when the door was closed. It really looked dumb. Lesson learned; DIY.

Um, back splashes aren't supposed to swell. ;-)

I was going to use the leftover bamboo for work benches, but sold the house and moved. I left the bamboo (a couple of boxes), along with spare tile for all the bathrooms, laundry, and closets for the new owners neatly marked in the basement. Oh, spare carpet too (it was new). I wish the builder of this house had done the same. :-(

[Leon]

Depends on how the house was built. Slab foundation, typically the jam is there before the final floor is put down and the jam is under cut the the thickness of the floor being installed. There is a special saw for this that you can rent or you can lay a sample of the floor new flooring next to the jam and use a Multimaster type tool to cut the jam bottom using the flooring as a height guide.

When I remodeled out master bath, I pulled carpet out that led to the bedroom and put down an engeneered maple wood floor in the MB. I left the carpet and wood floor just shy of the center of the jamb. I made a maple threshold to cover the transition.

I have done it both ways. If you put it on the sub floor you have less floor to put down.

That is what I did 20 years later in my kitchen. I have had a reason to wish I had done it differently. Again, less materials to install.

If in the future the cabinets are to be replaced the new cabinets will have to be an exact fit or set on new floor and shimmed in the back.

Now if your new floor is 2" thick, you may want to put the cabinets up higher. ;~)

[Mike O.]

If the new doors will fit in the framing, after the new floor is installed, that IMO is your best option. If they won't, you have to decide whether it's easier for you to cut the jambs and the new doors shorter (so they can be installed on top of the new floor) or is it easier to under cut the jambs and install the doors first. One thing to remember here is that if you set your door jambs on top of the new floor, if that area of the floor (between you jamb legs) is not level, you will have to raise one jamb side to get the jamb header level. In that case, one leg will no longer be setting on the new floor. If it's only off a 1/16" or so it won't be noticeable but if it's off 1/4" it will.

Halfway under door.

Probably easier if they set on the new hardwood. You will probably need to use base shoe either way but if the bookcase has a toe space, it's pretty hard to run the flooring in that toe area and you will have to cut around the new cabinets.

Depending on the thickness of the floor, the dishwasher may not come out. Lay a few pieces of the new floor in front of the dishwasher and see if you can still get it out. If you don't have other complications, like changing the backsplash, replacing tops, or maybe a tall pantry cabinet which will make you move the uppers too, it's always better to re-set the lowers.

Mike O.