Why the step?

[aaronfude]

Hi,

What you are seeing here

is the entrance into my hose from my porch. What you see is a concrete step, then a wooden threshold about 2" high, and then the hardwood floor is the same level as the top of the concrete step.

What is the purpose of the threshold?

(My initial idea was for water protection, but then I realized that the porch is several feet above the ground and the concrete step is almost a foot tall, so that can't be it. Could it be that the door was the wrong height when it was originally bought?)

Thanks!

Aaron Fude

[sky]

[m Ransley]

So the door can make a tight seal, it will also help in a big rain, without it how would you get the bottom of the door to seal tight, or keep out mice and bugs. But the original description is an old English term, Thresh or grass was put on floors over dirt, and it kept the grass-thresh inside.

[Colbyt]

It also adds the 4th side to the pre-built ( pre-hung) box that frames the door. Without it the door frame would not hold the proper shape during transport and installation. The more expensive ones are also adjustable to compensate for minor variations encountered during installation or years later. It also raise the door so that carpet or wood flooring may be installed after the door unit with no trimming required.

[No]

Its to keep out rain and seal the door from drafts and air. Do not remove it. It looks nicely built.

[YYZedd]

Try heating/cooling your home without that seal.

[aaronfude]

Hi,

Thank you for all the answers. These are part of double doors. Thanks for the piano compliment (1893 Lester)

Protection from rain/grass and tightness was kind of my guess.

But the grass and rain are not a concern because the doors lead to a porch which is three feet off the ground and is enclosed.

As far as tightness. The reason why my question came up in the first place is that I'm planning on replacing the doors. I was thinking making the threshold not as high. It is currently 2" and I don't see why 1/2" wouldn't suffice.

Thanks again!

[kevin]

Everyone else is right. But 2'' is also a bit excessive, and is probably due to the nature of your foundation and a remarkably thick door frame threshold -- if the floor is resting directly on a concrete slab, and is say only 1" thick, then the bottom piece of the door frame would have to sit above the slab (and so must be about 3" or more thick, which seems like a lot). More likely, the door is sitting on top of the same subfloor that the wood floor is sitting on, giving you only about 1/2" pocket to set the treshold in -- which is normally plenty.

Our doors have a threshold about 1" high at most, even our slid> Hi,

[scott21230]

"But the grass and rain are not a concern because the doors lead to a porch which is three feet off the ground and is enclosed. "

That might not have always been the case.

[JimL]

I think it is to trip old people - and young people carrying a load of groceries.

I'd lower it to 3/4 inch max.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

How would you do that? You'd then have a gap at the bottom of the door to be filled. Sounds like a lot of extra work.

[aaronfude]

Well, I'm actually replacing the doors so I'm free to decide how high the threshold is.