Caulking Vinyl Plank at the room threshold - See Pix

[Dave Alan]

Hi,

In this 100 year old house that has a good subfloor... I am about to lay down this vinyl plank floating floor that according to the manufacturer needs 1/4" expansion space at the floor edges (for future fluctuations in temperature and humidity). Most of the floor edging would have quarter-round and the flr could slide under that. However, this is the area of concern, how to leave 1/4" space here at the threshold area and yet make it look good. One person recommended that for just here, with the 1/4" space to carefully caulk it with color matching caulk. I am not sure if this is a valid solution as if the floor expands if it gets hot in the summer, will the caulking here compress? Any one know a solution? I could use a T joint for the threshold itself but that will not look good and will stick up. Below see the lighter wood floor, that is where I will lay the vinyl planks. Green arrows point to where the 1/4" spacing would be for the soon to be placed vinyl plank floating flr.

Thanks! Dave

 

[Floorist]

If you are good at woodworking, you could under cut one side and cut the top off the other side so they would slide together.

 

[Dave Alan]

Hi Floorist,
You mean angle raise the threshold up on the vinyl plank side and cut a 1/4" groove in the threshold so that the vinyl plank could slide in the groove? Use a router for this? And what are your thoughts about the caulking approach idea?
Much thanks
Dave

 

[Floorist]

Caulking won't last very long. You won't need to cut a grove. Just undercut one side and over cut the other and they will slide together.

 

[Dave Alan]

OK, no router and no caulking.

Undercut one side and over cut the other side, I am not sure what that means. If you could give more detail about that it would be helpful.

 

[Floorist]

Similar to this. Sorry for the crappy picture, did it in paint.

 

[Dave Alan]

Thank you, you definitely made it sufficiently clear. Again floating vinyl plank floor, they are rather heavy even though they are 1/4" thick. I would need a router for this, yes? Thank you!
Dave

 

[highup]

What is the brand and name of the planking that you have? I'm assuming it's a fairly rigid click together product.
If there is no up and down flexing of the floor when you step in that area it might be possible to just go ahead and caulk it with a color match caulking. Latitude makes caulking that's color matched to grout. They also make it in silicone. It's a very good silicone. Probably 20 bucks per tube maybe a tiny bit more.
If the caulking option fails maybe then you can resort to the T-mold.

 

[Don Monfils]

In your pic ,you have green arrows pointing to the door trim. This should be undercut, so the floor slips underneath.

 

[Dave Alan]

Highup and Don. Both you guys and Floorist. Really appreciate you helping me with this 10'x12' room. Just want to do a good practical and visually pleasing job.

Don
Thank you for the undercutting of the door trim solution part.

Highup
Here is the 1/4" floating interlocking Lifeproof Vinyl plank I bought. $3.19/sq foot. Lifeproof Fresh Oak 8.7 in. W x 47.6 in. L Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring (20.06 sq. ft. / case)-I96711L - The Home Depot
Here is a graphic of the room w/ the future vinyl planks. Note the fridge is heavy but will not directly influence the planks at the threshold. So with the caulking on just the threshold portion, if the related planking needs to expand, it will expand towards the opposite side of the room, that is my understanding...? The majority of the room will have quarter round that the vinyl planks can expand/ contract under.

Best,
Dave

 

[Mark Brown]

So... am I the only one here who would just say go for it and tight cut a three foot threshold? Maybe I like to gamble a little too much but something like that I typically butt up to and go for it.
Just for the record i know it is wrong, but what can i do.

 

[highup]

Like usual, I wasn't paying enough attention in your initial question. I was thinking that you had already installed part of the floor in the photo.
When you install this floor will it be exactly the height of the wood floor, higher or lower?

 

[Dave Alan]

Hi Highup. The present light colored kitchen floor is the same height as the existing threshold and the same height as the red hardwood floor in the hallway. If I install the vinyl plank on top of the existing light colored kitchen floor, the new kitchen flr height will be 1/4" higher than it is now. I figure on angling the existing threshold up to match the new kitchen floor height.

 

[Mark Brown]

oh hell, if you are making it just put a lip on it, bevel it off and call it done. I would do that =)

 

[Dave Alan]

Hi Mark, I have the threshold which I can adjust. What do you mean put a lip on it and bevel it off?
Thanks!

 

[Mark Brown]

under cut it on the bottom, put a rounded edge on the side that hangs over the plank and bevel it. Im bad st explaining sometimes lol

 

[Dave Alan]

You are saying like this? The notch would have to be starting like a 1/4" inch down right? There has to be some substance above or when stepped on it would break off right over time right?

 

[Mark Brown]

Thats the one boss.
What did you need us for again

There really is no amazing way to finish floating plank, it is most of the reason i hate prefab things. There are a lot of decent and acceptable ways but it falls short of amazing.

 

[C.J.]

What am I missing here. The entire floor is currently the same elevation right? No different than if you were laying LVP on a concrete slab and you had to finish it off somewhere. A MPR should sit perfectly without having to angle it. Undercut the casing and just nibble into the jamb, install planks then install reducer in the jamb where it should go as if a door was there. The floor will be installed up to the header board and the transition will actually be sitting on the header board in the jamb.

 

[Mark Brown]

I made the assumption that the header was desired. I think maybe you are not missing anything lol