French Door Sill question

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Stevev967

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Joined
Jan 4, 2022
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7
Location
Ct
My daughter has a house where they installed some used French doors, 2x6 construction. The French Doors both have a metal sill that sticks into the room about 3" and is tapered down at an angle to about 5/8".
They have old Hardwood that they don't want to rip up in some areas because the subfloor is old 3/4" plank and they feel leaving the existing wood will add stability. They are going to install vinyl planking on top of it.

The question is, the 3/4" flooring is already higher than the low part of the metal sill. How do you handle this? Do we just make a wood filler to put on top of the sill, so that it matches the height of the hardwood, then the Vinyl can go right up to the door, or do I need to somehow replace the entire sill with one that doesn't have this metal inside?
 

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We wouldn't want to cover the hardwood.... would we?
ie: possible moisture buildup.

This is a real possibility. When faced with the cost of demo and installation of new plywood, coupled with the marketing of floating floors being able to be installed over just about anything, it usually doesn’t get much thought.

Another common mistake I see all the time is the lack of a vapor barrier being sold and used when a ‘waterproof’ floor is installed over a concrete slab.
 
I wonder if those doors were turned around if the threshold would bump right up to the hardwood or at least close enough that a piece of trim would cover the gap. Then again maybe whoever installed them didn’t think to shim the whole thing up and so maybe the doors hit the hardwood when opening in which is why they were turned around the wrong way.

Or who knows, maybe those are French doors that are installed as interior doors between a couple rooms. If that’s the case then you could remove the metal threshold all together.
 
They do have patio doors which are designed to swing outward, but they have a double hinge plate to allow the doors to swing outward, farther than the 90 degrees allowable. My patio doors swing inside, and allows my LVP to butt up with small color match moulding. By the way, that cut out in the screen was to allow my pup to go outside. Since she is gone, I need to rescreen it.
 

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They do have patio doors which are designed to swing outward, but they have a double hinge plate to allow the doors to swing outward, farther than the 90 degrees allowable. My patio doors swing inside, and allows my LVP to butt up with small color match moulding. By the way, that cut out in the screen was to allow my pup to go outside. Since she is gone, I need to rescreen it.
Have basically the same set up formy pup only I took the whole screen out and put plexiglass on the frame work so I can keep it open in the winter when it is colder than a whores heart.. We go from heat to air anyway so the screen isn't much use to us.
 
I wonder if those doors were turned around if the threshold would bump right up to the hardwood or at least close enough that a piece of trim would cover the gap. Then again maybe whoever installed them didn’t think to shim the whole thing up and so maybe the doors hit the hardwood when opening in which is why they were turned around the wrong way.

Or who knows, maybe those are French doors that are installed as interior doors between a couple rooms. If that’s the case then you could remove the metal threshold all together.
Valid question, but there is a metal sill on the other side as well. It's flatter than the one on the inside. I'll try and post a picture. Being that there is metal as the sill I don't think they are interior.
 
Fill in the gap between the existing floor and the sill then install your new floor up to the door but leave enough room to finish it off with a reducer.
I'll look at a reducer, that could work.
 

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Valid question, but there is a metal sill on the other side as well. It's flatter than the one on the inside. I'll try and post a picture. Being that there is metal as the sill I don't think they are interior.
Sorry, not a great picture, but you can see how this Sill is setup.
 

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Seems those doors were installed backwards. The sill plate is designed to direct water away from the opening.
Here is picture of the Sill. I don't believe they weren't installed backwards. There is an angled Sill plate on the outside as well, flatter and only about 1/4" thick. If it were on the inside the doors wouldn't open because any finished floor would be too high, since the doors barely clear this.
 

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Well, you bring up a point not considered, but wouldn't the same hold true for just over the subfloor?
Solid hardwood is a different animal than subfloor material.
If you have or have ever had a wooden deck you've probably noticed the gap change between the boards from summer to winter.
The change can be considerable, and depending on spacing the gap can be totally closed up in the winter time if it's wet all winter. In the summer there might be a 3/8" gap or more. That could be 1/4 to 1/2-in per foot of material.
The solid wood floor doesn't start out with a gap that can accept hardly any swelling. A new vinyl type floor would allow hardly any moisture to migrate up through it.
The distance between the ground and the subfloor would be a consideration and also whether or not the dirt is covere up well with plastic moisture barrier to keep moisture from migrating up under the house.
How well the ground is sealed up with the moisture barrier might be the biggest issue.
I just thought this is something better brought up now than later.
 

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