The Spruce / Ellen Lindner
In a perfect world, your flooring would flow seamlessly from room to room.
Hardwood flooring, for example, would flow continuously from living room to bedroom to kitchen to bathroom.
What is a Transition Strip?
The Spruce / Ellen Lindner
Transition strips accommodate the transition from one jot down of flooring to another.
But a transition usually is a better option.
For one thing, seams are often incorporated between rooms of like materials to provide for expansion and contraction.
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A transition strip covers the expansion gap for each material.
For laminate flooring, for example, you might purchase hardwood transition strips that look just like your laminate.
There are full and half saddle transitions.
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A common utility for saddle transitions is connecting wood and tile floors.
The adjoining ceramic tile butts up against this aluminum track but does not attach to it.
Typically, this is 2" wide.
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These are between 2 inches and 5 inches, often leaning towards the larger end.
Tile-to-Laminate Transition
This transition strip is designed for joining alaminate floorto a tile floor.
This transition strip features molding with offset grooves to match the differing thicknesses of the flooring.
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Because it is attached to neither floor, each floor can expand and contract without cracking the transition strip.
Seam binders are available in different widths.
Most are sold unfinished, so you could stain them to match your flooring.
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In almost every case, vinyl will be lower than laminate.
These are usually 2 inches to 5 inches wide.
The hardwood strip is left unfinished, so you could stain or paint it to match your flooring.
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It is used to transition to any adjoining surface that lies lower than the carpet.
An edge gripper is installed by being tacked tothe subfloor.
Not all types of transition strips are installed the same.
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These are installed before baseboards and at the same time as the other flooring.
You could also use an alternative material, like marble.
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