Thresholds and floor option heights

[SuperJohnG]

Currently trying to bottom out flooring (house design is in for planning at the mo).

 

Options considered are:

Engineered wood

LVT (Amtico or similar)

Tiled

 

I have 130sqm to cover, which will be wet UFH, and whilst we originally wanted to keep it all the same pattern downstairs we may have different patterns, tiles etc in different areas, but I would think it will all be the same type. 

 

We have sort of discounted engineered wood as we have two young children and to be honest It'll just get scratched up with them and toys, and not taking shoes off and we are rural, dirt, grit etc. Hence currently weighing up tiles vs Amtico for costs vs benefits etc. More leaning towards Amtico as it is warm and comfortable underfoot, durable and forgiving and we can change patterns, types easily in different areas. Plus I like the idea of small joins compared to grout (we like herringbone style). 

 

House will be SIPS or TF and ground floor will be either an insulated passive raft or a normal strip founds with ground bearing slab and finished with a screed. 

 

For the past few days I have been considering about thresholds as we will have two sets of large sliders or bi folds and I would like low thresholds so we have no step to make the transition from inside/outside as seamless as possible. Now - I haven't figured out if I will go with tiles or Amtico, but as I believe it the build up heights would be drastically different with say 2.5-3.5mm for Amtico and maybe say 15-20mm for Tiles. 

 

I would imagine I need to specify which flooring I select quite early on, in order to get the door and thresholds correct and then stick to it? Also if I choose Amtico, I wouldn't really ever be able to change to tiles I assume as they would be too thick?

 

I am assuming if it is screed finish, it will be a more flexible approach as I can reduce screed thickness or increase at the time of pouring. But if it is a raft then I better get i right from the start?

 

Or am I worrying about nothing and there is any easy fix? anything I need to watch out for?

 

thanks for any input.

 

 

[Jenni]

Can't comment on the level threshold thoughts. But have you considered polished concrete?

We chose it as very hard wearing, wanted same throughout and minimal grout lines. It also saved a lot of ££££ over tiles. 

[nod]

Your correct about floor levels 

You do need to decide pretty early on 

If you go for one of the vinyls You will have to stick with it Where as if you go for tiles it does leave your options more open for other coverings Carpet Bamboo etc 

Easier to come up in height than go down 

[Simplysimon]

kits up, majority of windows and doors are temp in, i'm still asking what is wanted on the floor as i would like to fix doors to height for low thresholds 'i don't know' is the answer i keep getting. a lot of swearing under breath.

[Temp]

1 hour ago, SuperJohnG said:

We have sort of discounted engineered wood as we have two young children and to be honest It'll just get scratched up with them and toys, and not taking shoes off and we are rural, dirt, grit etc

 

I had the same concerns but went for it anyway. We are also rural location with twin boys about 5 years old when we finished the house. They are 18 now.

 

We went for engineered oak pre-finished with Osmo Hardwax oil and has stood up very well. We have only had to recoat the downstairs WC due to water damage. The only precaution we have taken is a rug in the entrance hall right by front dor. From there you walk through the the dining room to get to living room and kitchen. Hall and Dining room is engineered oak but kitchen is stone. We no longer worry about it and wear shoes when bringing in shopping etc.

 

 

 

[Jeremy Harris]

We opted for bamboo flooring.  Unbelievably tough and very scratch resistant.  I've been absolutely amazed at just how tough it is, as even when I've dropped tools on it it's never marked at all.  Being pre-finished, with some sort of super-tough finish, means that it needs no additional finishing.  I bonded it down using Sikabond, which has made for a very solid feeling floor.   Many people assume the flooring is oak when they first see it, as the look is similar.

[SuperJohnG]

56 minutes ago, Jenni said:

Can't comment on the level threshold thoughts. But have you considered polished concrete?

We chose it as very hard wearing, wanted same throughout and minimal grout lines. It also saved a lot of ££££ over tiles. 

@Jenni I quite like the polished floors and especially some with the aggregates through them but the better half of us is not a fan unfortunately 

[SuperJohnG]

35 minutes ago, Temp said:

 

I had the same concerns but went for it anyway. We are also rural location with twin boys about 5 years old when we finished the house. They are 18 now.

 

We went for engineered oak pre-finished with Osmo Hardwax oil and has stood up very well. We have only had to recoat the downstairs WC due to water damage. The only precaution we have taken is a rug in the entrance hall right by front dor. From there you walk through the the dining room to get to living room and kitchen. Hall and Dining room is engineered oak but kitchen is stone. We no longer worry about it and wear shoes when bringing in shopping etc.

 

 

 

@Temp that's interesting thanks. We had assumed it would just not last the distance and I didnt fancy treating it or refinishing it every few years.

51 minutes ago, nod said:

Your correct about floor levels 

You do need to decide pretty early on 

If you go for one of the vinyls You will have to stick with it Where as if you go for tiles it does leave your options more open for other coverings Carpet Bamboo etc 

Easier to come up in height than go down 

@nodThanks I think that's the reason the LVT is giving me concern is being unable to change in case we didnt like it. I have ordered some samples and planning in doing my current porch and WC in LVT and living with it for 6 months to ensure we like it. 

[Russdl]

@SuperJohnG It really is worth giving your flooring and threshold heights significant thought before committing. We knew all along that we would have tiles by the kitchen sliding door, back and front doors and carpet by the living room sliding door. What I’d failed to spot on the final drawings was that all the thresholds were shown as 30mm above the slab. 
 

We were after exactly what you’re after, a level transition from inside to out and 30mm is too much to achieve that with tiles. To achieve what we wanted has cost a fair few £££ in self leveling compound, way more than if the thresholds had been, say, 20mm above the slab. 
 

(We have a raft foundation and the levels are pretty accurate throughout)

[SuperJohnG]

3 minutes ago, Russdl said:

@SuperJohnG It really is worth giving your flooring and threshold heights significant thought before committing. We knew all along that we would have tiles by the kitchen sliding door, back and front doors and carpet by the living room sliding door. What I’d failed to spot on the final drawings was that all the thresholds were shown as 30mm above the slab. 
 

We were after exactly what you’re after, a level transition from inside to out and 30mm is too much to achieve that with tiles. To achieve what we wanted has cost a fair few £££ in self leveling compound, way more than if the thresholds had been, say, 20mm above the slab. 
 

(We have a raft foundation and the levels are pretty accurate throughout)

Thanks @Russdl. Good to know I'm going the right direction figuring it out just now. One thing I was concerned about was how low I can get thresholds from the door suppliers, some only seem to go to 15mm  from floor level,which wouldn't be ideal with amtico as there would still be a step. Did you have to set your thresholds into the raft?  Is that even possible? 

[Big Jimbo]

Also be aware that doors that open either in or out, in pvc or aluminium will effectively have different threshold heights even when using the same frame profile.

[nod]

7 hours ago, SuperJohnG said:

@Temp that's interesting thanks. We had assumed it would just not last the distance and I didnt fancy treating it or refinishing it every few years.

@nodThanks I think that's the reason the LVT is giving me concern is being unable to change in case we didnt like it. I have ordered some samples and planning in doing my current porch and WC in LVT and living with it for 6 months to ensure we like it. 

I’m a tiling contractor but my wife had all types of floor covering samples covering the lounge floor for at least six months 

It’s a big decision 

Short of putting carpet down you are pretty much struck with your choice 

 

We had tiles to our kitchen and hallway at our previous home 

Definitely wouldn’t had hard flooring right through 

Like you we have UFH at the new house which gave us more options 

[Russdl]

@SuperJohnG The thresholds of our doors were of various depths, 3 of them significantly deeper than 30mm.

 

Prior to the slab being poured wooden formers were made to provide the required depth in the finished concrete to ensure that once the doors were dropped into these depressions then the threshold would be 30mm above the finished floor level. Which was too high. It would have been incredible simple and free to make those depressions 10-15mm deeper, not  doing so cost hundreds of pounds. Twas my fault, I didn't check the drawings closely enough until I saw the problem, by then it was way too late.

 

 

[SuperJohnG]

1 hour ago, nod said:

Definitely wouldn’t had hard flooring right through 

Like you we have UFH at the new house which gave us more options 

@nod any reason you wouldn't have hard flooring throughout? 

 

We have a second lounge which we might consider a carpet for but a big rug might just be fine. 

[SuperJohnG]

3 minutes ago, Russdl said:

@SuperJohnG The thresholds of our doors were of various depths, 3 of them significantly deeper than 30mm.

 

Prior to the slab being poured wooden formers were made to provide the required depth in the finished concrete to ensure that once the doors were dropped into these depressions then the threshold would be 30mm above the finished floor level. Which was too high. It would have been incredible simple and free to make those depressions 10-15mm deeper, not  doing so cost hundreds of pounds. Twas my fault, I didn't check the drawings closely enough until I saw the problem, by then it was way too late.

 

 

@Russdl that's great info, very helpful.

[nod]

Back at the old house it would have been to cold 

At the new house we have 156

of Italian Porcelain Lovely under foot with UFH 

[Oz07]

Allow for tile height you can always make a small ramp internally out of some 4x1 to please building control if you go lvt. Don't want it to tight anyway nice to have a matt behind door

[Simplysimon]

11 hours ago, Oz07 said:

Don't want it to tight anyway nice to have a matt behind door

or just ensure all your doors open outwards, that's what i did.

[SuperJohnG]

1 hour ago, Simplysimon said:

or just ensure all your doors open outwards, that's what i did.

My dad fancied that years ago. But just seemed a little mental to me. 

 

I had planned to put in wells for mats.

[Simplysimon]

 

18 hours ago, SuperJohnG said:

My dad fancied that years ago. But just seemed a little mental to me. 

 

I had planned to put in wells for mats.

wind blows the doors closed and the seals tighter

[Jeremy Harris]

7 minutes ago, Simplysimon said:

 

wind blows the doors closed and the seals tighter

 

 

Only about half the time, perhaps, or maybe only on the upwind side of the house.  The suction effect on the downwind side of a house seems to be very powerful, enough to cause the outward opening window seals on the house we owned in Scotland to make some very loud farting noises as they were blown open.