Tiles under door opening

[Stones]

We've hit a minor snag. Unfortunately, the external doors we have (Rationel Auraplus) fitted do not have enough adjustment to open over our proposed tile floor covering. Having laid tiles direct onto the concrete slab at the door openings, the doors, when fully adjusted only just clear the tiles (less than a mm I would say).  Assuming a 2 mm bed of adhesive that means I either have to reduce the height of the slab by a couple of mm in the relevant area, or abandon tiles and form a mat well.

 

How easy is it to grind or polish off a small area of concrete, say 2mm depth?

 

My concern is that even if we did this, the door would still only just clear the finished tile surface and be susceptible to getting caught on grit etc.

 

Anyone faced a similar situation? What did you do? Any other ideas welcome!

[Ferdinand]

Considered rising butt hinges? Perhaps not applicable. 

 

That may help to minimise the area of adjustment to your slab.

Edited January 19, 2017 by Ferdinand

[Temp]

Never used one but seems you can rent a concrete grinder..

 

http://www.jewson.co.uk/tool-hire/concrete-cutting-equipment/floor-preparation/products/2045/floor-grinder-110v/

 

"For floor preparation and refurbishment work i.e. line removal, concrete level reduction, paint removal"

 

 

[Temp]

or perhaps pay someone to do it for you?..

http://nationwidediamondgroup.co.uk/concrete-grinding/

 

There are probably videos on youtube.

[Temp]

Perhaps take it down more like 5-6mm to give some clearance. Perhaps add a brush strip so any small stones are swept out of the way when door opened?

[ProDave]

Thinner tile just for the entrance area, and pretend you always intended to do that?
 

[Nickfromwales]

What is the detail of the bottom of the door? E.g. Distance to seal? I've planed the underside of upvc doors before to lose ( gain ) 3-4mm. 

Mother alternative is resin or Amtico / Karndean for that area with smoothing compound used to pitch the floor upward to meet your intended covering. 

[AliG]

I'm a fan of Amtico/Karndean if you can get something that you like. Much thinner than tiles. Depending on the pattern some looks fake, some doesn't.

 

I wouldn't leave just 2mm, grit will get dragged across the tiles and ruin them. I would think you could grind 5/6mm away without too much bother, of course once you've started you could consider polishing the whole floor instead of tiles.

 

Or, could you put a door matt fitted into the tiles, I have been thinking of doing this in some areas as the tiles can get quite messy. If you leave an area untiled and have a matt cut to fit it would probably look like that was how it was always supposed to be. Depends on the use of the room, decor etc.

 

Edited January 19, 2017 by AliG

[Declan52]

Had the same issue in my last house and I put metal washers on the hinge so they lifted the door up. You need to find a washer with a big enough hole to slide over the finger on the hinge but not stick way out so is noticeable. Only way I had round it as door was fully adjusted up and was no good.

[Stones]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

Considered rising butt hinges? Perhaps not applicable. 

 

That may help to minimise the area of adjustment to your slab.

 

The door already has hinges which adjust the height.  We adjusted them to their maximum extent earlier today  - just not enough unfortunately.

 

1 hour ago, Temp said:

Never used one but seems you can rent a concrete grinder..

 

http://www.jewson.co.uk/tool-hire/concrete-cutting-equipment/floor-preparation/products/2045/floor-grinder-110v/

 

"For floor preparation and refurbishment work i.e. line removal, concrete level reduction, paint removal"

 

 

 

I think my builder has something that will do the job. I was just interested to see if anyone had done it themselves.  I've watched a few You Tube videos and with the right gear seems straightforward enough.

 

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

Thinner tile just for the entrance area, and pretend you always intended to do that?
 

 

That would be the obvious solution, but I have been told in no uncertain terms, that there will not be any change in the choice of tile...

 

1 hour ago, Nickfromwales said:

What is the detail of the bottom of the door? E.g. Distance to seal? I've planed the underside of upvc doors before to lose ( gain ) 3-4mm. 

Mother alternative is resin or Amtico / Karndean for that area with smoothing compound used to pitch the floor upward to meet your intended covering. 

 

It's a timber door with 3G glass, Alu clad outside.  I'll have to look in the morning to see if that is an option.  We had Kardean in a previous house and liked it.  Very nice product.  Sadly a no go for the reason above.

 

41 minutes ago, AliG said:

I'm a fan of Amtico/Karndean if you can get something that you like. Much thinner than tiles. Depending on the pattern some looks fake, some doesn't.

 

I wouldn't leave just 2mm, grit will get dragged across the tiles and ruin them. I would think you could grind 5/6mm away without too much bother, of course once you've started you could consider polishing the whole floor instead of tiles.

 

Or, could you put a door matt fitted into the tiles, I have been thinking of doing this in some areas as the tiles can get quite messy. If you leave an area untiled and have a matt cut to fit it would probably look like that was how it was always supposed to be. Depends on the use of the room, decor etc.

 

 

Agree with the potential for grit etc to get trapped under the door and dragged over the surface of the tile. 

 

Forming a mat well and cutting a mat to fit in it will I think be the final solution.  I mocked up a mat well earlier with the tiles and I thought it looked pretty good, certainly good enough to appear a considered and well thought practical design feature.  Of course the door mat product of choice that SWMBO prefers is natural coir, but we wouldn't be able to get that thin enough (based on the existing slab level). Grinding 5mm or so off the slab surface would let us use coir, but there are plenty of alternatives available in terms of mat material and finish.

 

 

 

[jamiehamy]

I'm imagining it's too late to move the whole frame upwards 8mm? Assuming it's been packed at the top, it would be possible, but you've got everything gyproc'd now so it would be a whole load of grief. 

 

Would be a better solution than a compromise that might annoy you for everymore tho?

[Stones]

There is certainly scope to do that as it was packed at the top (threshold is sitting square on slab edge), but with everything rendered and weather sealed, I don't think it's a route we would go down.  Talking to one of our joiners about it earlier he thought that in future they would probably end up packing under the door threshold (Rationel doors) to get the required clearance.  The concern he had with that approach was maintaining a robust long term weather tight seal between slab and threshold.

[Simplysimon]

having a look at the rationel website there are spec drawings for the windows but not the doors, typically. being the auraplus and therefore double or triple gasketed you may find it difficult to shave the bottom. i would be tempted to bite the bullet, remove the door, tile to the outside to ensure watertightness and place door down on top of tiles.

i'm presuming rendered to door frame and air tight taped on inner surface? the vibrating type flat bladed saw could be used to break the seal at render without making too much damage and mastic sealed after. i certainly wouldn't pack the underside

 

simon

[AliG]

Sorry mat not matt, what was I thinking!

[Gone West]

I would second the idea of a mat well. We did it in our porch and there are a range of thicknesses of coir matting which can be cut from a roll..

 

Edited January 20, 2017 by PeterStarck

[ProDave]

Sorry to say, I think your builders "messed up" here.

 

Our Rationel doors have basically an aluminium theshold bottom plate. As delivered, there is a wooden piece then fixed to the bottom of the door.  Our builders removed the supplied wooden piece and then packed up the door after discussing with us the floor make up and finished floor height. The reason for removing the supplied wooden piece was to allow tiles or floor boards to slide under the aluminium threshold.

 

It sounds like your builders didn't discuss this with you? Did they leave the supplied wooden piece still there, or remove it and sit the aluminium threshold straight on the slab?

 

Could you argue it's "their" mistake, and therefore their solution, including any making good to the render etc if they move the whole door and frame up?
 

[IanR]

Or whoever measured up. Did they ask where the Finished Floor Level is to be?

 

We cut our mat wells in after the slab was poured. Wasn't the plan, the main contractor ran out of time when preparing for the pour and didn't get the formers in to cast them in situ.

 

We cut ours in 25mm deep, to then leave space to use a self-levelling epoxy screed/mortar to create a level base. Finished depth will hopefully be 15mm  and mat very slightly (2-3mm) over-flush to finished floor.

 

Cutting it in after the pour was not a nice job in C35 concrete. Beforehand everyone was telling me how easy it will be. No one thought that after the job was done. It is doable though with the right tools.

[Nickfromwales]

I cut a recess into RC35 once for a wetroom former. Anyone who says that is easy wants shooting, it was two of us for a day for a 1400x900 former and sunken waste pipes. Not a pleasant task.

This does sound like an installer error, but the 'blame game' would be very tricky to start playing at this late stage. 

Rather than the blame approach, I'd choose be proactive in arriving at a mutual and suitable resolve, so the job gets finished as well as it's been done to date. 

I'd only allow that door to be moved if I was there from start to finish eye-balling every single part of the process. 

 

Edited January 20, 2017 by Nickfromwales
To make Ferdinand sound crazy ha ha!

[Ferdinand]

39 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

I cut a recess into RC35 once for a wetroom former. Anyone who says that is easy wants shooting, it was two of us for a day for a 1400x900 former and sunken waste pipes. Not a pleasant task.

Tgis does sound like an installer error, but the 'blame game' would be very tricky to start playing at this late stage. 

Rather than the blame approach, I'd choose be proactive in arriving at a mutual and suitable resolve, so the job gets finished as well as it's been done to date. 

I'd only allow that door to be moved if I was there from start to finish eye-balling every single part of the process. 

 

 

Tgis ?

 

Terrapins Got Into my Socks?

Thank God I'm Scottish?

Therapy Goes In Spurts?

 

Clarification would be welcome so I can be culturally enriched :-) . 

Cheers

 

F

Edited January 20, 2017 by Ferdinand

[jack]

18 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

Clarification would be welcome so I can be culturally enriched :-) . 

 

If you had any idea how many of your typos I quietly sort out on a daily basis... 

[Nickfromwales]

2 hours ago, jack said:

If you had any idea how many of your typos I quietly sort out on a daily basis... 

 

Well you missed my one

 

Can't get the staff ( to type clearly  )

 

@Ferdinand tgis should have read This

 

Consider yourself enriched to the max. 

 

Edited January 20, 2017 by jack
typo: cant --> can't ;-)

[Ferdinand]

Typose. Moi?

 

*innocent face*

 

(Sorry .. I thought that was an abbreviation, and I do appreciate your sorting out my variations.)

 

Ferdinand

Edited January 20, 2017 by Ferdinand

[Nickfromwales]

3 for a £1 for you matey. Bulk saver discount.

 

BACK TO DOORS AND FLOORS NOW PLEASE ! 

[jack]

1 hour ago, Nickfromwales said:

Well you missed my one

 

Nope.  Was about to fix it when I saw Ferdinand's reply, so I had to leave it so Ferdinand's reply would make some sense! 

 

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

(Sorry .. I thought that was an abbreviation, and I do appreciate your sorting out my variations.)

 

No worries.  If I see something that looks like it could be fixed with a couple of moments' work, I do it as I read.  Makes the place look tidy.  Your most common sin is making the first two letters of some sentences capitals.  @ProDave likes to add lots of blank space at the end of his posts.  Some people don't/won't/can't use punctuation, or spell really badly.  I never change content, just typos and obvious spelling mistakes.  No-one seems to have noticed, which I guess means it's working(?) 

 

Back to doors and floors...

[Nickfromwales]

 

Sweet.