You may want to check to see which way your floor joists are running. Our flooring guy said best to lay them perpendicular to the joists. My DH screwed the tongue and groove sub sub floor to the joists, and then screwed and glued 1/2 plywood on top of that before the hardwood, so we weren't limited, but have decided to change direction just for looks. We just have the hardwood in the kitchen now, and will be adding it to the rest of the upstairs shortly, we were charged for 18 transition pieces, but I actually don't think they're going to need that many- I think they'll just run it into closets, without the transition piece, but not sure about the doorways, don't see why they need to have a threshold unless there is a change of direction.

We opened up our kitchen to the adjacent DR, which already had a white oak floor (installed in 1967 and probably covered with wall-to-wall carpeting 'til the previous owners listed the house for sale in '98). When they installed the new white oak floor boards in the kitchen, they weaved it into the existing DR floor, no transition or threshold piece.

You really can't tell that part of the floor is older and part is newer (maybe if you look really close, you can tell that the older boards are a little more yellowed, but I can hardly tell unless I'm really trying, and I notice EVERYTHING).

Ricklish - I just did this a few weeks ago. We added hardwoods in the kitchen and entry. The dining and living room already had hardwood. I chose to lace it all together to make it look like one large room and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. I love it. It's personal preference. You could do a wood strip going the other direction to try to make each room look like it's own, but I tried to achieve that look with other fixtures in the house (doorways and columns, different paint colors) instead of the floor.

Good luck and have fun!

I have hardwoods throughout my living room, dining room, kitchen and breakfast nook. No transition or threshold piece and I love the look. My son just installed hardwoods in his entrance way, dining room and living room and he elected to put a transition piece between each room and actually changed the direction of the wood in the entrance way. I prefer mine, but he prefers his. All a matter of preference.

The only reason you would need to have a threshold is if the flooring ends up at slightly differing heights - the other applications are for aesthetic reasons - meaning you wish to differentiate rooms, planks run different way etc.

GC may suggest threshold because it's easier for the to do so - coping around casement openings new/old can be tricky

get what you would like

congrats on your remodel

You're talking about a flush piece, not an elevated threshold, aren't you?

For safety, ease of sweeping and aesthetics, I would discourage an elevated threshold, unless absolutely necessary to transition old to new.

We do have a "threshold" between the older hardwood floor in the dining room and the brand new hardwood floor in the kitchen. It's absolutely flash, no elevation whatsoever. It's red oak and it looks the same in both rooms.

As jejvtr mentioned, it is easier and quicker to install the flooring with such a threshold rather than doing the interlacing thing. It may look nicer doing it without such a threshold but we didn't want to pay for the extra labour required and don't mind the look we have right now.

I'd see what is done in the rest of the house and be guided by that; otherwise, go with what you like. Just keep it flush! :)

We had ours interlaced (?) or whatever you call it. I would not have liked it with a divider.

Our new kitchen/breakfast room hardwood is laid North-South (would have looked wrong otherwise), the adjacent dining room hardwood was already East-West, so the two wood floors meet perpendicular to each other at the doorway. We have no divider, just strips ending flush with the last piece in the dining room.

I'd never thought about having it another way, but I wonder if it would call attention to the change.

We had a similar situation, but with all new wood floors. We chose to use a threshold between the foyer hall and the dining room, which are at a 45 degree angle to each other.

I had original oak floors in the kitchen & breakfast room, and decided to continue them into the living room and dining room. The contractor was going to run them together so it would flow and blend together but a trip to the basement showed the direction of the floor joists changed, which meant the flooring in the living room & dining room would have to be run in a different direction. They just used a couple of boards to transition the change and it looks fine.

hi,
could anyone please offer some advice. I am attaching a picture of my existing 13y old hardwood flooring that came with the house when it was purchased new. We are trying to extend the flooring to be all hardwood throughout the groundfloor. Can anyone tell me how to go about identifying the type of wood I will be needing? I am planning to hire a handyman who can do the job at a reasonable cost. thanks in advance.

To clarify, I need to identify the wood and then look for place to purchase the wood from. I do have a handy man who can do the job. I am a total newbie at this so any tips would be appreciated.

Certainly looks like oak to me.

Obviously, I would try a flooring store in your area. Check if you have a Lumber Liquidators nearby. Or a big box store (Home Despot or Lowest). Or you may want to leave the task of finding the right material to your handyman

Man

The existing appears to be Oak, not sure which type or grade. This is where a flooring person would be helpful in proper selection. Oak has differing species and grades - The threshold piece is different grade then the flooring

Once proper selection is made & ordered it will need to acclimate to the room/s it is to be laid -several days should suffice. The next part would be matching the stain & finish to existing, unless you plan to refinish all flooring in which case that will be a much easier task.

Best to you

Find a store that specializes in hardwoods. Take your photo to them and see if they can match what's there. You can bring home a sample to see if it's close.

rman667 - that looks like red oak
ricklish- I agree with the other posters that if at all possible you want one continuous level. I am having hardwood installed to extend the flooring into my kitchen it will be one level and it will be featherd in. I have an open floor plan contemporary home so this is definitely the best look for us. My good friend extended the hardwood when she did her kitchen, it had to be down one tiny step. Original floor was wide board oak, new floor is reclaimed barn wood, transition piece is wormy chestnut, because of the color change and the slight level change this worked best in her place. My point is there is no one right answer, find the look that works with your space.