If you’re about to start the process of installing flooring in multiple portions of your home, you may be wondering how to go about transitioning it from one room to another. This article will function as an installation guide so that you can accomplish a flawless installation in no time.
The Importance of Transitioning Your Flooring
Transitioning flooring may seem like a complicated process, but it’s a very necessary part of your flooring installation. There are multiple reasons why you shouldn’t skip a proper transition, both for the function of the flooring and the design elements of your home.
Functional Reasons
In many cases, your flooring will need an expansion gap so that it doesn’t buckle or shift due to temperature changes. This is particularly important for hardwood flooring. The reason for this is that materials expand and contract constantly due to atmospheric conditions in the home. If there’s no excess play in the flooring to accommodate this, the flooring will have nowhere to go but up, leading to buckling and bumps.
Gaps are often installed under the baseboards, around the perimeter of the room, but another excellent place is in between rooms. By properly transitioning your flooring you can place a gap between rooms in an inconspicuous way. You may be tempted to simply extend a long continuous line of flooring from one room to another, but this is a recipe for disaster. Most flooring needs a ¼’’ expansion gap at least every 30 feet. It’s important to note that you do not need an expansion gap with stick-on flooring, only click-lock and loose lay. Source: Best Home Fixer
Transitions are also necessary when using different flooring types that have height differences. You’ll need to properly install transition strips so that there’s no abrupt height change between them. Transition strips also function as a visual queue that the flooring height is changing, allowing you to step throughout your home without tripping.
Design Reasons
Transitions are also important for the aesthetic of your home. Ultimately, you have creative freedom as the homeowner. Many people don’t like the look of the same flooring being continuously used throughout the home and they often want other types of flooring installed. For example, an average home might have wood flooring in the dining room, carpeting in the living room, and tile flooring in the bathroom. Properly transitioning between these flooring types is important to create a visual break and maintain the flow throughout the home.
If choosing to use the same flooring in multiple rooms, some homeowners like to change the direction of the flooring. Adding a transition between the rooms allows you to do this without leaving an awkward pattern change.