Best way to cut a door threshold in HW floors

[Kevin Murdock]

All,

Looking for some pointers on how to "skin this cat".

Currently, our house has HW floors in the front entry way and seamlessly into a small bathroom off to the side. We'd like to replace the hw in the entry way as it's worn, but would like to keep it in the bathroom.

As a result, we need to come up with a way to cut the HW floors cleanly across the door to the bathroom, enough to install a T-threshold to hide the change in flooring.

I though about using a circular saw to cut the middle out, but the blade will of course not get to the end up against the door frame.

What is the method you'd use to accomplish the task at hand? I'm guessing that many have had to do this and have some experience.

Thanks in advance,
/Kevin

[tod evans]

fien multimaster. .02 tod

[Bob Winkler]

In the past I would have suggested a Rotozip to do this. Now that I have a Fein Multimaster, I would agree with Todd.

Bob

[Steve Evans]

or a Bosch flush cut saw. A fair bit more vibration than the Fein, but it will probably be available at your local rental store. Used for hardwood floors all the time. Here's a link to show you what I mean.
http://www.mytoolstore.com/bosch/htmsaws.html

Steve

[Matt Meiser]

It will take a little more time, but you could finish up with a hand saw and a chisel.

[Dan Mages]

How about a plunge router with a straight cut bit?

Dan

[Scott Loven]

Check a rental place in your area, see what they have.
Scott

[Kevin Murdock]

I think that I'll stick with Matt on this one. I'll slow time it with a handsaw and a chisel.

The fien looks neat, but it's a bit expensive to justify just for the task at hand. I'm not sure where/when I would need to use it again.

Thanks for the pointers,
/Kevin

[Richard Wolf]

I've done that kind of work with a sawsall and a fine tooth blade. The saw must be varible speed so you can start slowly.
The Fien will most likely burn up a few blades before you got done and is much slower. You will still have an issue at the ends with the Fien and need a chisel to finish.

Richard

[Dev Emch]

My brother is in the surgical instruments business for othropedic tools and joint replacements. A while back, he gave me an old sample setup. Its like a dremel tool on steroids but the head unit can snap on and off. One item is for round bits. Thinkgs like "dermal abraders" etc. But one is called a "sagitating" (sp?) saw. You doctor types take it easy on me here.:p Its a saw blade about 1/2 in or so wide and oscillates back and forth really really fast. This tool will allow you get into there and make those cuts.

Now, the fein tool mentioned earlier seems to have a similar action. As I dont own one of those, I cannot discuss it. But Fein makes excellent tools and they are in high regard. Quality or not, its this "sagitating" action that you need to get into the tight space.

For the most part, a small router or laminate trimmer with a base and an edge guide will make most of the cut. Leave the two end sections for the sagitating saw. This way you will get 2/3 thrds of the cut with a hyper precise edge and then just focus on the two blind sections later with the sagitating saw.

When cutting into the hardwood, set your depth of cut no more than 1/8 in at a time. When you get down to about 1/4 inch, you will be through the wear layer. Go over the cut and inspect for nails. Using a nail set, drive the nails downwards and out of the way as needed. Then continue with the router/trimmer and sagitating saw until you finish the cut. Trim up with hand tools (chisels) as needed.

O.K. Now, you will need to regroove the existing flooring. I designed a four knife, 1/2 inch shank, carbide tipped router bit with a follower bearing to do this job. The bearing rides the edge of the wear layer and the absence of a mandrel allows me to regroove flooring in place. A year or so later, I found a picture of the same operation in the 2005 Festool catalog. So I know that someone out there is making a similar router bit. Your best best bet is to call Festool and find out what bit they are using to regroove flooring in place. If you have to, I can get a copy of my bit made by a buddy of mine. But he charges a ton of cash. About $220 dollars for this bit. He is a bit more accurate on the carbide than I am because he is using a Foley Belsaw carbide profile grinder. I dont have one of those.

Once you have the field regrooved, cut some 1/4 inch baltic birch splines and glue them into the groove such that they protrude about 1/4 in or so. If the field runs prependicular to the new threshold, you will need to use a separate spline for each course of flooring to compensate for lateral expansion. If the field runs parallel to the threshold, then you can get away with using just a single long spline.

This process is more complex to discuss than to do. For me, it would take about 30 minutes or less to do the whole thing. The reason for this is simple. Wood floors move and you dont want the individual courses of the field to "pop". The T&G nature ties the whole floor together.

Just remember to work accurately. The tinyest error can produce an unsightly gap which is worse on lighter colored floors such as maple. But, this is not rocket science so there is no need to be worried. Just take your time, focus on the details and work carefully.

[Dev Emch]

One thing you did not make clear. Are you simply replacing the HW flooring? Or are you replacing the HW flooring with somthing else like tiles or carpet, etc. That will determine the type of threshold you need to look at.

[Joe Pelonio]

First a disclaimer, this may not be the safest way but it worked for me years ago. After using the circular as far as you can go, stand your sabre saw so that the blade is horizontal (parallel to the floor) with the tip toward the door frame. Then turn it on and tilt until the blade hits nearly the flooring and move until the tip nearly hits the door frame, then tilt the rest of the way until the blade hits the floor and saw it. Sort of like the sawzall method but I find the sabre saw easier to control in this situation

[Bill Lewis]

Drill the flooring at the door jam ends first before you start to saw or chisel. It'll keep the wood from spliting, and you are assured of getting through the flooring completely where you need to most.

[Kelly C. Hanna]

I use a circ saw then a jigsaw with a long blade to get this type cut finished off.