uneven floor transition how to do?

[Scott Loven]

I have a friend who lives in an OLD house with very uneven floors. He laid laminate flooring in the living room and the kitchen after removing the wall between both. Both floor edges are wavy from one end to the other and not at all the same from one room to the other. Any ideas on how to make a transition from one room to the other that will cover both laminate floors and provide a safe passage from one room to the other? This is a cross-section of my idea. The floor is higher on one side then the other and changes back and forth as you travel down the line between both rooms.http://www.vmtw.com/shop/joesfloor.jpg

[greg Forster]

I've encountered this many times in old buildings removing walls.
A wood threshold as you propose has always been the best solution.
Usually, we were retaining the old wood floors and a heavy duty floor sander helped ease the floor/threshold transition. It will still work with laminate floors, just more "fine tuning" and a wide threshold is helpful.

[Jim Becker]

I made a transition like this to go between our powder room (laminate) and the kitchen (brick). I also made a similar piece for a friend's house. Starting with a thicker piece of material, I did the rebates first to account for the "levels". Once that was done, the top was refined to make the transitions safe for folks walking over it. You can always make a prototype or three out of less expensive stock if you want to fine tune the design and "test" it.

[Tom Jones III]

I had a very similar situation in my first house. I was extremely new to ww so I took a piece of poplar (because it worked so easily) and cut it roughly to shape. I put it in place then used a pencil to mark all the high spots. I pulled it out then hand planed it until it fit nicely. I did not have it overlap rather it joined evenly with both sides. I was very happy that there was no overlap, it looked and felt more natural. The overlap will draw attention to the fact that the floor is off.

[David Giles]

That concept worked for me on a laminate floor to carpet transition. A few shims under the middle let you match the laminate surface profile pretty well. Three brass plated screws countersunk in the middle and it will look fine. You might even want to start with a prefinished door jamb and just mill the underside to fit.

[Scott Loven]

The laminate floor is already in place.
The length of the separation between the two rooms is 12 feet or so.
It varies in height along each room and each room is higher in some places then the other room and lower then the other room in other places and then back again.

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Your drawing is exactly how I do mine.....I've done at least 20-25 of them that way with great results.

[Larry Leigh]

This happened to me once. what I did was get a piece of oak 1 inch larger than the gap. Then I put my router on the 1st floor and set the depth for the 1/2 in. rabbit, then did the same for the other side. after a few test fits I clamped it in a vise and rounded it over with a belt sander, more test fits, then I finished it to match the floor, and installed it the next morning.
the transition is hardly noticable because it's a smooth arc and I sanded down over the rabbits to about a 1/16 in.
Worked for me.

[Eddie Watkins]

I just made one for a friend touse between ceramic tile and a floating laminate on concrete. Per his design, I routered out a strip one inch wide and 1/2" deep on the under side then cut a piece that would fit snugly in the the routered part. He screwed the small strip to the concrete using concrete screws then glued and nailed the threshold to it. It seems to have worked. He didn't want screw heads visible was the reason he did it that way. The top looked just like your drawing. I hope that makes sense.