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A job in a 1920s bungalow made me rethink my whole approach to transitions
I was laying some engineered oak in this old house in Portland last month. The homeowner wanted it to run from the living room right into the kitchen, which had this sunken, uneven concrete slab. My usual method was to just slap down a T-mold and call it good. But when I got the laser level out, the height difference was over an inch and a half. The customer looked at me and said, 'I really don't want a big metal strip breaking up the floor.' That one comment forced me to stop and actually figure it out. I ended up spending a whole afternoon grinding down the high spots in the concrete and building up the subfloor with layers of ply to get it within a quarter inch. It was a huge pain, but the final feather-edge transition is invisible. Now I measure every single floor height difference before I even quote the job. Has anyone else had a client request that made you completely change a standard practice?
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lucas5872mo ago
But isn't that extra work just giving in to a picky client? A T-mold does the job fine and saves everyone time and money.
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anderson.mia2mo ago
Calling it "giving in to a picky client" misses the point, @lucas587. A good finish is what people pay for, and an invisible transition is just better work. That extra effort is what gets you recommended for the next job.
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Totally! A client's "no metal strip" rule changed my whole process too.
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