Carpet to Laminate Threshold Piece

Abridged:
What kind of glue?

Unabridged:

Back in June of this year, dthornton posted in this thread about what glue to use for Laminate laid on concrete. That's my question as well. My floor makes that "hollow" sound dthornton described, and it's pretty awful, so I think it has the substrate underneath ~ if that even matters for the glue.

There's been no abuse or trauma to the trim piece, it just popped up one day, and it looks like it's too long. I can't cut a straight line to save my life, so my Dad suggested I pull the piece and cut it down a bit from the wall-side so that I maintain the nice, even cut for the join that's right in the middle.

My questions are:
1. Should I trim it? It looks too long to me, but I'm pretty untrained.
2. What glue do I use? I bought this condo used, so there's no manufacturer's instructions or anything. A coworker suggested wood-glue, but my Dad said I should ask someone at Home Depot or Lowes. In my experience, those places are hit & miss. You can get an awesome expert, or someone that answers your DIY question with how to pick a ripe Avocado. I thought here would be better, or at least as good anyway.

I have more photos if needed.





My water heater leaked; it has since been replaced, but it warped my threshold piece from the dining room into the utility room.
My questions are:
1. Do I need to replace it? If not...
2. Can I just glue it back down?



Thanks in advance, everyone!

cut the too long piece on a chop saw (cant go wrong).
replace the warped piece and glue down with construction adhesive.
key is you must allow the floor to expand and contract so spot glue it versus a single continuous bead of adhesive.

Pull it up, take it to a flooring store or box store either replace it or have them cut it to length and they will sell you the glue.

kok328 said:

[..] you must allow the floor to expand and contract so spot glue it versus a single continuous bead of adhesive.

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:thbup: I'm totally the guy that would over-glue. Thanks for that tip! :thbup:

nealtw said:

Pull it up, take it to a flooring store or box store either replace it or have them cut it to length and they will sell you the glue.

Click to expand...

Good advice, and I was actually curious about replacing it. Would they have laminate trim pieces like this? Is it even laminate? Maybe it's that MDF stuff or something. I guess I would kind of 'wing-it' on the color match?

I have two big box places near me, but no flooring store; I'd have to drive into the bigger, nearby cities for that.

Do I need to scrape off that old glue, or would something like construction adhesive be "old glue friendly"? If the former, any tips? I'm a bit worried about damaging the flooring if I have to scrape off that old glue.

Handy-as-a-Foot said:

Good advice, and I was actually curious about replacing it. Would they have laminate trim pieces like this? Is it even laminate? Maybe it's that MDF stuff or something. I guess I would kind of 'wing-it' on the color match?

I have two big box places near me, but no flooring store; I'd have to drive into the bigger, nearby cities for that.

Click to expand...

You may find a match, or you replace everything to a new close match or if you can selvage what you have, great.
So take care full measurements to cut what you have or to replace everything.
There are better systems.
Aluminum channel, screws to the sub floor and wood strip snaps into it. But that channel has to be 1/4" away from the flooring. Not sure how to remove the glue off the surface other than carefully, unless any damage will be covered later.

I use my junk wood chisels to remove glue like that. You needn't remove all the old glue, just make room for new spots of glue and it will float over the remaining old. Hopefully that will be enough, but laminate flooring isn't highly water-resistant and if that got too wet you may find joints separating or the flooring crumbling later on.

Take a piece with you to match up at the store. If they don't have a match, get enough to replace it all with new in as close a color match as you can get.

Phil

This morning I'm going to FIRST cut the piece (at the wall side) and see if it fits. If it doesn't, then I'll be looking to replace the entire section.

It seems such a simple thing, measure twice - cut once, but I'll cut the dang thing three times and it'll still be too short (haha). If it's not too embarrassing, I'll post AFTER pictures. :thbup:

You'll do fine, just take your time and make small adjustments.

Handy-as-a-Foot said:

This morning I'm going to FIRST cut the piece (at the wall side) and see if it fits. If it doesn't, then I'll be looking to replace the entire section.

It seems such a simple thing, measure twice - cut once, but I'll cut the dang thing three times and it'll still be too short (haha). If it's not too embarrassing, I'll post AFTER pictures. :thbup:

Click to expand...

That is not an easy cut, trying not to damage the floor while you do it.
It may want to flatten out as you cut and will pinch the saw so put something under the hump while you cut it.

nealtw said:

That is not an easy cut, trying not to damage the floor while you do it.
It may want to flatten out as you cut and will pinch the saw so put something under the hump while you cut it.

Click to expand...

Luckily, that span from the half-wall to the full wall was already cut into two pieces, so that relieves a bit of that burden. Since I'm reusing the one piece, I just applied a bit of the Liquid Nails (it said "Construction Adhesive Grade") on the side that remained down, and then applied it liberally (but not 'completely') on the side I'm trying to reattach.

Turns out my cutting was pretty straight, but I was off a millimeter or two. When I was lining up the join (which happens to be right in the middle of the walk-way) I was to one side. Since I was to one side (the side I was reattaching) it looked "together" from my angle. It wasn't until the piece was weighted down and in place for a while, and I was up and walking around, that I noticed I had a tiny gap in the join where the two pieces meet.

If I had a bit more resources (money & patience!) I would give it another go. For now, I'll see how the Liquid Nails do. Says it takes 24hrs to cure, so maybe I'll remove the weight (books and dumbbells) Friday after I get home from work and snap some pics. My biggest hope is that it will hold/stay down permanently. If it stays in place I will call it a victory, and 'lesson learned' for getting on top of the join to judge if it is tight-together, rather than from the angle I was looking.

I took my warped piece of MDF trim (from Laminate to Tile/Utility Room) and laid it on a flat surface. Maybe I could've gotten it damp again, applied weight, and gotten it to straighten out, but I feel I'm a bit too 'rookie' for that kind of effort; plus, I really needed this project done before I have company Saturday afternoon.

I couldn't believe the cost for a replacement MDF/Laminate trim piece!! For about $10 more I got an Oak (Gun stock) piece that was a bit wider than the fake one, which I prefer anyway. I laid that out over my new, wood trim and made the cut there. It fit perfectly, but the cut was a bit rough because I did it on my miter saw.

That piece is also glued and weighted, so I'll snap a pic of that one as well come Friday. Same criteria as above - staying put = success.