Q:Hardwood transitions

I have Brazillian cherry hardwood floors in my entry and kitchen. It is a open layout with a 8′ opening into the living and dining room. I am taking down a wall to a bedroom to make a bigger living room so i need new flooring 500 sf.

The carpet didn’t hold up good with little kids and animals so i want to go hardwood but i cant afford brazillian cherry. $3500 or $5500 for an exact match. I have 4″ wide and the only where i can find that has a 1000sf min order. I only have a 1,500 budget installing my self

Will laminate look tacky next to the hardwood. Should i rip out 200sf of the hardwood and put in all laminate. Its only 4 years old and in good shape but i did get it basicly for free from someone

What is your opinion? thanks

A:

It’s not so much that the transition will look tacky; instead it will look and feel odd. The difference in the thickness of the materials will cause this. This could happen even if we are talking about a ceramic and hardwood transition. It will look `nice` if the transition is smooth. My advice when someone asks me this question is to use a uniform thickness when deciding to use different materials for floor finishing’s.

Given the budget constraint take a look where the transition will occur. In a doorway for example you might leave it. On the other hand if the transition occurs in the middle of the room definitely rip out the 200 sqfoot old floor and replace the whole thing with a uniform floor.

In your case I would recommend maybe saving a little more money and finishing it with the Brazilian hardwood (if you can match it) because the difference between a natural material and the man made product ( i.e. paper and glue) is more than 5x the price difference.