I’m working with a customer to replace her foyer floor and we’re in the planning stage right now. She wants a hardwood floor with tile inserts and I’ve come up with the plan shown in the picture.
I think I would do this by laying the hardwood first, cut away the areas to be tiled, mask off the hardwood, and lay the tile. When she picks the hardwood and tile, I’ll also have to deal with any differences in thickness.
Comments from those who have done this will be appreciated.
Thanks
Replies
Two thoughts ...
I just posted a pic of a wood-tile floor I did, in the Photo section "My Floor"
I would fasten down a border that exactly matched the outline of the tile, then work the wood up to that. If you try to cut the wood after it is in place, you may have chipped edges. But then you could simply mark the tile areas on the floor, lay wood just past the edges, then screw down a plywood template and cutnout the wood with a router. But if you cut in place you need to deal with the flying sawdust. Either way, one issue is going toi be getting the top of the tile to match tghe top of the wood.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
I was initially thinking along the lines of a template/router method like Ed-----
then I remembered I have seen this done a couple of times----usually around a big fireplace.
Screw down a temporary border "outlining" where the tile is to go. Lay the wood flooring right up to that border. Lay the tile---( of course it would be best if the tile height was very close to the wood flooring height)
Remove the temporary border----install the finish border which you can taper to make any transistion between flooring surfaces.
you don't trip over the change in height---but you do " feel" the difference.--- Of course you feel the difference between the 2 different materials anyhow.
Hey , does Greg Warren still come here?--- I bet he heas done a ton of situations like this.
Best wishes, Stephen
Glad you responded, Ed. I saw your floor pictures and almost posted my question in your thread but decided I didn't want to highjack it. - lol
When we get the hardwood, I'll experiment with ways to cut it and leave clean edges. I have a 60 tooth carbide finishing blade for my circ saw that does a great job on cabinet grade plywood and I'm hoping that will work. If not, we'll figure out a "Plan B"...............and maybe C, D, etc.
I'm also thinking of making templates from 3/4" MDF and screwing them to the subfloor where the tile goes and then laying the underlayment and hardwood tight to them. When the wood is in, I could pull the templates, put down my backerboard and lay my tile. The thinset should give me some flexibility to get everything level.
Now, all I have to do is get the HO to go look at hardwood flooring. A local hardwood and flooring store is running a sale on some really nice flooring and I'm trying to get her to go look at it. Unfortunately, she thinks a trip to the dentist is more enjoyable than shopping for flooring - lol.
I just used a decent blade in the miter saw, didn't rush the cuts, and hit the sharp edge about twice with a 1/4 sheet sander and 120 paper to break the edge.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
I have never done this with tile but have set a number of stone hearths flush with the floor and have put in rotated sqaures of flooring in patterns similar to what you show on your drawing.
Two comments. First I would lay the floor to the exact size that you want. It is a lot easier to cut the flooring perfectly on a chop saw and a lot faster too. Do not screw a template to the floor; just mark it out. It would be impossible to lay some of the courses between the two squares with templates in place. Just cut the ends and check the fits with a straight edge.
Second, I would put a wood border around the tile square. Aesthetic considerations aside, this lets you seal the wood where the tile and grout will meet it. Maybe not perfectly but a lot better than all that end grain and joints.
Hopefully a real pro will give us a definitive answer. I only see this about once a year.