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T moulding issues

5.6K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  kawahonda  
#1 ·
Recently I have put down a laminate flooring in my living room/ dinning room and hall way. All areas were this floor meets a different room the floors don’t match up, so the flooring company had me go with a transition T moulding for the non level joint floors.

Well I installed it but of course I am having issues. The T moulding keeps popping off, the plastic U track isn’t loose or anything, and when I pop the T moulding in you hear the sound of it getting snapped into that track.

What can be causing this?
 
#2 ·
I don't know your exact assembly, but the varience in room heights is probably forcing it out.

Again, I don't know the exact assembly, but my guess would be that you have to custom cut/shave the T on one side to account for that difference in floor height.

Normally, I hold the T molding down with screws (finishing screws), but apparently you have some kind of snap in track.

Some pictures might help.

Good luck
 
#5 ·
I've haven't used the plastic tracks, but have never had problems with the metal tracks (contrary to what I thought would happen snapping what seems like a paper mache product into it).

If you say the T transition still fits tight into the track, then there must be some compression movement in the flooring. T's are for solid to solid transitions. If it's because of differing heights and the T isn't designed for that, you can buy one or possibly shave the existing one.

If it's for laminate to carpet, then it will always pop off, you have to use a butt edge.
 
#6 ·
These T pieces are plastic, so far in almost all transition spots it is not holding up minus the bathroom. I think I might go the finish nail route right now because all rooms will be getting new floor, which at that point I'll make sure its all even instead of different levels.
 
#7 · (Edited)
I throw away the tracks all together.

I also do NOT use plastic t-molding. It feels like garbage and it squeaks when you step on it. That crap will likely peel over time as well.

I use only the T-molding wood itself now. I use a razer to shave the bottom sections (if necessary for the best possible fitment). I then use liquid nails on the underside, followed by 3-4 finish nails, following by a small "punch" to submerge the nail head slightly.

That solution has worked for me going on 2 years so far. It looks fantastic too. If you wanted "extra" durability, you can simply just add filler material (wood comes to mind) underneath the T-molding so it has something additional to "sit" on, though I found doing this to be unnecessary.