Advice or feedback much appreciated.
My Project: I have a wood floor (veneer tongue and groove) in my entry way that joins ceramic tile floors on three sides. No transition from tile to wood was provided and it looks crude. I got some T-shaped brass transition/threshold (1″ wide strip with a 3/8″ deep tongue or post for gluing in to a slot). I need to route a slot between the tile and wood. Neither the edge of the ends of the veneer boards nor the edge of the tile is very straight, but the 1″ brass strip will cover it OK. The sub-floor is concrete–the 3/4″ thick veneer boards (random width 3 to 10″) are glued to concrete and the tile was set in mortar on concrete.
My Plan: Tack a straight edge board to the wood floor as a router guide. Drill some start holes the same diam. as the router bit I will use in the wood floor. Set the router bit in the drill hole, come up to speed and route along the guide. I don’t need to route it out all the way down to the concrete sub-floor, just 1/2″ or so to glue the tongue of the brass threshold strip down. At the corners I can’t reach with the router I will drill a series of holes along that 3″ and clean it up with a chisel.
My Questions: I have a 25 year old Craftsman router, 6.5 amp and 25,000 rpm. is that OK or should I rent or possibly buy something (I plan to rehab an old table saw I’ve got and try some woodworking so I could probably use a good router)? What kind of bit should I use? What sort of feed speed, does feed direction matter on the end grain of these plywood boards? What sort of depth of cut if multiple passes are needed? Any outsanding safety or quality of cut issues apparent? Any thoughts on an appropriate adhesive–it will have to fill a slot 1/4 to 3/8″ wide and 3/8 or 1/2″ deep. BTW, I’ve never used a router before so I guess I should get some plywood scrap and practice a bit.
Thanks for your suggestions.
Replies
hkoch, If you can construct a four sided 'window' of straight 1/2'x3/4" 'Parting strip' (Home Depot)nailed 6-1/8" apart to a lenght of 1/2" ply,7-5/8' wide and long enough for the largest opening, you can place this 'Guide' centered over the area to be grooved.
After tacking down the strips to the ply,
run your router(Using a 1/2" bit) all the way through the ply wood and 'riding' the 'rails' along and back to create a long straight through groove 5/8" wide.
Now position the window over the area to be routed and away from the tile at least 1/4" and tack it down to the wood flooring exactly where the brass strip will be attached.
Extend the router to pass through the 1/2" ply and about 1/8" deeper
Looking down through the groove, you will see exactly what wood will be excised.(Watch out for the tiles)
Run the router from left to right along the inside of farthest edge and return on the nearest inside strip right to left
Blow out any sawdust and check the depth.
Extend the router bit another 1/8" and repeat as in the first try until you have reached the needed depth'
When you remove the 'Window, you'll have to chisel away the wood nearest the tile (Don't worry about neatness, as the transition strip will cover the rough edges.
After doing the largest opening cut the window to accomidate the next smaller opening. Good luck Steinmetz.
Here are just a few thoughts I had as I read your message:
1. Rout the slot approximately the same width as the tongue thickness. For instance, if the tongue is 1/4 inch, then try a 1/4 inch slot on a piece of scrap plywood to see if the tongue will go into it. Don't make the slot over-sized and count on the adhesive to fill the gap. Adhesives work best when they exist as a thin film.
2. Rout the slot only slightly deeper than the tongue. If the tongue is 3/8, you don't need to rout to 1/2. Give about 1/32 or so clearance at the bottom - just enough so that you can be sure that the slot will not prevent the threshold strip from fully seating.
3. If your old router seems to be in good shape, it should work just fine.
4. You should use a plain-vanilla straight bit (1/4 inch diameter, or whatever).
5. Feed direction should be so that the biting force of the bit will help to keep pressure against the straightedge you are using for a guide. If you think about the bit rotation, moving the router in one direction will tend to create a force pushing the router away from the guide, while moving in the opposite direction will help keep pressure against the guide.
6. For safety and quality, make sure the router has a smooth, solid surface to glide on when making the cut. That may mean having a strip of material to rest the router base on both in front of the router bit and in back (on the tile and on the veneer floor).
7. I would probably use a common building adhesive - partly because I already have some sitting around. Does the manufacturer of the threshold recommend any types of adhesives?
8. You DEFINITELY should practice routing a few grooves in some scrap plywood, under conditions as closely matched to the actual setup as possible, before you attempt to work on your floor.
Good luck,
Richard Baker
This might be a good question to pose over in the Breaktime Forum where contractors and DIYers who subscribe to Fine HomeBuilding tend to reside.
As for your questions:
I'd get a decent plunge router if you are planning to get into woodworking anyway. An up to date model with plunge capability may not be necessary, but sure would be nice.
You simply need a straight bit in whatever diameter you want as long as it will accept the glue and brass strip. I'd guess 1/4" would be enough. the plunge will make it easy to go an eighth at a time down to your depth of just over 3/8ths.
Use guides for your router. Either buy some extruded aluminum guides (which are very useful for ripping sheet stock etc. with a circular saw and routing, or get some very straight boards. The tricky part is going to be securing the guide to the floor for the routing operation. If you built a wood jig of some sort or used a scrap wood template guide, you might be able to screw the homemade guide to floor at places that would be covered by brass anyway.
As for glue, I dunno, but some places to start might be a liquid nails type of construction adhesive or maybe two part epoxy?
You have opened a can of opinions for this, so I will add a few of my own.
I would use a spiral bit for a cleaner cut - just because that is me. A simple straight bit should suffice.
another option that is available is to use a solid stip of wood to "frame" the tile with mitered corners. If there is a differance in height between the 2 you can taper the wood or a combination taper and rabbet depending on which is higher (if either is) - wood or tile. If they are the same height the "frame" option can look nice. A bit more work though. OK a lot more work.
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