Floor Tiling

Question

I am installing tile and carpet in the rec room of my house and the problem is that there's a two foot perimeter of tile around the room and the center of the room is carpet. How do I finish the carpet and attach it to the floor? There is underpad for the carpet and the tile is only 1/8".

Answer

First of all, make sure your choice of tile is correct for a floor. Floor tile is thicker than 1/8". It is standard procedure, when installing ceramic tile on the floor, to stiffen the floor up usually with another layer of 5/8" tongue and groove plywood. This would help your situation also. Place a 2' perimeter of plywood around the room where the tile will go. Lay the tile out first to get its exact width. For the transition between the tile and the carpet, there are products on the market for this purpose: vinyl, aluminum.

When installing a ceramic tile hearth in my house, I used a piece of oak hardwood flooring between the tile and the carpet, which matched the hardwood flooring in the rest of the house. This is just an idea for you.

Most of your problem will be solved by putting in the plywood to raise up the tile. Check on the thickness of the tile. It should be 3/8" to 1/2".

Dave