LESLIE: Alright. Now we’ve got Barry in Iowa on the line who’s got a question about a bathroom with carpeting. And I know your question is really about a pet but bathroom with carpeting? What’s going on, Barry?
BARRY: Well, the dogs were locked up in the bathroom when we went shopping. So when we came back, they had torn a hole. It wasn’t a big hole but it was probably 2½ inches by 3 inches long. And I can’t cover it no way and so I was wanting to tear the carpet up and put in new carpet because I can’t match the old carpet. And then – but I don’t know how to put a threshold down in there.
TOM: Well, first of all, putting carpet in a bathroom is generally a bad idea because, obviously, it doesn’t mix with the moisture. Even if it’s an indoor/outdoor style carpet – I don’t know what you have. But I would recommend against carpet in a bathroom. So, the dogs may have done you a favor, because it’s forcing you to take that carpet up. Your question is: how do you put a threshold in the door so that you would have a clean edge?
Yeah, well, you certainly – what you basically do is you put in a doorsill there. And it sits even with the door when it’s closed, so it’s about as thick as the door, plus another inch or so. So it’s usually a couple of inches thick. And it may be higher on one side where the carpet is and lower on the other side where the floor is.
But it’s a pretty standard piece of carpentry work or a pretty standard piece of a carpet-installation project. And I would recommend that you remove that carpet from the bathroom and put in a different type of flooring. What’s underneath that carpet? Is there tile under there now?
BARRY: No, it’s a cement slab. It’s a slab house.
TOM: OK. So then what you might want to think about doing is installing a laminate floor.
Now, laminate can look like tile or it could look like stone. But it’s very moisture-resistant, which is why laminate is a terrific choice for bathrooms. And if you want something to kind of warm it up, then put a throw rug on top of it. But I wouldn’t put carpet back.
BARRY: Yeah. Well, that’s what we were thinking, too.
TOM: Yep. Very simple step. Installing a doorsill is all you need to do. And if you don’t know how to do it yourself, I’m sure your installer can help.
BARRY: I don’t have to nail the threshold to the door – I mean to the floor?
TOM: Oh no. It’ll be secure to the floor but there’s lots of ways to do that. There’s a way that you can screw through the threshold with a special screw called a Tapcon fastener. And it will secure it to the floor. There are ways.
LESLIE: And then there’s a piece that snaps over it. There is – if you go into your home center, – Home Depot, Lowe’s or whatever you’ve got near you – in the flooring aisle, there’s going to be – at the end, you’ll see wood, metal. They’ll be called “transitions.” It’ll be from carpet to wood. It’ll have all the varieties of one surface to the other surface and all the different ways to install them. They’re pretty easy.
BARRY: Oh. Well, thank you guys for the information and I hope you have a good day.
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