You wouldn’t want to see complete uniformity in a floor covering, either at home or at the office

You wouldn’t want to see complete uniformity in a floor covering, either at home or at the office.   One definitely encounters situations like this, but it is either a holdover from times past or the result of an underfinanced remodeling job.  In any case, you don’t come away with a very favorable impression of a room like this.

What kinds of floor coverings can you get for the modern apartment or home?  Often, linoleum, ceramic tile or ceramic granite tile is laid in kitchens and hallways (those places where there is always the highest concentration of actively dirtying substances): durable and water resistant coverings, they do not suffer from the frequent need for wet mopping.  For offices and living rooms, the most prestigious floor coverings are chosen: parquet or hardwood flooring: these rooms are the face of the house, and they should be impressive.  In bedrooms you usually find carpeting.

All of these types of coverings are of different heights.   During installation in any case, areas of unevenness are formed.  With hardwood flooring and laminate biegn “floating floors”, there are no solid attachments to the walls.  Therefore, in order to cover all of these gaps we use thresholds, and rings in those places where pipes and columns exit through the floor.

Thresholds come as single-level, bi-level (for example, the joint between hardwood flooring and linoleum) and capping type (for entrance doors).  They can be fastened using a simple unconcealed method (then the fastenings will be visible on the surface of the threshold), or using a more complicated covered method (the threshold is fastened on pre-installed support hooks, as with baseboards).  In addition there are flexible threshold-moldings which are sold by the roll, then cut, soaked, and after hardening, take on their final form (especially convenient when there are uneven surfaces).

Thresholds primarily serve an esthetic function: they even out differences in height between different floor coverings, conceal gaps, hide defects in installation or laying out of the floor covering, and they may also play a role as a decorative element and demarcate rooms where all the flooring is of one and the same material.

The second basic function of thresholds is defensive.  They protect the substrate from the entry of moisture, dust, small objects and dirt. Otherwise the floor covering may blister, become deformed, or begin to squeak.

Thresholds may be made from various materials.  Wooden thresholds are chosen for hardwood flooring, but they are also subject to the risk of deformation due to humidity.  Therefore, it is often preferable to use aluminum thresholds laminated to have the basic color of the flooring.  Aluminum does not suffer vulnerability, and in addition you can give it the same color as the door handle, which perfectly harmonizes the design of the doorway and finishes the interior.  For “floating floors” cork thresholds are also convenient; under expansion or contraction of the wooden pieces, the glued-down cork threshold plays the role of a spring.  Of course, plastic and rubber, being artificial materials, also should not escape attention: the key factor is their strength and simplicity.

So, thresholds are a finishing element which is totally indispensible for laying a floor.  Just like “0” comes before “1”, so parquet or laminate are “one”, and thresholds are “zero”.  But together, they make a perfect ten.