Laying Engineered wood floor, rooms have different floor heights.

Happyfairy94

I am looking to lay engineered flooring in my hallway. My plan is to also have it in my front room and living room which run off the hallway. The only issue is the living room floor sits 7mm higher than the hallway floor.

I would really love to not have threshold bars if possible so I wondered if I could use a 7mm fibreboard underlay in the hallway and front room and a 1mm underlay in the living room by room to bridge the height gap?
please let me know if this is a terrible idea 😅

Also since I am asking anyway, and the knowledge is so good round here…

My floor is concrete and has the old asbestos tiles which are all in good condition. On top of those there are peel and stick vinyl tiles. Everything is solid and level.
Can I just lay my new floor straight over the top? And do I need a DPM?

Thanks 😊

ritz55

Not sure on the initial question. But yes you can lay the new floor on top and yes a DPM should be used as you have concrete flooring.

Happyfairy94

Thanks! That is good to know.

Hopefully someone else might be able to advise on whether the underlay change is a terrible idea… maybe a threshold strip is just a better idea to avoid issues 😬

silvercar

Unless it is perfectly, perfectly level eventually you will notice. My kitchen floor looked level, though part was concrete, part boarded. After 3 years we can see a faint line where the join is. I wish now that we’d had the whole lot screeded first.

jonnydeppiwish!

use a solid wood threshold - much simple and cheaper and looks nice

onomatopoeia99

Be aware if you raise the floor level of your hallway your front door may not open. When I put 24mm engineered wood + 3mm foil-backed underlay I had to remove the original type 10 front door from 1951 and modify it using a circular saw (I was aware I would need to, it didn't catch me by surprise).

When I got a replacement front door made in steel I was very careful to ensure there was clearance, which there is but not very much.

There is a step into my kitchen which has a 15mm higher floor level due to me installing retro-fit UFH. I don't notice it day-to-day.

Happyfairy94

Luckily the hallway floor sits quite low, it will actually be nicer to raise it up a bit I think. The door has about 40mm of clearance so plenty of space for a new floor 😀 24mm engineered wood must be lovely quality and warm underfoot?

I think that is a good call for using the solid wood threshold strip, I think trying to bridge the two rooms without one might be a bit ambitious.