A Guide To Luxury Vinyl Plank Transition Strips

In a perfect world, every room in your home would use the same flooring, flowing together seamlessly without the need for transition pieces. In the real world, however, this is not the case. First, for aesthetic reasons, who wants the same flooring throughout their entire home? Second, we use various rooms for drastically different purposes. While luxury vinyl plank flooring is ideal for several rooms in your home, it will eventually meet other flooring types. It is here that you’ll need the right transition piece(s) to create an effortless flow between these surfaces.
 
Kitchens and bathrooms call for flooring that can handle water and moisture. Many people enjoy carpet in their bedrooms for the comfort and warmth it offers. No matter the flooring transition, MSI has a variety of transition pieces produced specifically to gel with MSI flooring products effortlessly. 

Keep reading to discover which transition pieces blend best with your luxury vinyl plank and/or other flooring types.

Ashton Maracay Brown Luxury Vinyl Planks

WHY TRANSITION STRIPS? 

After putting your time, money, and effort into selecting your dream floorings and having them installed, you want to ensure beautiful transitions that increase safety and minimize wear. This is achieved by adding the final touches with MSI transition pieces. 
 
Many of us have tripped where different floorings meet. When two flooring types collide, and there is a height differential, this creates a dangerous tripping hazard. Choosing the right transition strip fills the gap between floors and reduces the tripping hazard. 
 
When two flooring types come together, the juxtaposition of styles isn’t always the best look. Not only do transition pieces cover the aforementioned hazardous gap that may exist between floorings, but the right piece and color can also create a great-looking harmonious transition between styles.
 
With different flooring options meeting in high-traffic areas, a transition piece will protect the once-exposed edges from wear and tear. This protection also extends to lower-traffic areas.

TRANSITIONING TO CARPET

You studied up on the luxury vinyl flooring benefits and the ease of luxury vinyl care and maintenance and picked out an elegant and practical floor tile from the Everlife^® luxury vinyl plank collection, and it’s perfect for your home. The installation process was a breeze, and the flooring looks great. So what’s the best transition piece to execute a gorgeous passage from the tile in your hallway to the carpet in your bedroom? Since there is often a significant height difference between these surfaces, use a surface reducer or end cap from MSI’s luxury vinyl flooring accessories. 

The surface reducer fills the gap between the floors’ unequal heights. The result is a transition with increased safety and an effortless look. An end cap is ideal if the luxury vinyl plank edges are at the same level of a doorway.  
 
For different floorings of the same height, use MSI’s T-molding. While a T-molding isn’t used to make up a height differential, it indeed provides a charming transition between floorings.  

Photo Credit: @shopstylesquared on Instagram

TRANSITIONING TO STAIRS

Use either MSI’s stair nose (flush) or stair nose (overlapping) for an uninterrupted transition from luxury vinyl planks to a set of stairs. Both options share the same purpose and performance, but each delivers a different look. A flush stair nose is best to provide a tidy, modern look. For a more classic look, the overlapping stair nose is the right choice with its visible protrusion. 
 
Take a look at this informative video for info on a third option, stair treads, which fully cover each stair’s top layer. Additionally, this video covers a number of Everlife® luxury vinyl tile and plank accessories.

TRANSITIONING OUTDOORS

Just as inside your house, outdoor patio tile such as porcelain pavers are often not limited to a single style and require transition pieces for the most natural look. Or perhaps you have an indoor-outdoor room. In this case, use an indoor MSI porcelain tile with matching Arterra Porcelain Pavers with ZeroSlip™ technology to create an uninterrupted appearance that looks great and increases safety. 

ADDITIONAL VINYL ACCESSORIES

In addition to MSI Everlife^® transitional pieces and trim, there are other products created primarily to make your MSI Everlife® Luxury Vinyl Tile and Plank floorings as stunning as possible. 

Your home is the sanctuary where you and your loved ones retreat to rest and recover from the everyday demands of modern life. One of the main elements of an effective sanctuary is comfort. By using underlayments like MSI’s Abatec for MSI Rigid Core luxury vinyl flooring, you help prevent your LVP from sliding and reduce the sound of walking and running. Even more impressive, these underlayments are shock-absorbing to make for a softer feel and more comfortable walk, and evening out slight imperfections in the subfloor. The underlayment also offers moisture protection beneath your luxury vinyl flooring.

Another essential vinyl flooring accessory is our MSI vinyl flooring adhesives. This collection comprises adhesive, vinyl flooring primer, and sealer products developed especially for MSI’s Everlife^® Luxury Vinyl Flooring. This collection of extremely-low odor, high-strength, zero-calculated VOC products contains everything you need to pull off a professional installation, whether DIY or through hiring a pro. 
 
From luxury vinyl plank transition strips to vinyl flooring adhesives, there are numerous brands to choose from to support your Everlife® luxury vinyl plank flooring, but wouldn’t you feel more confident knowing the same widely trusted brand that produced your flooring also made the various accessories required for the more beautiful outcome? You wouldn’t use engine parts in a Mercedes-Benz from another car brand. The same wisdom applies to luxury vinyl plank flooring. These accessories were specifically designed to work effortlessly with MSI’s Everlife® luxury vinyl plank flooring, and the irresistible results are crystal clear.

FINAL TRANSITION

Creating a harmonious transition from one style of flooring to another is key to achieving the best look, but the right transition piece also provides so much more. In addition to looking great, these transition pieces reduce tripping hazards that, left as is, can cause serious injury. They also cut down on the wear and tear of high traffic areas such as busy doorways inside your home as well as entryways. 
 
If you’re still deciding if luxury vinyl tile or planks are right for your home, check out this detailed guide to luxury vinyl tile to learn more about its wide array of benefits. And to explore the full range of MSI's luxury vinyl planks for your design needs, chat with us online, visit one of our showrooms, or find an MSI authorized dealer near you.

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