How to make a DIY oak threshold that no one will know you made!

Making my own thresholds has been one of my favorite mini-projects in our new house! And let me just start off by saying I absolutely love woodworking. I always have, even when I was little. And now that my husband and I have our own house, I finally have the perfect outlet for my passion!

I have realized that, whenever possible, I much prefer to do woodworking by hand. Power tools are not only potentially dangerous, but they make so much noise! For me, they take the relaxing, slow-paced feel right out of the craft.

And so when I saw how expensive thresholds could be (the type we wanted, anyway), I thought to myself, how hard could they really be to make?

My husband, of course, was skeptical. But my can-do attitude never fails! (Almost never, anyway….)

Type of wood

The first thing you should figure out is what kind of wood you’d like to use. Big box stores like Home Depot and Lowes carry dimensional hardwood lumber like maple, oak, poplar, and maybe a few others I’m forgetting. My husband and I had just installed solid oak hardwood floors, so I went with oak to get a good match. The most important thing is that you go with a hard wood. Thresholds take a beating since they’re constantly walked on, so you’ll want something durable!

Our solid hardwood flooring was 3/4″ thick, so I picked out a board of the same thickness at Home Depot. However, the boards are not always labeled with exact measurements, which can be confusing. For example, a piece labeled 1″x6″ will actually be 3/4″x5 1/2″. Make sure to check the “actual” measurement. I went with 1″x4″ board, which has an actual measurement of 3/4″x3 1/2″.

Profile

In my case, I needed what is called a “reducer” threshold. This joins floors of different heights. Specifically, I wanted a threshold that would give a sort of gradual slope between the two floors. In fact, I needed to make three of these, which is another reason I decided to DIY them. For the kind of threshold I wanted, it would have easily cost more than $150 for three of them!

If you are simply making a threshold over two floors of the same height, you can just shape both sides. However, you might want to start with a thinner piece (perhaps 1/2″ instead of 3/4″) so the threshold doesn’t add too much of a bump to the floor.

Shaping the threshold by hand

My first attempt at this involved crudely chiseling the general shape I wanted with a hammer and chisel. I then followed up with a wood plane and sandpaper to smooth it out. However, by the second threshold, I was getting better with the wood plane and realized just planing it was much better than trying to chisel out the shape.

I first drew the shape I wanted on both sides of the threshold (see picture above). As I planed the threshold, I kept checking the line so see how close I was getting to it. Once I got down to the line (and this does take a while!), I further smoothed it out with a wood plane that sort of resembles a cheese-grater. Then I used a few grits of sandpaper to get it really smooth: 120, 180, 220.

Yes, you can use an electric sander, but often I prefer sitting out on my porch and sanding by hand. It’s genuinely so relaxing for me!

Staining the threshold

So this part was a bit tricky. I wanted the thresholds to match our hardwood flooring pretty well, but it can be tricky to get the color right (or figure out which color to buy, for that matter). I had two Varathane oil-based stain cans from previous projects, and I sort of just mixed them to get a good match. The first threshold ended up a bit lighter, but I thought it was close enough.

Polyurethane time!

I never look forward to using poly, but it’s a must with flooring. Shellac just won’t cut it. And when it comes to polyurethane, I am die-hard for oil-based. I tried water-based once and wasn’t impressed. Oil-based goes on so thick and really gives a solid coat of protection. That being said, you absolutely need to wear a respirator with this stuff. It’s super toxic!

I applied the polyurethane in thick coats with a foam brush. I like to use disposable brushes with polyurethane, since it seems impossible to get that stuff off my nice brushes, even with mineral spirits. Usually I’ll do two to three thick coats, depending on how impatient I’m feeling.

Installing the thresholds

Once that polyurethane was nice and dry, it was time to install the thresholds! Side note: Before I started the shaping process, I carefully measured the doorways and used my chop saw to cut the oak boards to the correct length. I then double checked that they fit before continuing with the planing and etc.

The actual installation was easy! This is where my husband loves to get involved. He grabbed the drill, some finish nails, and the hammer. He predrilled the holes in the threshold. Then, with the threshold smushed against the adjacent hardwood floor, he hammered the nails through the holes and down into the subfloor.

It’s best to drill holes on both sides of the threshold at intervals of 6-8 inches. Something like this:

We made sure to sink the nails with a nailset. Then my hubby filled the holes with a matching wood putty.

Here are all of the thresholds!

Done!

I still get satisfaction walking over my DIY thresholds! I’m so glad I didn’t resort to paying an arm and a leg for them and instead made them myself! Where there is a will there’s a way!

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below. I hope you are inspired to make your own DIY threshold!