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Interior building doors: how to buy, install, troubleshoot, or repair: guide to best practices. Green links show where you are. © Copyright 2013 InspectAPedia.com, All Rights Reserved. Author Daniel Friedman. Best Practices Guide to Choosing & Installing Interior Doors Also see INTERIORS of buildings, our home page for information about all topics relating to building interiors. Over 90% of interior doors today are either flush or molded. In either case, a facing of wood veneer or hardboard is glued to a core, providing the door with its strength. Traditional rail-and-style construction is still used, primarily for stain grade work, although composites and veneered construction are widely used with this type of door as well. Residential steel doors are used both at exterior entrances and in some interior passage installations such as the one shown here. Our steel door photo (left) is a fire rated steel door used indoors, installed between the garage and living area of a home in New York. Fire-rated doors for this application must also include a self-closing mechanism. Photo courtesy Eric Galow, Galow Homes. Frame-and-Panel Door Properties & Uses in Interiors
On stain-grade doors, the panels are either solid wood or veneered MDF, which offers greater dimensional stability and the appearance of solid wood to all but the most discerning eye. Flush and Molded Doors Properties & Uses in InteriorsThe standard choice for modern homes in the 1950s and 1960s, flush doors have a 1 8-inch wood or composite veneer glued to either a solid or hollow-core frame. Molded doors are constructed the same way, but with a hardboard facing molded to simulate a frame-and-panel wood door. All flush and molded doors have solid rails and stiles and a solid area (the lock block) where the lockset is installed. The rails and stiles are either solid wood, fingerjointed stock, or MDF in lower-end doors. Wood stiles may be combined with MDF or particleboard rails to save money. MDF stiles may not perform well in bathrooms or wet areas due to their tendency to absorb moisture. Hollow Core Door Properties & Uses in InteriorsA corrugated cardboard grid fills in between the rails and stiles and keeps the facings rigid on a hollowcore door. The lock block where the lock set is drilled may be solid wood, particleboard, or MDF. The rails and stiles are often wider than on solid-core doors to provide structural stability. Despite their light weight, hollow-core doors are dimensionally stable and problem-free as long as the installer does not remove too much material during installation. Solid Core Door Properties & Uses in InteriorsIn residential doors, the rails and stiles are typically not fastened to one another or to the core material, but are held together by the wood or hardboard facing. The core is typically particleboard, MDF, or low-density fiberboard, which reduces the weight by about 25%. A standard 2'6"x6'8" hollow-core flush door weighs about 30 pounds versus 75 to 80 pounds for a solid-core version. The price difference is modest, but most homeowners prefer the solid feel and better sound blocking of a solid-core door. However, the extra weight can put a strain on MDF jambs, which are now finding their way onto job sites. Driving one long hinge-screw into the framing at each hinge will help avoid problems. Molded Doors: Properties & Uses in InteriorsA molded door is built like a flush door, except the hardboard facing is molded to simulate the appearance of a traditional frame-and-panel door. Most are available with an embossed wood grain. As with a flush door, the core may be either hollow or solid. How well the molded surface simulates a wood panel door varies from one manufacturer to another. Look for a product with crisp, well-defined details at the panels and molded edges around them, called sticking. The solid-core version also feels like a solid wood door when operated and provides better sound blocking than a hollow model. Procedures for Cutting and Trimming Doors to Fit
Interior Door Standards and WarrantiesWith laminated doors, look for products in compliance with the WDMA Standard I.S.1-87. Under this standard, door samples must withstand multiple wetting and drying cycles without significant delamination. Products in compliance typically carry a one- to five-year warranty against delamination. Most warranties also cover any warping and twisting in excess of 1/4 inch across the length or width of the door but require that the door be sealed on all six edges. Oversized doors may have more limited protection against warping. -- Adapted with permission from Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction. Industry & Trade Associations for Carpeting, Lighting, Finishes, Wood Products, Flooring, Painting & DecoratingAmerican Lighting Association www.americanlightingassoc.com Association of the Wall and Ceiling Industries www.awci.org Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) www.carpet-rug.org Drywall Finishing Council www.dwfc.org Forest Stewardship Program www.fscus.org FloorFacts www.floorfacts.com The Gypsum Association www.gypsum.org National Oak Flooring Manufacturers Association (NOFMA) www.nofma.com National Wood Flooring Association www.woodfloors.org Painting and Decorating Contractors of America www.pdca.org Smartwood/Rainforest Alliance www.smartwood.org -- Adapted with permission from Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)... Ask a Question or Search InspectApediaQuestions & answers or comments about how to choose, install, & troubleshoot or repair building interior doors. Ask a Question or Enter Search Terms in the InspectApedia search box just below. Technical Reviewers & ReferencesRelated Topics, found near the top of this page suggest articles closely related to this one.
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