When purchasing a wood door, you can&#;t just go with any old wood and call it a day. Different species of wood have different properties, and each one brings its own pros and cons to the table for different applications.
Please visit our website for more information on this topic.
Today, we want to talk about interior doors and choosing the best wood for interior doors. We&#;ll have pros and cons for the various wood species discussed, along with other information about why a certain type of wood is a good choice for interior doors.
Let&#;s get started.
Why is Interior Wood Choice Important?
You might be wondering why you should even care about interior wood doors. After all, they&#;re indoors. So, they won&#;t be exposed to the elements at all unless your home is severely compromised, then, you have much bigger problems than what type of wood your doors are made out of.
Well. there are some very good reasons.
First, there&#;s the price to performance value. Since an interior door isn&#;t going to be exposed to the elements, you probably don&#;t need to shell out the money necessary for water-resistant and otherwise incredibly durable doors. However, you still want them to look great and perform well over a long period.
Then, you have to consider the different threats interior doors face. Such as having kids. Kids tend to slam bedroom doors, run into them when they get rowdy, and otherwise abuse doors even if they don&#;t mean to. You also have to consider the abuse they&#;ll go through when you go to move furniture or do other things that might result in accidental damage to your doors. If you go too cheap, your wood door probably won&#;t survive a good knock from a recliner or table you&#;re moving.
Finally, the appearance of the wood is important. There is a huge visual difference between teak and cheap fiberboard, even if you paint the wood. If you make the wrong choice, it can clash with your home&#;s aesthetic design, and it can even drive down your home value by quite a bit. This is a big deal if you&#;re ever going to sell the home.
As you can see, it&#;s still important to make a good choice with interior doors. They might not be exposed to rain, hail, and tons of sunlight, but they&#;re still going to face abuse, and they need to be visually appealing.
Types of Wood for Interior Doors
In this section, we&#;re going to go over the various wood species used to make interior doors, the pros and cons each of them has, and what situations they&#;re best in so we can help you choose the best wood door for both single interior doors and double interior doors.
Some wood varieties are better than others, but they all have a place on the market.
1: Compressed Wood
These are the cheapest doors you&#;re going to get for the interior of your home. They&#;re made of finely mulched wood that is held together with a bonding solution and compressed until it creates a wood board. This isn&#;t an optimal material for a door, but it does have its advantages.
Pros:
This type of wood door is insanely cheap. Since it&#;s not solid, uses what is essentially rejected material, and can be made dirt cheap, the savings involved with that are passed down to you.
There aren&#;t many other pros, but you can count the ease of painting this type of door a pro to a degree. It&#;s more of a requirement. The wood isn&#;t aesthetically appealing. So, you want to put a nice, thick coat of paint on all of its surfaces for it to look decent. Luckily, the surface of this wood does accept paint fairly well.
Cons:
The cons of this type of door far outweigh the pros unless you&#;re broke and need a door. These doors are made from several boards of compressed wood; so, they&#;re hollow. Pair that with the general lack of strength the wood has, and you have a hole-prone door that you need to baby to keep from destroying. You definitely don&#;t want to let a bad moving service rush a bunch of furniture past doors like this.
Then, you have the lack of aesthetic appeal we described earlier. You HAVE to paint these doors. If the factory paint starts chipping, you&#;ll notice that the door itself looks pretty crumby.
Conclusion:
We only recommend this type of door if you absolutely cannot afford a higher quality door. These simply aren&#;t made to high enough quality standards to last a long time, and you&#;ll get more out of your investment with a solid, high-quality, hardwood.
2: Poplar Wood Doors
Poplar is the second most popular wood species for interior doors. It&#;s inexpensive, has a uniform grain, and great coloring, and is plenty strong enough to handle the abuse that interior doors are exposed to during an average day. They&#;re not the strongest, and they do have some drawbacks, but in general, you can&#;t go wrong with a poplar door.
Pros:
Poplar has several pros.
First, it&#;s inexpensive. Yes, it costs more than some garbage compressed wood doors, but it&#;s still far cheaper than premium hardwood options. It doesn&#;t sacrifice too much performance for that kind of quality, either. It can withstand some decent slams from your kids, and while it will gouge if you run hard furniture legs into it or something like that, it isn&#;t made of eggshells, either.
It&#;s also great for painting. Poplar doesn&#;t have wood knots or any crazy grain patterns. So, you can skip all of the sanding and filling that you would have to do before painting other doors. Also, with its relatively light and uniform coloring, you won&#;t have to use tons of primer to get your favorite color to pop on it. This trait also leads to one of its biggest drawbacks, but it&#;s still a good thing for at least half of homeowners.
Finally, it looks great in a modern-themed home. In a log cabin or something else that has a more rustic aesthetic, you probably won&#;t want to use poplar.
Cons:
Poplar isn&#;t perfect, though. The uniform, fairly straight grain of poplar makes it a horrible choice for staining. Not only will the stain have trouble sinking into the wood, but there&#;s also not a lot for the stain to highlight. You&#;ll get much better staining results with a different type of wood.
Then, you have to consider that it&#;s not as durable as other hardwoods. While it will definitely last a long time in the home of an elderly couple or people without kids and very little reason to constantly bring in big pieces of furniture or do other abusive things to their doors, a home with rowdy kids, or a high likelihood of gouging, is sure to leave poplar doors looking a bit raggedy within a decade.
Conclusion:
Poplar is a great budget option, and if you have a modern-themed home, it will work great, especially if you&#;re not likely to abuse your interior doors much. With that being said, families that will abuse the doors every day, or people with rustic homes, should definitely go with another option in most circumstances.
3: Knotty Alder
This is a direct analog to poplar in several ways, in both contrasting and similar ways. Knotty alder is very affordable, has a similar durability to poplar, and has similar coloring. However, this is far knottier, and its woodgrain isn&#;t nearly as uniform. That creates a completely different set of pros and cons in various areas.
In short, unless you really need a high-end door, or you&#;re going to be abusing your interior doors to a ridiculous degree, knotty alder and poplar are your most logical options for entirely different situations.
That&#;s why knotty alder is the most popular, and poplar comes in second. That&#;s on a market with options such as teak and mahogany for people to choose from.
Pros:
Like poplar, knotty alder is very affordable, but it&#;s not &#;cheap&#; like the compressed doors we talked about. It also has a very high performance-to-price ratio that consumers from all walks of life are sure to enjoy. Also, like poplar, it&#;s very durable, but it might not stand up perfectly against super rowdy kids or hard furniture items being moved around and jammed into the doors frequently.
This is where knotty alder is different, though. Knotty alder, as the name suggests, has a somewhat crazy grain with plenty of knots. This is the opposite of poplar, and it performs the opposite when it comes to accepting paint and stain.
Knotty alder is perfect for staining. There&#;s plenty of complexity to the grain for stains of various colors to highlight, and the odd grain accepts it perfectly. However, it&#;s not very good for painting. You would have to fill in the knots and sand them heavily to make them suitable for painting; plus, painting it would cover up its natural beauty.
As such, knotty alder is better for a different aesthetic than poplar. It&#;s a better choice for rustic homes with &#;bare&#; wood doors. It can fit into some modern design themes, but rustic themes definitely make it shine.
Conclusion:
In short, knotty alder is basically the same as poplar, but better for the opposite of the situation, you&#;d choose poplar. If you have a rustic or traditional home design, and you want to save some money while getting a high-quality door, knotty alder is for you.
4: Oak Doors
Oak is an absolutely stunning wood that can fit well with both rustic and modern themes, however, it does lean heavily towards the rustic side. It can accept paint well, or it can be stained.
However, it is a little pricier, and doors made from oak tend to cost quite a bit more than poplar or knotty alder doors. With that being said, it&#;s also a woodworker&#;s dream. So, you can usually find doors with some fairly intricate designs if you really want fancy interior doors.
Pros:
Oak&#;s main advantage is that it is stunning. Its woodgrain is open, but it&#;s not overly crazy, and its lush red coloring is beautiful in the vast majority of settings. There&#;s a reason it&#;s commonly used as furniture wood.
However, don&#;t think beauty is all it has to offer. It&#;s also quite durable. Red oak can withstand abuse such as scrapes and gouges much better than poplar or knotty alder.
Finally, oak accepts stains wonderfully. Almost any stain can make red oak pop in a way most people only expect from mahogany. It can be painted easily, too. However, we don&#;t recommend it. That&#;s like buying a sports car and then burying it in your garage. Let that natural beauty shine.
Cons:
There&#;s only one real con to oak, it&#;s expensive. Interior doors really shouldn&#;t see much abuse unless you have very rowdy kids or are prone to smacking your doors while you move furniture. So, extreme durability isn&#;t a necessity, and you&#;re paying a premium for it.
Conclusion
Chaoda Product Page
:
Oak is an amazing wood, but unless you&#;re trying to splurge a bit, or you&#;re really abusive to interior doors, you don&#;t need to spend that much on something that isn&#;t exposed to the elements. Of course, if you have the money and want a great door, you can&#;t go wrong with oak. It&#;s beautiful, durable, and while expensive, it&#;s still cheaper than something like teak.
5: Mahogany Doors
Mahogany doors are the cream of the crop. They boast a number of major benefits that most wood species don&#;t offer, and they are absolutely stunning when it comes to natural visuals and the amount of detail artisan crafters can put into them. However, you do have to expect to pay well for them. They&#;re not the most expensive doors, but they do cost more than the other options on this list. With that being said, they&#;re worth every penny, and they will easily outlast you unless you go out of your way to mistreat them.
Pros:
Mahogany offers a ton of pros. Its tight, yet flexible, grain makes it incredibly hard and resistant to surface damage, but it has enough tensile strength to keep it from being brittle. It&#;s certainly not the type of wood you need to worry about, even if you have kids running around damaging everything. Then, you have to consider its excellent water repellent qualities when it&#;s stained properly.
Durability isn&#;t all mahogany has to offer, though. Its reddish-brown coloring and beautiful grain patterns make it one of the most attractive wood species available. If you couple that with the fact that it&#;s great for woodworking, you get a door that can be extremely detailed, and its natural beauty is something to behold, too.
Cons:
We may be a bit biased, but Mahogany doors offer the best value of all hardwoods and are what Realwood Crafters uses to manufacture high quality wood doors right here in the U.S.A.
Conclusion:
This is the best wood you can get for interior doors. Doors made from mahogany will easily outlive you, and probably several more generations, when treated right, and that helps offset their higher initial cost. You&#;ll likely have to replace several doors made from the other woods we listed before you even have to consider replacing a mahogany door.
Which Wood Species is Best for Interior Doors?
As you can see, all of the most popular door options have their own pros and cons. They excel in certain situations, and they fall behind a bit in others. For example, a compressed door is really cheap with no real advantages, but oak is expensive, and some of its advantages aren&#;t necessary indoors. As such, alder and poplar are almost functionally the same, but their woodgrain makes them better in opposite situations.
Take a minute to define your needs, and choose the best wood for interior doors that matches them. However, make sure you purchase your interior doors from a trusted wood door producer like Realwood Crafters. That will ensure that you get your money&#;s worth.
If you&#;re a distributor in need of commercial wood doors, you have the opportunity to provide your clients with high-quality, durable doors made in a variety of sizes and styles. From the material to the size of the hardware, your options are almost endless.
This guide offers you a review of the different types of interior doors you can purchase for your inventory, some tips on what type of door might be best for your client base and how we at Manhattan Door can help you with the perfect customized doors for your clients.
Wood is one of the best materials for interior doors because of its:
Contact Our Team
You can choose either classic veneer or plastic laminate for your doors. The pros and cons of each type are as follows:
Flush wood doors are basic doors with flat surfaces. Their clean, elegant lines complement the décor of any commercial building. Wood veneer doors are a great option because they are:
Those designing commercial office buildings appreciate the functional design of a wood veneer door. You can paint or stain flush doors any color you want, and their simplicity blends in with any décor theme of a commercial building. Any industry could use this type of wood interior door.
High-quality, affordable laminate doors are efficient for areas with high traffic. Commercial industries choose plastic laminate doors for their businesses because they are:
You can choose from different design options for plastic laminate doors, including, among many others:
A door&#;s core is what&#;s between the two sheets of material that brings the door together. As you consider which is the best core material, think about the function of the type of door you need. All the cores we offer are reliable and safe for companies of various industries to use. We also use materials that are compliant with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.
Hollow-core honeycomb consists of four-by-four inch corrugated wood cells in hexagonal shapes. This five-ply core is affordable yet provides a sound structure for your door. Lightweight hollow-core doors are easy to maintain and install.
This type of core also meets the standards of the Window and Door Manufacturers Association (WDMA). It also complies with environmental/LEED standards because of its renewable material. Hollow-core honeycomb doors perform well in bathrooms, closets, bedrooms, apartment buildings, office buildings and hotels.
Diet core is a unique type of core designed by Manhattan Door Made from lightweight natural wood, diet core combines the benefits of both hollow-core and solid wood core doors. While it has more structure than a hollow-core door, it is also more lightweight than a solid wood door.
Diet core complies with LEED standards for an eco-friendly core. It has low carbon emission rates and uses all-natural renewable materials. Diet core measures more than 50 percent lighter than particleboard and SCL door cores.
Fire-rated door core insulates a building from spreading fire and smoke. Federal and local regulations often require commercial doors to be fire-resistant to some degree. Our fire-rated doors have been tested to last up to 20, 45 and 90 minutes before a fire breaks out.
Structural composite lumber (SCL) core consists of various woods held together by resin. SCL provides more structure than particleboard but is also cost-effective. SCL core is fire-rated up to 20 minutes, according to the Warnock Hersey Listing. Since it is resistant to warping in humidity, a SCL door would perform well as a bathroom door or the door to a break room.
A solid core provides a door with the most structure. Since they are heavier and sturdier, they provide the best sound reduction. Solid core doors look and feel like solid wood doors without the cost. They are fire-resistant, and they offer good insulation.
You can choose a plastic laminate solid wood core or a lightweight wood core. A lightweight wood core is easy to carry and install. A solid core door could benefit any industry, especially an office building. Employees need their privacy, and they need to know they are safe as they come to work every day.
Particleboard is the most cost-effective type of door core. While it&#;s lightweight, five-ply particleboard LD-1 and LD-2 complies with ANSI and WDMA standards. Manufacturers create particleboard with wood chips and resin. Particleboard is easy to maintain and install.
Contact Our Team
Wood veneer involves covering over the door&#;s core with two panels of thick wood. Wood veneer doors give you the same texture of solid wood but at a fraction of the price.
We offer a variety of cuts, colors and matches. Use these steps to figure out what type of veneer you want for your custom-made doors.
Create a wood veneer cut that will enhance the aesthetic of your client&#;s office building. The panel slices that the manufacturer creates with these cuts are called leaves. At Manhattan Door, we offer the following cuts for your wood veneer door, including:
After the manufacturer cuts your leaves, the pieces of wood are about the size of a two-by-four piece of plywood. The manufacturer needs to match the leaves to create a wood veneer interior door. The type of match you choose depends on the type of appearance you want the door to have.
Door manufacturers match separate pieces of wood veneer together in the following types:
The color of your wood veneer door depends on what type of material you want to use. You can stain natural wood veneer doors, or you could also appreciate the natural beauty of the wood. Our wood veneer doors are available in various wood materials, including:
We can also make doors from other wood veneers which can be specially ordered upon request:
The size of the doors should also be a consideration. Before choosing a door size, you should consider:
Interior doors are a standard size of 1 3/8&#; thick. Depending on your door core, you can get a thickness of up to 2.25&#;. Most interior doors are two to three feet wide and seven feet tall. Each type of door follows a different standard of sizing. Clients now request doors that are taller and narrower than traditional interior doors.
Modern interior doors follow a standard size of six feet and eight inches tall and three feet wide. The standard size for closet doors is eight feet tall by two feet and six inches wide.
Here are the standard sizes for our wood doors:
For any of these types of doors, call us to find out if we have a larger size available for your custom-made wood door.
Give your clients plenty of door options to choose from. They will know what size door they need after they measure the width and height of the space in which they need a door.
The style of the room will also influence the size of the door. Modern interior design frequently utilizes high ceilings and more space. Spacious rooms give an office space a peaceful atmosphere &#; and they also provide more comfort for residents of an apartment building.
Wood interior doors should also follow the American Disabilities Association (ADA) standards. For wheelchairs to fit through a door, the frame needs to be wider than the standard 36 inches.
With a custom-made door, contractors can install a door in an unconventional space. Unconventional spaces are commonly found in older buildings that have an outdated layout. Additionally, ceilings in older buildings tend to be too high or low. A custom door can also help you meet building regulations.
Knowing what hardware you want to have on your doors tells us what kind of holes and notches to make in the door. These are the types of hardware to consider as you design your commercial wood door:
Most interior doors use locks to protect valuables or provide privacy for employees. Locks within doorknobs are convenient and easy to use. These are the most common types of locks for interior wooden doors in a commercial building:
The doorknob of an interior door is determined by its function. Some common doorknobs and handles include:
The hinges on an interior door are determined by the space in which the door exits and how it is meant to open. Generally, hinges can go on either side of a door. Some common options are:
Contact Our Team
After you have decided on a design, begin the process of designing and buying your wood interior door. At Manhattan Door Corp, we pride ourselves on our quick turnaround rate. Here is the process for ordering doors with Manhattan Door Corp:
Manhattan Door will create your door in one day or less. While the industry&#;s standard is a few weeks, we will have your door ready in two to three weeks. We can also accommodate rush orders to get your doors done to meet quick deadlines.
Complete the process by ordering your custom doors with our team at Manhattan Door If you want a door without having to wait too long, we&#;ll give you exactly what you want. Call us at 718-963- to speak with one of our professionals. You could also fill out a contact form online for more information.
Contact Our Team
For more Wooden door wholesaleinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.