Your Guide to Interior Doors: Essential Insights Before You Buy
Before committing to a new interior door, it’s wise to consider a few crucial aspects that will significantly impact your selection.
Understanding Door Types
Interior doors boast a remarkable variety, offering ample opportunities to enhance every room in your home. While the spectrum of door designs is broad, you’ll generally encounter two primary interior door panel categories: slab and pre-hung.
A slab door is essentially the door panel itself, arriving without a frame, hinges, or handle set. These doors are typically unfinished, meaning they’ll require painting or staining to match your desired aesthetic. However, occasionally, you might discover some slab doors that are already finished and ready for immediate hanging. When you’re looking to refresh existing slab doors, consider simply upgrading the hardware like hinges or handle sets. A slab door truly serves as a blank canvas, empowering you to craft any look you envision.
In contrast, a pre-hung door arrives as a complete unit: a frame-mounted door with hinges already attached, ready for straightforward installation into a prepared doorway.
Size and Measurement Precision
The most common interior door sizes, often referred to as average or standard interior door sizes, generally align with established building codes. While alternative dimensions do exist, you’ll typically find these standard sizes readily available at major retailers.
Accurate interior door dimensions and opening measurements are paramount when installing or replacing an interior door. If you’re swapping an existing door for a pre-hung unit, selecting a door with identical dimensions to the original is key.
Standard interior door widths typically span 24, 28, 30, 32, and 36 inches, with the standard interior door height mandating a minimum of 80 inches. For a slab door, you’ll need to measure its width, height, and thickness. For a pre-hung door, meticulously measure the width and height of the door slab, the rough opening (the clear space between the studs before the frame is installed), and the thickness of the jamb.
Handing: Defining Door Swing
Handing, or the direction of the door swing, is a critical factor for both placement and the selection of door hardware. To determine the handing, position yourself on the “outside” of the door (the side from which you would typically enter, such as in a hallway facing a bedroom). If the hinges are located on the left side of the door, it’s a left-handed door. Conversely, if the hinges are on the right side, it’s a right-handed door.
For detailed guidance on installing or replacing an interior door, you can consult specific installation resources.
Explore Diverse Door Styles
Barn Doors
Barn doors offer a contemporary and stylish approach to room separation, imparting an artisan flair to any space. While some barn doors glide effortlessly along an upper rail, others incorporate a bottom track to prevent unwanted swinging. Barn doors vary widely in style, from ruggedly rustic to highly polished, and are available prefinished or unfinished in a multitude of designs. These interior barn doors are not only fashionable and functional but also add significant architectural interest.
Should you wish to convert most existing doors into a barn door, conversion kits are also available. For design inspiration, exploring various DIY barn door ideas can be incredibly helpful.
Barn door hardware comes in a variety of finishes and complementary accessories. Both top-mount and side-mount hardware options are available, with mounting hardware kits often providing an all-in-one solution for single-door applications.
Pocket Doors
A pocket door is a clever sliding door that discreetly disappears into the wall cavity when opened. This makes it an exceptional choice when space is limited, eliminating the need for a door’s swing arc. Depending on the entryway’s width, you can opt for single or double pocket doors.
You can create a custom pocket door by pairing a standard slab door with a specific pocket door frame kit designed to fit within your wall space. Using a slab door for this purpose not only conserves space but also provides greater design flexibility as you personalize the door’s appearance.
Accordion Doors
Accordion doors feature sections that fold in a concertina fashion along a track with wheels when opened. They prove highly effective as room dividers, closet doors, and utility room doors due to their compact folding mechanism.
French Doors
French doors are distinguished by their multiple “lites” (panes of glass) that run the length of the door. While offering minimal privacy, they excel at allowing light to filter in from adjoining rooms, creating a brighter, more open feel. They are typically installed as a side-by-side pair, with each door swinging away from the other. This classic style effortlessly introduces an air of elegance to any space.
Bifold Doors
Bifold doors consist of symmetrically hinged door panels that fold outward and to the side as a pair when opened. Many bifold doors are also louvered, which promotes better air circulation compared to traditional hinged doors. Since bifold doors don’t swing and occupy less space than a standard hinged door, they are an excellent selection for closets, laundry rooms, utility rooms, or as room dividers.
Bifold Barn Doors
Much like conventional bifold doors, bifold barn doors feature symmetrically hinged panels that fold outward when opened. However, in keeping with the barn door style, these doors are suspended from a rail and pivot open along that track.
Bypass/Sliding Doors
Bypass doors comprise two or more sections that glide on a parallel track in either direction. Designed to slide past one another, they are particularly useful as closet doors where maximizing access to the opening is beneficial.
Bypass Barn Doors
Bypass barn doors allow you to incorporate the popular barn door aesthetic even when traditional barn door swing space is unavailable. These doors can be mounted on a single track, where one door remains stationary, or on a double track, enabling both doors to open and reveal the full width of the entryway for double the access.
Saloon/Cafe Doors
Saloon/cafe doors charmingly define your space without completely closing off the area. These distinctive doors are available in a variety of design styles and sizes, including full-length options, and typically come with the necessary hardware for installation.
Hidden Doors
The most intriguing way to conceal a door is often in plain sight. Hidden doors, also known as jib doors, are secret entrances cleverly designed to blend seamlessly into their surroundings. They can be disguised as hidden bookcases, mirrors, wine racks, or even staircases. Some designs are also flush-mounted with the wall, making them virtually undetectable.
Understanding Door Finishes
The finish you choose for your new door will largely depend on the time and effort you’re prepared to invest in the process.
Primed
Primed doors arrive prepped with a coating that seals the wood, creating an ideal surface for stain or paint adhesion.
Stained
A stained door enhances the wood’s natural grain pattern and achieves a consistent color tone, allowing the inherent beauty of the wood to shine through. Stains are available in a broad spectrum of shades, ranging from lighter tones like honey maple or white oak to deep, rich hues such as black or espresso.
Prefinished
A prefinished door is factory-finished and ready for immediate installation. It arrives stained or painted, with pre-drilled holes for the doorknob and hinge screws. All you need to do is install it.
Unfinished
Unfinished doors are truly a blank slate, requiring more effort than prefinished options. While they are pre-sanded, they haven’t been stained or painted. Interior doors are available in a diverse array of styles, providing endless possibilities to enhance every room in your home.
Exploring Materials
Molded Composite
Molded composite is an affordable, manufactured product crafted from a wood-based compound. It’s engineered to emulate the appearance and tactile quality of real wood. Maintenance for composite doors is remarkably easy; they resist fading over time and never require painting.
Wood
Wood is available in various species, each possessing unique looks and qualities.
Wood Species
The term “hardwood” refers to trees that are flowering plants (as opposed to “softwood,” which are cone-bearing trees) and does not inherently denote the wood’s actual hardness.
- Knotty alder is a versatile, slightly soft hardwood species characterized by small knots and a rich tone, lending a rustic feel. Its uniform texture and straight grain take stain and lacquer beautifully.
- Knotty pine is a lightweight wood with a fine texture, straight grain, and small, tight knots. When painted, the knots can “bleed through” over time, so it’s essential to seal them thoroughly before painting.
- Lauan is a tropical wood species sourced from Southeast Asia, commonly used in the production of plywood.
- Oak, one of the most widely utilized hardwoods, is known for its strength and durability. It typically has a light color with prominent grain patterns.
- Pine is a straight-grained softwood available in over 100 species. It’s lightweight and resistant to swelling and shrinking.
Engineered Wood
Engineered wood materials, such as medium-density fiberboard (MDF) and hardboard, are renowned for their longevity and durability.
PVC
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) doors are durable, as well as water- and fire-resistant. They come in a wide range of colors to complement any decor.
Understanding Core Types
Hollow Core Doors
Hollow core doors are lightweight, economical, and easy to install, making them a popular choice for many homeowners. Their versatility suits them well for bedrooms, bathrooms, and closets; however, they don’t offer high-quality sound blocking and have minimal fire resistance.
Cutting hollow core doors can be somewhat intricate because they aren’t entirely hollow; they contain an internal foam or cardboard core. To cut one, measure the amount to trim, align and score the cutting line with a utility knife and a straight edge. Clamp a straight-edge cutting guide to the door, and apply masking tape all the way around the scored line to help prevent chipping. Finally, make the cut with a power saw.
Solid Core Doors
Solid core doors are sturdier, heavier, and provide superior soundproofing compared to hollow core doors. They offer better insulation, mimic the look, feel, and durability of solid wood without the significant cost, and provide good fire resistance.