Your home is unique. Choose an interior door style that will complement your home’s architectural style and personal taste. At Curtis Lumber, we have a wide variety of interior doors ranging from hollow composite through solid hardwood.
Hollow Core -A hollow core door is a door made up of either plywood or molded composite skin made to look like it is made up of multiple pieces. The molded skins are either smooth or grained and ready to accept paint to match your decor. The most popular molded style is the traditional 6-panel, providing the look of wood-paneled doors for a budget price. Because the inside of the door panel is hollow, this door style does not have the sound deadening qualities or heft of a wood door.
Solid Core – Solid core interior doors offer the qualities of solid wood construction without the cost. Similar to hollow core doors, these doors have a skin layer of either plywood or molded composite, however the space inside the door is filled with a wood fiber. This allows the door to have better sound-deadening properties than its hollow core counterpart. Perhaps the most attractive feature of the solid core construction is that this door will look and feel more like a solid wood interior door without the cost.
Solid Wood – Interior doors made from solid wood are a sign of elegance and style. Solid Wood interior doors are made from a variety of hard and soft woods including cherry, mahogany, alder, maple, pine, poplar and others. The most common solid wood door is the traditional 6-panel pine. These doors can be painted or stained to give a classic look to any home. Wood has superior sound-deafening qualities that keep the noise in or out and depending on wood species may be very heavy, giving the doors a stable feeling. Solid wood is a natural material which allows custom designs, shapes, and sizes; however it will shrink and swell with humidity.
Medium Density Fiber (MDF) – MDF is an engineered wood product made from recycled wood fiber and considered to be environmentally friendly and green. Interior doors made from MDF are more stable and durable than wood doors and with a smoother surface for painting than wood. The designs and architectural styling that can be achieved with MDF are greater than those of molded doors (solid or hollow) and less expensive than their wood counterparts.
Slab or Unit?
When replacing your interior doors, you must decide whether or not to replace the door slab or the entire unit (frame, hinges, jambs & stop). If your home features intricate trims and the jambs are in generally good shape, replacing the door slab may be the right choice. There are important measurements that must be taken from your existing slabs to ensure that the new door you choose will fit.
If you’re replacing the entire unit, you will need to remove the top and side trim and measure the rough opening (the distance from stud to stud and floor to header). When measuring, be sure to measure across the top, middle, and bottom of the opening to find the width and use the smallest measurements. Follow this same procedure for the height, measuring from below the header to the floor in three places and use the smallest measurement. Finally, take note of the thickness of the wall. Usually, the wall will be either 4- 9/16″ or 6-9/16″ deep. Take these measurements with you to the store and your salesperson will walk you through the process of building your door unit.