Have you ever stopped to take a glance at a solid wood door anywhere and thought that this door as you found it kind of unique which drew your mind to imagine what lies behind this door?

Being an essential element found in all architectural settings, doors are thought to be a functional necessity only, while in fact doors play a massive role as a decorative item as it might resemble the gate to enter to your place and thereby people can fancy a lot about you based on your door only.

In this article we will dive into the realm of doors and most specifically wood doors and mainly Solid ones which maybe either Solid wood doors or Solid-core doors.

Doors through history

The first doors ever drawn in human history are the doors found in ancient Egyptian drawings where two doors were drawn to some kind of a shrine or temple, some people believe these were the doors of the shrine while others think it is a metaphor for the gateway for the afterlife, these two doors were believed to be made of wood.

Through the years doors have evolved and carvings were introduced to enhance the looks of the doors as well as plating the doors with valuable metals such as bronze, silver and gold in order to add a touch of uniquity suitable with the place that lies behind these doors.

With time passing and civilizations alternating a variety of materials have been used in doors making such as wood, iron, bronze and even stone doors these choices were mainly affected by the availability of these materials and the culture of each of these civilizations.

Types of doors

Doors can be classified into many types according to the point of their classification, as doors might be classified according to their style, structure and basic material and many other classifications are present as well.

Raw materials commonly used in building doors

Doors seen in regular daily life are built out of wood mainly but recently other materials are replacing wood in the doors industry such as Aluminum, Glass, Fiberglass and Steel

Wood is the most widely used material in building doors owing to the various kinds of trees that can be used to extract the wood which provides varying specifications of doors.

Natural wooden doors are exquisite as they come in different colors, designs and aromas depending on the tree used to extract the wood and here are few examples of these trees:

  • Cedar: This type of wood is characterized of having distinct aroma that attracts humans and repels insects in addition it is of light-weight and rarely costs for maintenance although it might be a little bit expensive yet its resistance against weather damage compensates for it.
  • Cherry: Its distinct red color is what makes it special making it feasible to use either in interiorly or exteriorly but its downside is that it might change its color with time.
  • Pine: Sound insulating, inexpensive light-weighted wood that resist shrinkage and expansion in reaction to weather changes, but unfortunately it is easily scratched and dented thus it possess lesser longevity compared to heavier woods.
  • Red Oak: Strong and durable wood that resist rotting, usually of brown color mixed with red hue, the main downside of this wood is its reactivity to weather thus shrinkage and expansion as well as it can be stained with moisture.
  • Walnut: Brilliant dark colored wood (chocolate to dark brown) with a rich appearance suitable for different settings due to its easy morphing as well it is a good sound insulator wood that is not easily affected by moisture.

Many other types of wood are used in the doors industry, these doors can be used unstained maintaining their natural colors or can be painted giving them newer looks.

Composition of wooden doors

Wooden doors might be considered as made of pure solid wood when thought about for the first instance. While in fact, there can be many possibilities for the real compositional built of wooden doors, as it might be either Solid wood doors, Solid-core doors or any of the non-solid wood types, each of these types has its own pros and cons related to the structural basis used in crafting the door.

Solid wood doors

Rarely a single solid slab is used to build the door in this case as it is not truly feasible, due to the unavailability of hugely sized slabs which if present are usually liable to warping and cracking. Solid wood doors are purely natural wood except for the door accessories, thus they are of high strength and durability that preserves their resale value in addition to having good sound insulation effect. Meanwhile, being purely natural makes solid wood doors expensive to some extent, as well it makes them liable to warping, shrinking and expanding in response to weather changes.

Solid-core doors

Most of people can’t tell the difference between Solid wood doors and Solid-core doors, as Solid-core doors are designated to look nearly identical to the prior to maintain the characteristic appearance, but in the same time it provides solutions to the inconveniences represented by expensiveness and susceptibility to warping.

Solid-core doors are made of wood veneers enclosing previously engineered wood, thus it is heavier and stronger in most cases, it also preserves the sound insulation feature in addition to overcoming the warping disadvantage.

All of these features added to its lower price compared to Solid wood doors makes them about perfect, but the main disadvantage of this type of doors is its heavy which makes it harder to install it.

What type to choose in case of wood doors

This is never an all or none situation, as each one of the previously discussed types has its own preferential usages, thus the best solution is to make a combination those types.

For example, if you wanted to pick doors for your own home it is advised to have Solid wood doors as your main entrance door. As for your bedrooms, bathrooms and office room where privacy and sound insulation are of utmost concern it is better to go for Solid-core doors as they possess sound insulation effect as well as being less expensive.