Interior doors moulded or wood?

helping_hubby

We're nearly at the end of our renovation and I'm now looking into doors.

I need 4 panel doors for upstairs, and one contemporary door with glass for the kitchen.

I'm looking at moulded doors because the thought of painting wooden ones fills me with dread and I thought I had hung up the last paintbrush for a few years.

What are the pros and cons of moulded vs wooden?

Meepster

The biggest con of moulded doors is that if you need to trim quite a bit off the top or sides, you can end up damaging the doors. The way they are made doesn't give you much hope of getting more than 1/4" off any one side.

A lot of people go for the moulded type as they think they can just leave them hung up for a while and get round to painting them eventually. however, these doors can still warp if they have been trimmed, as although the front and back are not timber, the frame of the door is. I went out to quite a few homes where this was the case. That said, they are a LOT easier to paint than a wooden door, as at least they usually come pre-primed. And the chances of a wooden door warping are significantly higher than a moulded door.

Personally, unless you want a varnished/stained look, I would go for the moulded type...

helping_hubby

mwilletts wrote: »

The biggest con of moulded doors is that if you need to trim quite a bit off the top or sides, you can end up damaging the doors. The way they are made doesn't give you much hope of getting more than 1/4" off any one side.

A lot of people go for the moulded type as they think they can just leave them hung up for a while and get round to painting them eventually. however, these doors can still warp if they have been trimmed, as although the front and back are not timber, the frame of the door is. I went out to quite a few homes where this was the case. That said, they are a LOT easier to paint than a wooden door, as at least they usually come pre-primed. And the chances of a wooden door warping are significantly higher than a moulded door.

Personally, unless you want a varnished/stained look, I would go for the moulded type...

Oh...so you still have to paint the moulded ones?

Meepster

helping_hubby wrote: »

Oh...so you still have to paint the moulded ones?

Yup.

Well, moulded doors come either pre-primed or pre-finished.

Pre-primed - you have to put the top coat on yourself and prime any edges that you trim first...

Pre-finished - if they are going to fit EXACTLY, without the need for any trimming, then no, you wont need to paint them. However, if you do trim them, you will then need to re-prime and re-topcoat the area you have trimmed...

You honestly wouldn't believe how many people fall foul of this. I must have seen a couple of hundred of the moulded doors thrown away due to insufficient finishing. So don't worry, you are asking all the right questions...

27col

I have never bought a door yet that did not need trimming to size. A lot of people come onto this forum thinking that they can just go out and buy a door to fit the opening that they have. It just ain't so, 99.9 % of the time. It would be interesting to know, if many people have actually managed to fit a new door that did not require any planing to size.

rosekitten

just having doors fitted at the moment
we picked oak doors and have put two
coats of Osmo oil on them.
They look lovely and will joy of joys
never need painting,as I hate painting
doors.
We have bought this one for the kitchen


http://www.egdoors.co.uk/product_suffolk-oak-glazed-door-174-185.html

and these on the rest but bought them
else where as they were cheaper

http://www.egdoors.co.uk/images/product/162_large.jpg

We have metric doors and its difficult to find
anything nice but these are lovely and I was
determined to put an end to all that painting.



.

helping_hubby

I know I'm going to have to trim the doors. I just didn't think I needed to paint the entire door that's all. It's all a learning process.

Rosekitten, they are lovely doors, bit out of my price range Also the house isn't grand enough I don't think for lovely wooden doors.

I've been looking on B&Q for a start to get a feel for prices of moulded doors and they range from £17.98 to £39.98.
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9274055&fh_view_size=10&fh_start_index=30&fh_eds=%3f&fh_sort_order=1&fh_sort_by=_price_rrp_min&fh_location=%2f%2fcatal!!!1%2fen_GB%2fcategories%3C{9372016}%2fcategories%3C{9372049}%2fcategories%3C{9372274}%2fcategories%3C{9392104}%2fspecificationsProductType%3dmoulded_doors&fh_refview=lister&ts=1249645988848&isSearch=false

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9274071&fh_view_size=10&fh_start_index=0&fh_eds=%3f&fh_sort_order=1&fh_sort_by=_price_rrp_min&fh_location=%2f%2fcatal!!!1%2fen_GB%2fcategories%3C{9372016}%2fcategories%3C{9372049}%2fcategories%3C{9372274}%2fcategories%3C{9392104}%2fspecificationsProductType%3dmoulded_doors&fh_refview=lister&ts=1249645732813&isSearch=false

What is the difference between these two? Is buying cheap a big no no?

Slinky_Malinky

I think you may be paying a bit more for the more popular 4 panel door tbh ( not an expert though maybe someone else can shed more light on the price difference)

Why not settle for cheaper moulded doors upstairs and get one nice wooden door for your kitchen?

Rosekitten....I love the doors on your link. PLease can you tell me where you got the solid wood doors cheaper than that site?

toinfinityandbeyond

I would also like to know where! They are lovely.

rosekitten

I went to Howdens the price of them
seems to have risen as I had to pay £110
+ vat the the last two I bought.
I am trying to be very MSE about getting
them and have waited till I had saved
enough to pay cash and not get into
debt

one thing though,they need three fire door hinges
for each door

Screwfix do a set of 10 hinges £31 enough for
three doors.

But best bargain of all is the seller on ebay
who sells really nice quality door handles
much cheaper than any shop.

rosekitten

Rosekitten, they are lovely doors, bit out of my price range Also the house isn't grand enough I don't think for lovely wooden doors.

neither is our place its an
ex coucil ground floor flat

we had no other choice as this was all
that was available in our door size,
luckliy for us they are really nice.

We could have had the door frames
lowered and made narrower to fit standard
doors but the cost of that was crazy it was
for us the cheapest way.
Our old doors were all in a bad way,two
of them had totaly fallen apart and could not
be fixed any more and the rest were heading the
the same way.

buying one or two as we have gone along has been more
affordable and and not as scary as trying to
pay for the lot at once.

Must say though look around for doors as some places
do a package.Either 3,5,7,10 or 12 doors in a package
for a lot less than just buying them on the racks in
the shop.Ask in B&Q in person as they do sets same
doors as you have shown but cheaper than those
shown on their website in sets.
I know they have been doing lovely wooden doors
in oak and pine instore from around £40 each,none
in our size sadly.Make sure you go to one of the
larger stores where there is more choice.

Also I notice that very often near the trade section
they have lots of ex display,end of line or even
scratched wooden doors lots of them part glazed
very cheap.you could probably get a nice feature
door for your kitchen amongst these.Doesent
matter if its scratched as you can paint the door with
wax or oil and it will most likely disapear once you
have coated it.