If you are planning a new build or a renovation of your home you may also be planning to buy internal doors. Every homeowner struggles with the choice available today. Whether your need fire doors, decorative doors with glass panelling or you want to renovate what was there before, it takes thought. Read on to learn more with our top tips guide.

How to choose an internal door: Guide and top tips

When it comes to choosing interior doors, there are a thousand things to think about and consider. To find the perfect purchase for your interior, the door has to match while also remaining practical and fit for purpose. To get the best door possible for your budget and vision, some tips and guidance are helpful. The guide below is all about interior doors and what to look for when you are shopping for this important purchase.

Why Are Internal Doors So Important?

When it comes to interior doors for your home, this is not a choice that can go under the radar. Doors are so important because they are the portals to the rooms in our homes; they give us separation from other areas. So, privacy and peace and are key aesthetic decisions. Choosing the right door for your home is important, and you may want different doors for different rooms. You should look at Online Door Store’s collection to see what sort of options could be available to you.

What Material to Pick

For internal doors, there are a few popular material choices that you can pick. These are usually either wood or MDF style products.

Pros and Cons: Wood

Wood is a highly popular and well-established material choice for internal doors and frames. It is, in a lot of ways, the original choice and has been in circulation for hundreds and hundreds of years. It looks great, smells nice, and is highly durable too, especially in high traffic areas.

For interior doors, there are a few popular material choices that you can pick. These are usually either wood or MDF style products.

Pros and Cons: Wood

Wood is a highly popular and well-established material choice for interior doors and frames. It is, in a lot of ways, the original choice and has been in circulation for hundreds and hundreds of years. It looks great, smells nice, and is highly durable too, especially in high traffic areas.

Pros

The main benefits of choosing a wooden door are that the quality will be exceptional and it will look beautiful in any doorway. Wood is easy to match up with other design choices and when it is installed, it will be fairly easy to clean and maintain too.

Cons

The biggest deterring factor about wooden doors is their cost. If you don’t have a huge budget, wooden doors (like oak) can really set you back financially. So, if you need a more cost-friendly option you can still get a beautiful aesthetic with alternative material choices like MDF.

Pros and Cons: MDF

MDF is the other leading market material for interior doors. It is a cost-friendly alternative to wooden doors and comes in a brilliant range of styles and fits. MDF has quickly become the go-to choice for doors inside, and it is a strong material that suits interior settings because of how cleanable it is and adaptable too.

Pros

The main pros to MDF are its affordability, style choice, and versatility. MDF can be fit into any doorframe and you can find a style to match any room in the house. It is lighter than pure wooden door installations and generally easy in terms of upkeep.

Cons

The only downside to MDF is that it is prone to chips and damage if not looked after properly. Because it is more lightweight than thicker wood, it may appear a bit flimsier but for most domestic settings it fits really nicely regardless.

Hollow Core or Solid Core?

Deciding about the core of the door doesn’t need to take long. It is simply a question of what you want the door to do. If you need an option that is better at reducing noise pollution between the key areas of the house and you have a higher budget to spend, then the solid core option is always going to be the preferential option. For a door that will sit pleasantly, generally takes up less installation time, and is less expensive then the hollow core is the one for you.

The Design

What do you want your door to look like? For most people, interior doors don’t register high up on the design choice radar. What this means is that the majority of homeowners prefer to keep this choice plain and simple without overcomplicating things. Intricate designs are kept for wallpaper or artwork on the walls, not interior doors. However, there are people who want their interior doors to make a statement and that is why fancier designs exist as well. You can find styles in a range of interests from engraved, to glass panels, and panel shapes and designs are another consideration entirely.

The Room

Where is the door going to be? If it is for a bathroom, for instance, you will have to consider whether or not the material and style choice is going to be able to weather the storm of showers, baths, and the natural condensation that comes with that. If it is a utility room where the dog brushes in and out and heavy piles of laundry come and go, will the door be able to withstand all the cleaning and bashing over the course of time? Door choice is often a room by room consideration.

A final thought on choosing internal doors

Choosing an internal door takes time and some thought. Think about which room needs the door and how it will match up with the interior aesthetic of your home. Don’t compromise on your budget and trust your instincts!

FURTHER READING FOR HOMEOWNERS & PETOWNERS

At Housesitmatch.com we like to offer useful and practical articles on topics for our readers. In this selection we offer you a number of suitable pieces from our own blog on renovating and decorating a home.

Renovating a house on a budget

Renovating a home for the first time – What to remember

Ideas to help you establish a new home quickly

Housesitters keep pets safe at home and save money