Materials & comparisons
Solid, engineered or hollow-core: choosing internal doors
The core changes how the door sounds, how it hangs and what you can fix into it.
Internal doors are chosen from a picture and lived with as an object. What you notice day to day is weight and sound — how solid it feels closing, and how much of the room next door you can hear. Both come from the core, not the face. It is also the core that decides whether a handle set will hold, whether the door needs a third hinge, and whether the leaf can safely be trimmed to fit an out-of-square opening.
Hollow-core
Light, inexpensive and easy to hang, with a honeycomb interior and a solid rail only around the perimeter. That perimeter is the limit for trimming and for fixings — a heavy handle or a closer fixed into the hollow section will eventually pull. Sound reduction is minimal.
Engineered / solid-core
A dense core with a facing, this is the middle ground most homes end up choosing. It closes with a reassuring weight, reduces sound noticeably, holds ironmongery well and is more stable than solid timber in a centrally heated house.
Solid timber
The traditional choice, and the right one where doors are stained rather than painted, or where an existing period door style is being matched. It moves more with humidity, needs the right hinge count for its weight, and should be sealed on all faces.
What this means at the point of hanging
Heavier doors need three hinges and screws that reach the stud behind the lining. Trimming allowances differ by core. And in an older house with out-of-square openings, the amount of leaf you can safely remove is what decides whether a given door will fit at all.
Questions we're asked about this
Replacing doors through the house?
We can advise on core type, ironmongery and whether your existing linings are worth keeping before you order.
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