Guide to interior doors
HOW TO CHOOSE INTERIOR DOORS?
A beautiful door is one of those elements that can make a big difference in the style of your home.
Whether you’re building, remodelling or simply changing the look of a room, choosing a new interior door is an important step. Style, material, soundproofing and door opening are just a few of the points to consider when choosing from the myriad options for interior doors.
Take a closer look at some of the most popular options to determine which are best suited for your home.
Swing doors
This is the most popular and simple type of door in today’s homes. The door has hinges on one side to allow opening and closing. The hinges, visible or concealed, can be on one or both sides to allow proper entry to the room.
Most swinging doors are sold pre-hung. This means that the door is already hung and levelled inside a frame. The frame is then added to the opening in your hallway or room entrance. Pre-hung doors are easier to install because much of the levelling work is already done. However, you can buy swinging doors that are not in frames.
Sliding doors
In some homes, a sliding door may be ideal. In short, these doors move in a horizontal motion, usually sliding along a track, visible or invisible, mounted on the base of the floor or the top of the frame.
In some homes, a sliding door may be ideal because they take up minimal space. Sliding doors are made of wood, glass, crystal, or are lined. Many of these doors are used as closet doors when they are installed inside a house.
Flush door
Flush doors are minimalist opening systems whose frames are mounted inside masonry or plasterboard walls, with no external lintels and no joints on either side.
They consist of smooth coverings on both sides of the construction and are composed of a skeleton or hollow frame of uprights and rails, top and bottom rails, and intermediate rails. Each side of the flush door is covered with a sheet of different materials, finished in different colours and textures. In addition, a flush door has a seamless surface on both sides.
The design of the flush door will therefore have to take into account a number of different parameters, such as style, size, interior design trends, the quality of materials and finishes, and the taste of the customers whose home will be the object’s final destination.
Pivot door
Pivot doors have a unique hinge in the center of the door frame. This allows the door to pivot on that hinge to open in either direction depending on the way the user pushes or pulls on the door.
Materials selection
Wood
Wood is a timeless material and an eco-friendly choice, if the raw material is of certain and certified origin, it gives warmth to rooms, making them cosier and has excellent qualities of strength, stability, and thermal and acoustic insulation.
We can classify wooden doors by their style: classic, modern or design, by the type of surface or opening, but also by their internal structure, a key element in understanding their quality, strength, aesthetics and functionality.
The door structure can be made of:
Solid wood: the core of the sash is solid, it is composed of homogeneous material such as solid plywood or laminated wood. This structure is very strong and stable.
Blockboard wood: the core of the sash is made of wooden strips, mullions and transoms, glued perpendicularly to each other. Such processing gives stability to the sash.
Hollow-core wood: the core of the sash is composed of a sandwich structure with a lightened interior usually a honeycomb filling. They are lightweight and characterized by extreme manoeuvrability door structure can be made of.
Solid wood: the core of the sash is solid, it is composed of homogeneous material such as solid plywood or laminated wood. This structure is very strong and stable.
Blockboard wood: the core of the sash is made of wooden strips, mullions and transoms, glued perpendicularly to each other. Such processing gives stability to the sash.
Hollow-core wood: the core of the sash is composed of a sandwich structure with a lightened interior usually a honeycomb filling. They are lightweight and characterized by extreme manoeuvrability
The door structure is then sealed and infilled with wood or wood-derivative panels; this outer surface is the finish. The finish determines the type of door:
Wooden doors: the exterior finish is made of fine wood veneers of different essences; the most popular wood essences, hence colors, are walnut, oak, ash, ebony, cherry, chestnut, larch, wenge, and rosewood.
Lacquered doors: the panels that cover the structure are wood veneers that undergo painting cycles (the lacquer) in order to obtain coloured panels with an opaque finish. Lacquering can be glossy or matte, smooth or decorated, or open-pore – in essence – in which the wood grain is left visible.
Laminate doors: laminate is a synthetic material, with limited thickness, and is the result of bonding several very thin sheets of paper impregnated with resins. Once processed, it is capable of taking on any aesthetic appearance, imitating natural materials.
Pantographed interior doors are characterized by a wood panel processing made by a pantograph, which allows the creation of delightful and original designs, making the door elegant and precious. Pantographed doors are available in many models that can be customized in colours and with many different opening systems to please a wide range of customers.
Glass Doors
Glass or crystal doors differ from each other in terms of the type of glass, the various treatments to which this can be subjected, and also the colours used, which with the right combinations in some cases also manage to broaden the perception of space.
When there is a need for natural light to pass through a room, the ideal means of creating brighter interiors are doors made of wood and glass, or those that have an all-glass door leaf. An interior door of this type divides but at the same time connects spaces.
The combination of wood and glass is generally more classic, while the one with an all-glass door leaf is very contemporary. The pane finish can be clear or satin. If privacy is not a priority, the use of clear glass allows you to create fascinating interior views.
The quality of a glass door depends on the hardware used and especially on the pane, which must be safety glass, for example, tempered glass ( in case of breakage it crumbles into small pieces that do not cut) or laminated glass (in case of breakage it does not shatter, but fills with internal cracks) of suitable thickness in order to comply with anti-breakage safety standards. When there is a need for natural light to pass through a room, the ideal means of creating brighter interiors are doors made of wood and glass, or those that have an all-glass door leaf. An interior door of this type divides but at the same time connects spaces. The combination of wood and glass is generally more classic, while the one with an all-glass door leaf is very contemporary. The pane finish can be clear or satin. If privacy is not a priority, the use of clear glass allows you to create fascinating interior views. The quality of a glass door depends on the hardware used and especially on the pane, which must be safety glass, for example, tempered glass ( in case of breakage it crumbles into small pieces that do not cut) or laminated glass (in case of breakage it does not shatter, but fills with internal cracks) of suitable thickness in order to comply with anti-breakage safety standards.
In addition, the choice of a sliding glass door is the best solution for dark houses or for those interior rooms where there are no windows and, therefore, artificial light alone makes it gloomy and unattractive. To give light and openness to blind and shady rooms, the best solution is the sliding glass door, which provides illumination and space with the best compromise between quality and furnishing taste.
Luxury Windows Italia can offer you all types of doors on the market and all possible customizations to create exclusive products that are perfect just for you.
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