When considering new fixtures and fittings for your home, you will, sooner or later, be faced with the question of what kind of doors to install on both the interior and exterior of the home. While it has long been standard practice to place hollow wooden doors on the interior of the home, with solid wooden doors or those made of other materials, such as steel or fibreglass on the exterior. There are good reasons, however, why solid wooden doors are actually the best choice throughout the building.
Aesthetic Value
Let’s begin with purely superficial factors. Solid wooden doors are simply beautiful, adding a touch of class and elegance to any space in your home. They provide the ideal combination of warmth and homeliness, with a classic, traditional style. However, beauty is not the only consideration. You also have your budget, as well as functional matters to consider. So, take the following two factors into consideration as well.
Durability and Insulation
Solid wooden doors are incredibly hard-wearing. As long as they are maintained, they can last for generations. They are not high on maintenance either. Depending on the finish, they may require regular polishing and perhaps the occasional varnish touch-up.
In addition to their durability, wooden doors insulate against heat loss better than ones made from any other material. Wood is, in fact, the best insulator of all building materials. An inch of wood is 15 times as efficient an insulator as concrete, 400 times more efficient than steel and 1 770 times more efficient than aluminum. With a wooden door, the only way you can really lose significant heat is around its edges, not through it. With a well-made, pre-hung system, this can easily be avoided. With these designs, the doors are carefully fitted to their frames before installation, with each side and corner fitting seamlessly against the jamb to provide extra insulation. Solid wooden doors will keep heat where it belongs and help you maintain low energy costs.
Environmental Factors
In addition to reduced energy consumption, solid wooden doors come with a number of other environmental advantages too. Wood is renewable, reusable, recyclable and biodegradable. This makes it one of the most desirable building materials from a “green” point of view, provided it comes from sustainable and well-managed sources. Not only do wooden doors help save energy in the home, they also require far less energy to produce than those made of other materials. A steel product requires nine times as much energy to produce as a wooden one, for example. Wooden door manufacturing also produces zero toxic waste. The only by-product is sawdust, which can be reused for a variety of purposes.
On the whole, solid wooden doors are more beautiful and elegant, more durable, have better insulation and are more environmentally friendly than doors made of any other substance. Your choice of doors depends on the look and feel of your home, your budget and your priorities regarding the environment and energy-saving. I can assure you, however, that making the investment in solid wooden doors is a decision you will not regret.