Wood doors, speak to what are wood floors, types of wood doors, wood door installation.
The fact that at one time, nearly all doors were made of wood. In simple buildings, primitive doors made of planks and Z bracing were once common.
In more finished buildings stile and rail doors gave a more sophisticated appearance while avoiding the worst problems of moisture expansion and contraction to which plank doors are subject. The panels are not glued to the stiles and rails but rather float in unglued grooves that allow them to move.
The doors may be made of solid wood or of wood composite materials with veneered faces and edges. In either case, they are available in many different species of wood.
In recent decades, stile and rail doors have continued to be popular in higher quality buildings. However, flush doors have captured the majority of the market, chiefly because they are easier to manufacture and therefore less costly. For exterior use in small buildings and for both exterior and interior use in institutional and commercial buildings flush doors are constructed with a solid core of wood blocks or wood composite material.
Interior doors in residences often have a hollow core. These consist of two veneered wood faces that are bonded to a concealed grid of interior spaces made of paperboard or wood. The perimeters of the faces are glued to wood edge strips. Flush doors with wood faces are also available with a solid mineral core that qualifies them as fire doors.
Flush wood doors may be manufactured and specified according to any one of industry standards for door appearance and durability, the most commonly used of which is the Window and Door Manufacturers ANSI/WDMA I.S.1-A-04 Architectural Wood Flush Doors. This standard includes three performance grades, Standard Duty, Heavy Duty and Extra Heavy Duty. This is intended for doors used in applications of increasingly heavy usage, as well as varying appearance grades that control the quality of face veneers.
A relatively recent development is a door made of wood fiber composite material that is pressed into the shape of a stile and rail door. Usually the faces of the door may be given an artificial wood grain texture or faced with real wood veneer.
Entrance doors must be well constructed and tightly weather stripped if they are not to leak air and water. Properly installed and finished wood panel or solid core doors are excellent for residential use.
Wood doors can be purchased prehung, although many are still hung and weather stripped on the construction site.
Residential entrance doors almost always swing inward and are mounted on the interior side of the door frame. This makes them less vulnerable to thieves who would remove hinge pins or use a thin blade to push back the latch to gain entrance.
In cold climates it also prevents snow that may accumulate against the door from preventing the door from opening. For improved winter time thermal performance of the entrance, a storm door may be mounted on the outside of the same frame swinging outward.The storm door usually includes at least one large panel of tempered glass.
In summer a screen door may substituted for the storm door. A combination door which has easily interchangeable screen and storm panels, is more convenient than separate screen and storm doors.
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