Wood Choice for solid Interior doors

[Jim Becker]

The most important thing about the lumber you choose for your doors is that it is stable...doors absolutely need to stay flat by themselves. So regardless of species you choose, pick the stuff out carefully, as thicker lumber can have more risk of movement during/after milling to size. I honestly got around that by doing a laminated door construction which made doing "really big and deep" mortise and tenon a snap since I could account for that in the lamination process.

[John TenEyck]

I used to build doors fairly often. I have found that poplar is more stable and paints better than Eastern white Pine. I like pine a lot, but the forest science people have been encouraging faster growth for 60 years. Now a lot of the clear pine will have 4 growth rings per inch. The poplar I see from the wholesalers is a lot better.

If you're going to make the doors out of wood, it would be a shame to use plastic panels. MDF is wood and plastic. However, plastic panels do work better with plastic paint, which is what acrylic paint is. The new paints glue the panels in place. Seasonal wood movement does not respect glued panel joints. Shellac primer and milk paint are not plastic, and don't tend to glue the panels in place.

If you use MDF or plywood panels you can glue them into the frame. That's the whole point, actually, since neither moves much seasonally, and you end up with an incredibly strong door. It also allows you to caulk the panel/frame joints, if needed, and get a beautiful painted finish with no cracks or gaps.

John

[Joseph Montroy]

Lowe's (gasp!) had solid oak, 6 panel doors that were even pre- hung on solid oak sides for just under $200. I shellac'd them and hung them, we couldn't be happier with how they've worked for the past couple years. Solid, heavy doors that deaden sound, too. I believe they were Jeld-wen.

[Eric Anderson]

I was at my wood supplier yesterday and was asking about the cost of 4/4 popular cause I have some interior doors in my future project plans. Popular has gone through the roof. 4/4 Popular is now (at least in central Texas) is the same price as red oak or within a few cents. Every time I go prices seem to be going crazy. Prefinished birch has gone from $63 to $75 in three weeks. Is anyone else seeing a huge increase in pricing for fine lumber, while softwoods and construction lumber is finally coming back to earth.

[Jim Becker]

Eric, the price increases you are seeing may be related to transportation costs for a species like yellow poplar which doesn't grow in your geography.