Wood Choice for solid Interior doors

[ChrisA Edwards]

So my wife informed me of my upcoming winter project, I thought I'd retired, but I guess I still have a Boss.

She wants me to replace all the hollow, fake panel, interior doors with solid wood doors. We had tall (8') solid wood doors, in our last house, and she wants something similar.

I'm looking at 7 doors downstairs and between 6 and 11 upstairs, if I do bedroom closet doors to match.

These will be painted.

She hasn't decided on a style yet, but I can have some influence on that.

I do have a Shaper with power feeder, which sadly has seen little use since I bought it.

Right now, I'm leaning towards using Poplar, but have reasonable access to most common hardwoods.

Thanks

[Warren Lake]

door companies ive seen use lots of Poplar. Last ubber nice home i was in all the doors were poplar and stained to look like Walnut. Whoever built them did a great job. Owner installed them and he did a great job. He also put a ball catches on the bedroom double doors at the bottom. Not sure maybe the top as well. Ball catches kept the doors lined up nicely where two sat side by side. What is your final finish going to be sprayed lac of some type?

[Richard Coers]

I like soft maple better than poplar for paint grade. Some poplar can be a little fuzzy and takes a bit more prep for a perfect paint job. What is the advantage of redoing all the doors with handmade doors when they will just be painted?

[Donald G. Burns]

Our house in California came with solid pine interior doors stained in some awful reddish color. I don't know what wood they were supposed to match, but we had them sprayed white and installed some real hardware to replace the "contractor grade" stuff supplied in antique gold. Just one of many upgrades that we did to remove the cookie cutter one of 10,000,000 appearance. The doors themselves were decent compared to the hollow core stuff. If you're going to paint them why not clear pine?

[roger wiegand]

It's a fair amount of work for a modest result, IMO. Good quality, commercially made solid doors (composite materials with inset panels) look very good when painted, the weight feels very solid, and they are stable and sound-deadening. They come in a myriad of styles. I doubt you can save any money making your own given the cost of lumber-- as I recall the slabs ran a couple hundred bucks each from Simpson. Ours have been in use for 9 years now and I've found nothing about them to complain about.

I guess I'd use soft maple for rails and stiles, with birch (or similar) plywood panels for paint grade. Clear pine would be fine, but is a lot more expensive here than poplar or maple and offers no particular advantage.

[ChrisA Edwards]

What is the advantage of redoing all the doors with handmade doors when they will just be painted?

Not sure, I think the wife just likes the feeling of the weight and the noise a solid door makes as it closes compared to a hollow door.

[Paul F Franklin]

Not sure, I think the wife just likes the feeling of the weight and the noise a solid door makes as it closes compared to a hollow door.

I'm with her...I hate the feel of hollow core doors, especially for pocket doors. That said, I have no trouble buying solid core interior doors from my suppliers. They are some kind of low density particle board inside but have nice heft and solid feel. Not to talk you out of building your own, of course, but I'd at least do a price comparison.

[Warren Lake]

If pine was a good choice then door makers would use it they dont at least the main ones ive seen in the toronto area. Ive seen a lift of 8/4 poplar sitting by the jointer a few times then walnut or some other wood if its a non paint thing.

Chrisa your wife is smarter than most people noticing what most dont. Likely best not to tell her that. The home i mentioned was probably 4 million at the time some years ago. Above average cost but not insane. Guy won the lottery and bought two homes tore them down to have a wider lot and built the home. Press board same old fake news would not have maintained the quality of the home and in fact been a downer to see them in there. I was impressed and he was happy that someone noticed and more so honed in on details and asked questions.

[John TenEyck]

If commercial doors don't meet the requirements then I'd use soft maple and MDF panels, whether raised or flat. They will have a very solid feel and sound when they close. Poplar is too soft for passage doors, IMO.

John

[Jared Sankovich]

I like soft maple better than poplar for paint grade. Some poplar can be a little fuzzy and takes a bit more prep for a perfect paint job. What is the advantage of redoing all the doors with handmade doors when they will just be painted?

You could say the same about mdf trim..

I'd use poplar or soft maple with mdf panels.

[Jacob Mac]

If painted is the decision, I would buy them. Unless you are dying to build doors.

[ChrisA Edwards]

So I'm a retiree, now hobbyist woodworker. The doors we have work fine, they open and closed are not beat up.

If they are going to be replaced, for relatively cosmetic purposes, it's because I'm going to build them, even if it costs me about the same in materials as what a commercial door may cost.

I have the tools, have justified buying some of these tools for these type of projects.

So that's pretty much where my head is at.

[lowell holmes]

See if someone has scraps to experiment with. Or buy a board or two and experiment.

[ChrisA Edwards]

I like the idea of the Soft Maple and mdf panels. I have a gantry CNC on order, so the panels might be a good test for the CNC.

[Andrew More]

My experience with buying door is that you only get a good deal on them if you're buying standard doors. I live in a 100 year old home, need some standard 5 panel pine doors made to fit, and was quoted $500 per pine door and $500 for shipping. This was about 5 years ago, before the increases in lumber and shipping. I got another quote from an online company, this time $500 per door, but only $250 for shipping.

I ended up outfitting an entire shop full of tools for less than the quoted $2000 for two doors.