Your Guide to Choosing and Maintaining Internal Doors

It may be surprising to learn that choosing internal doors can actually be more difficult than picking the front door for your home. Internal doors are often overlooked because usually they are already in place when you move into a property. You only think about changing them when you are remodelling, or if there is significant damage to the doors in question. When it is time to choose internal doors it can be difficult to know which to select. There are many different styles and types of doors available, with variations in colour, mechanism, and size. Picking a front door is more straightforward. How do you choose your internal doors? What do you need to watch out for when you are selecting the right doors for inside your home?

One key idea to keep in mind when shopping for internal doors is to look carefully at the décor and choose a door that fits with this style, and not necessarily pick the doors to match the overall house. For example, you may have a Victorian home that has been extensively renovated and the interior is highly contemporary. Picking antique-style doors will not work well in this case. However, the case of a cottage or older property is an exception – here, the style of door should reflect the overall age of the home in order not to look out of place among beams and exposed woodwork.

Among the different types of door available for inside the home are sliding doors, panel doors, flush doors, patio doors, and folding doors. In addition to choosing the type of door you need to pick the finish, for example a solid wood door or a door with glass panelling. Panel doors are generally the most common types of doors you will find for inside the home. The panels are the squares or rectangles that form the door – they are raised from the wood and may also be decorated and carved. Glass panels may also make up the door. There is a wide choice in internal panel doors. Most look reasonably modern, however, so they are not the best fit in a cottage or a smaller, older home. But they do look great in modern apartments and houses and can be finished in a variety of bold or subtle colours, depending on your décor. In comparison, flush doors do not have these raised panels and are typically flat and constructed out of one piece of wood. These doors can look rather plain, although they are a good option if you are trying to keep the cost of renovation down.

Folding doors include bifold doors, which are mounted onto a track and fold together when pushed to the side to open the door. They are good for small spaces where there is no room for a door to open inwards or outwards. Patio doors or French doors are typically made from glass. Sliding doors are good for space-saving because they slide back over the wall and not outwards into the room, or they may actually slip inside the wall on a specially constructed track.

Louise Carr is a freelance writer specializing in homes and gardens. She writes about interior decorating, renovation, sliding doors and more.