Where to source some internal doors?

[shawesome]

Hi,

I'm renovating my house (I'm mostly done now actually!) and the next thing I need to think about is replacing all the old crappy hollow-core doors with something a bit nicer. It seems there are tons of places online to buy them, and obviously places like Wickes and B&Q are also options. I was hoping for some recommendations.

The door frames (apertures?) are standard sizes, but are 50 years old and aren't quite square so there will need to be some level of trimming and fiddling around to get the door to sit nicely, so the doors will need a reasonable frame around the edge. Beyond that, I like this sort of style: Deanta Prefinished Coventry 4 Panel Shaker Style Door

I'll be hanging them myself if that fits into the picture. I'm not a carpenter just a keen DIYer / novice woodworker and I love doing this sort of thing.

Any advice or recommendations appreciated

 

[sneggysteve]

On a recomendation from this forum, I bought LPD doors from Doors of Distinction and very impressed with service - Doors of Distinction ® - Quality Internal & External Doors

 

[toolsntat]

Just a heads up from the other side of the LPD camp. 11 Oak Mexicana door delivery, 5 with manufacturing faults inside the packaging, 5 replacements, 1 water damaged with no more available.
The ONLY part of these doors that was Oak was the tissue paper veneers, not even the grooves were lined.
Bit of rustic pith for you sir?

 

[Spectric]

I was looking at the 1960's style doors from LPD and went to a local timber merchants who I deal with a lot to get a quote and stock info, got a quote which was £174 but was also given the Deana catalogue and told these are better and we can give a more competative price. I was also told there is more leeway when it comes to trimming the Deana doors.

 

[Doug71]

I fitted some of the Deanta doors for the first time a couple of weeks ago and they did seem decent quality.

They were the prefinished versions which I never enjoy hanging, I am always worried about scratching or marking them whilst fitting them

 

[MARK.B.]

Any local reclamation yards nearby to you , they are a great place to get what you require

 

[eribaMotters]

I fitted Deanta Ely doors on our bungalow refurb, 5 in [unfinished] oak and 2 painted. They do a good range of sizes and enough of a solid lipping to allow planing to fit. I applied an oil finish to the oak doors and they do look nice. I would advise careful preparation beforehand as I did have some glue stains to tidy up. I would buy them again.

Colin

 

[Jones]

I find XL joinery and J B Kind do ok doors with good thick veneers and trimmable edges available from builders merchants or benchmark if there's one near you. If you can check the weight of doors online this is a fairly good indication of quality or at least a heavier door will feel good once fitted. If you can take off the architrave and sort the linings out so they are plumb and square this will be a better job than trimming the doors to fit an odd hole. If you are going to trim don't bother with pre finished because you'll have to finish them again. I would warn against reclaimed doors particularly if they have been dipped, unless they were very good quality originally they will be difficult to fit and often warp later.

 

[Cabinetman]

As @Jones alluded to, check that the frames aren’t twisted, that can be a real pain. Easiest way to test is with a large square piece, or even a door sized piece of 18mm ply.
As was said some have wafer thin veneers on the faces which isn’t usually a problem unless you have young children? dogs? Ian

 

[shawesome]

Thanks for all the comments all! Some really good advice here, I think you've saved me some money and trouble as I was planning to buy prefinished and it's a great point that if I'm trimming i'm going to have to finish those sections anyway.

I take the point on removing the architraves but I won't be removing them after I spent so much time and energy putting them up ha! Plus, I'd never get them looking as neat and tidy as the decorator as managed so I think I'll just have to accept a slightly inferior job.

I'll definitely research some of those brands of doors, and I definitely want some of the ones with a slightly thicker veneer and nice thick trimmable edges

 

[thetyreman]

you could always go with a firedoor blank and cut it to size, they are a big step up in my opinion from the hollow core TAT in most homes, especially in terms of blocking sound.