Engineered Doors the only way ?

[Chad]

Hi

We want hardwood doors for our new build.

The builder has told us the only door we can afford is an Oak "engineered door". Seems to me this is just a fancy name for a cheap door with an bery thin Oak veneer on it. The builders claim not to like the solid doors because they warp. Is this true or is it just builders ramming cheap stuff down the neck of helpless clients.

C

[calums]

Chad Its difficult to answer your question without knowing your budget. There are good engineered doors on the market, they are not usually cheap, but are very stable. There are also excellent hardwood doors on the market including oak doors, sometimes not too expensive (but this is only my opinion). Another alternative is to go for a real oak door which is hollow in the middle (is better than it sounds), these are usually very affordible but more difficult to source (contact me if you need help). As to your other question re wooden floors, this too is possible. The moisture content of the wood needs to be low. Again there are good alternative options which use real wood on an engineered base- but they usually come in set lengths and can look a bit uniform, but the wood is real. Again if you need help sourcing excellent oak timber for this purpose then contact me. You then also need to have your heating system up and running and store the timber in your house for a while to allow it to acclimatise. Also you need to give the floor plenty time to rid itself of all its moisture. Hope this helps Regards Calum Sabey (NewArk Traditional Kitchens 01556 690544)

[Ian Stirling]

Like

?Just found wandering through froogle.

[Phil L]

More likely to be pushy customers wanting more than they've agreed to pay for

[dom]

Fully seasoned and dimensioned oak should not move. I've bought excellent oak from these people and saw reasonably priced solid oak doors on offer:

[Andy Hall]

In short, it's bollocks.

I have solid oak doors and frames throughout the house including front door. They have been there for 5 years and have not warped.

They were hand made from carefully selected and properly seasoned material.

Like all things, one gets what one pays for and these were in the £350 to £400 range for internal doors.

I am sure that it is possible to find lower priced doors and certainly veneered ones are less.

If you want to have properly made traditional doors then they can be found, but not cheaply. It could be that the builders, through incompetence, greed or a trip to the merchants have heard of problems with cheap doors.

If they don't want responsibility, that's OK as well. Simply give that part of the project to a specialist who will take responsibility for supply and fit of hardwood joinery.

I used this firm

can recommend them.

[Phil L]

You have to read the post carefully, especially the bit about 'The builder has told us the only door we can afford..'

That's great, provided you didn't accept a price for hardboard flush doors, then insist on solid oak.

Or maybe they don't like working for free?

[Andy Hall]

So why is the builder an authority on that?

The customer is the decision maker on what he can afford.

Of course, if the customer has signed up for a complete package of labour and materials, it would be very tempting for the builder to say this because every pound that goes towards quality materials doesn't go in his pocket.

Of course.

If that were the case it would be a prime example of why going for bundled deals is not advantageous to the customer.

Possibly.. This should have all been agreed up front.

[Peter Parry]

Internal or external (or both)? If external what is the orientation of the house? Do any of the doors face south?

[The Natural Philosopher]

How much can you afford?

I installed old fashioned 'ledge and brace' doors here for about £160 a unit,with frames, and outer doors are massive wooden affairs that cots about £900.

Got them from Acorn doors in wiltshire or hampshire..somewhere like that.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Oh, it does move..but not enough to ultimately be a problem.

The summer is the worst for interior doores..they need a plane up aftre a hot humid one.

Conversely exterior doors generally wedg up in wet winters..

Summer to winter range is about +- 0.5% on e.g. oak, across the grain.

[Chad]

Thanks for the replies. Actually the build hasn't started yet. The builder has said up font that his price covers "engineered doors". However the spec which the builder was given to price and compete on stipulated "first quality hardwood" doors. Theres not much hardwood in a veneered engneered door is there? I've seen a cross section of one.

On the other hand I'm not sure I can afford the solid oak

Regards C

[calums]

Chad For about =A3400 you can get a solid oak external door with a 6x9 glazed window. Contact me if you need details. Calum Sabey (details in above postings)