Comparing Wood Doors in Singapore

 Are you in the process of building or renovating your home? If so, you probably need assistance to select doors and windows.  Different types of wood used to make doors in Singapore. Take a look about solid wood, tubular core, semi solid wood, MDF wood, Chip Board, Honeycomb Core woods before you buy and make a door.

Solid Wood Doors

Solid wood doors are 100% natural wood, except for the hardware or accessories. Solid wood doors have a very solid, substantial feel and are very strong. Solid wood doors are extremely sturdy and weather very well. While it is often the most expensive option, many buyers consider solid wood to be of good value due to its long-lasting composition. Solid wood interior doors also offer great insulation and act as a natural sound barrier.

Pros:

• Solid wood doors have a very solid, substantial feel and are very strong.
• Sound-blockage is good to excellent, depending on wood species. Softwoods like pine are not very sound-proof, but hardwoods such as oak and maple are excellent at blocking sound transmission between rooms.
• Solid wood doors are good for maintaining the resale value of a home.

Cons:

• These can be very expensive doors, especially those made from quality hardwoods.
• Humidity changes can cause expansion, contraction, and warping.

MDF  Doors / Engineered Doors

MDF is an abbreviation for a type of engineered wood. The full name is Medium-Density Fiberboard. MDF consists of thin panels made from wood fiber, resin, and wax. When it comes to engineered wood, MDF is often considered a level above the plywood. It is denser, stronger and more durable. For these reasons, it has almost as many applications as solid wood. For fire protection, fire retardant MDF is recommended. While this type of MDF is more common in commercial areas, it can also be used at home to provide fire protection especially in places like the kitchen and bedrooms.

Pros:

• MDF is generally cheaper than plywood.
• The surface of MDF is very smooth, and you don’t have to worry about knots on the surface.
• MDF is very consistent throughout, so cut edges appear smooth and won’t have voids or splinters.
• The consistency and smoothness of MDF allow for easy cutting of detailed designs.

Cons:

• MDF is basically glorified, particle board.
• Just like particle board, MDF will soak up water and other liquids like a sponge and swell unless it’s very well sealed on all sides and edges with primer, paint, or another sealing product.  Again, I recommend a quality oil-based primer.  No aerosol spray primers!!
• MDF doesn’t hold screws very well, and it’s very easy to strip the screw holes.
• MDF is very heavy.  This can make it more difficult to work with, especially if you don’t have a helper who can help you lift and cut the large sheets.
• MDF can’t be stained.  Not only does it soak up stain like a sponge, but also because there’s no wood grain on MDF, it looks awful when it’s stained.

Tubular Core Doors

Like a bridge construction, Tubular Core provides an ideal combination of light weight and stability. Compared to solid boards, the weight of Tubular Core is reduced by up to 60%. This impressive fact proves that high-quality doors do not have to be heavy!

Tubular and solid cores have a very low thickness swelling, which is unusual for wood-based materials. This makes them particularly suitable for doors with delicate surfaces.

The special positioning of the particles guarantees a very high impact resistance: Doors with Tubular Core withstand even the greatest impact – in spite of maximum diameter of the tubes.

Chipboard Doors

Chipboard is produced from recycled paper. It is also known as paperboard. It is a man-made material which is manufactured from pressing wood chips together and binding them with a synthetic resin. Chipboard (particle board) does not like water, and if used in an area where it will either get wet or there is high humidity, the chances that it will warp and deform are great. Another major problem with particle board is the connection joints. Because the particle board is a low-density board, screws strip more easily.

Honeycomb Core Doors

Honeycomb core doors are manufactured with a high-density cellular core. This ensures the door is structurally stable while remaining a lightweight and functional option for your home. This cost-effective option is incredibly versatile, available in bi-fold and multi-fold options, as well as being made to order in a vast range of sizes. The honeycomb-shaped inner core material is made from layers of paper or cardboard, bonded together in parallel and uniformly spaced. When it is expanded for use, it forms a honeycomb configuration with hexagonal cells. It is manufactured from recycled paper and generally is non-toxic. The honeycomb sheets can be made of various thicknesses and cell sizes to cater for a variety of applications. It can replace the solid filling materials used in solid core doors.

Hollow-Core Doors

The hollow core door is a staple of the modern home. It is used only on the interior and tends to be used for bedrooms, bathrooms, closets, and some laundry and utility rooms. Most production houses built today receive hollow core interior doors as a matter of course. Inexpensive and lightweight, they are easy to install and can save thousands of dollars on construction costs, since a typical house may have a dozen or more interior doors. To call these doors hollow is somewhat misleading since they do have a honeycombed core placed within a solid wood outer frame, over which the surface veneer is glued. The frame and honeycomb core provides some rigidity to the door, as well as minimal sound-blocking ability.

Pros:

• Hollow-core doors are the least expensive.
• Veneer construction makes these doors fairly stable in changing humidity levels.
• DIY installation is quite easy.

Cons:

• Hollow-core doors are very light-weight doors, and they may feel cheap.
• Hollow-core construction is rather poor at blocking sound.
• Hollow-core doors offer little in the way of fire resistance.

Semi Solid Wood / Solid-Core Doors

Solid-core wood doors are constructed with quality wood veneers glued over a solid core of engineered or composite wood, giving them the primary virtues of both solid wood and hollow-core doors: they are relatively affordable yet quite sturdy and solid in feel. Because of the high density of engineered wood, these doors may actually be heavier and stronger than some solid wood doors.  Some solid-core doors intended to look like painted wood use no surface veneer at all—they are solid slabs of MDF or another engineered wood, shaped and molded to give the appearance of a painted frame-and-panel door.

Pros:

• These medium-priced doors are considerably more affordable than solid wood.
• The sound blockage is excellent.
• Solid-core doors offer good fire resistance when they are at least 1.75 inches thick.
• Construction makes them resistant to expansion and contraction due to humidity changes.

Cons:

• Style options are somewhat limited when compared to solid wood doors.
• These are not DIY-friendly doors—the heavyweight means that two people are mandatory for installation.