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When a company says "solid core door" I am assuming that the core is not wood, at least not the wood that the exterior is made from.
Does anyone know what the "solid core" is?
Can the door be cut down and still hold together, or will the outside layers peel away?
Mike
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Ok, depends on the door. Fire rated could have a gypsum core. you can order one with a butcher block type core. Most are low density particle board.
So which one do you have???
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Most are particleboard including most fire rated doors. You can dust them down but I treat it like a hollow door by cutting the filler out where you cut and gluing in a solid piece of wood. Usually ffrom the cutoff after the door skin is removed from it.
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(09-11-2016, 12:08 PM)Robert Adams Wrote: Most are particleboard including most fire rated doors. You can dust them down but I treat it like a hollow door by cutting the filler out where you cut and gluing in a solid piece of wood. Usually ffrom the cutoff after the door skin is removed from it.
^^^^^^^^
this
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My experience has been the same. I am sure the doors all vary. I obtained a solid core 8' door from a commercial office reno. It was probably made in the 1990s. The bottom foot or so was solid wood so it could be cut and adjusted for a threshold. The rest of the door was chipboard and pretty spongy. I cut it down to 6 feet and made a shop table out of it. I mounted a vise on one corner. The two mounting bolts that were about 1 1/2 from the edge were ok but the two mounting bolts that were about 6 inches in were mounted in spongy mush. I guess "solid" varies when used to describe doors.
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They are almost always particle board. Some (like steel doors) are high density foam.
I've run into a couple old ones that were solid wood pieces all glued up.
You won't know for sure until you cut into it.
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09-12-2016, 03:31 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-12-2016, 03:32 PM by Wildwood.)
Not sure easy to answer your question because have to pay attention to materials manufacturer uses to make the door and your budget. Some doors completely made from composite paper or wood over a wood frame others have ply veneer. Most are sized to allow for carpet with minimal triming on the bottom.
http://www.build.com.au/hollow-core-vs-solid-core-doors
I would not use any brand of solid core doors for exterior application regardless of what manufacturer claims. Have one that came with the house for a small storage shed on my carport. Added 1/8” plywood over top plywood veneer when started peeling on bottom of the door. Would go with fiberglass or steel doors for any exterior application.
Bill
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(09-12-2016, 03:31 PM)Wildwood Wrote: Not sure easy to answer your question because have to pay attention to materials manufacturer uses to make the door and your budget. Some doors completely made from composite paper or wood over a wood frame others have ply veneer. Most are sized to allow for carpet with minimal triming on the bottom.
http://www.build.com.au/hollow-core-vs-solid-core-doors
I would not use any brand of solid core doors for exterior application regardless of what manufacturer claims. Have one that came with the house for a small storage shed on my carport. Added 1/8” plywood over top plywood veneer when started peeling on bottom of the door. Would go with fiberglass or steel doors for any exterior application.
Ditto. Had a friend that wanted to build new doors for his 72x80 opening that had sold doors. He wanted half glass so he could have a dog door in the bottom.... None of the door places will build one that size so he wanted t help me build one in my shop... So he went with particle core solid slabs that hd used to carry. All went well but I told him no matter what that water was going to be an issue... A year later we built some much nicer doors in the shop....
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I can't tell you what the manufacturers sell as a solid core door, but I can tell you what's inside a 2 hour fire rated, wood on the outside, interior building door.
Another door. Made from steel. I have a door I salvaged from a building they were demolishing. It has a walnut outside on it, and a steel door inside it.
It's 7'6" tall X 42" wide X 2.25" thick.
It weighs about 450 lbs. It took 4 big men to drag that thing in my house, up the stairs, and onto 3 sets of big sawhorses to make a sewing table for my wife.
This thing is an absolute monster of a door.
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I just installed a solid core door between the house/garage. 32" by 80" by 1&3/4" thick.
Gotta be MDF core, it was all I could do to handle it by myself. I shoulda paid attention to the core when I drilled the latch holes better, but it sure seemed to look like MDF.
