What Is A Flush Door?
Different buildings, rooms and spaces require different styles and types of doors, depending upon their function and environment. Amongst the many options for door type is the simple flush door – a straightforward, unassuming door style where the door sits inline with the door frame, as opposed to being recessed as most other door types. Flush doors are very popular where a plain or seamless visual aesthetic is required – if minimal lines are favoured for your room, then flush doors are the perfect choice! Here is some information on flush doors for you to consider:
Designs
A flush door is a simple, uncomplicated design, with plain facings on both sides – there is no panelling or bevelling on the facings, so it offers a sleek, modern look. Flush doors can be used as both interior or exterior doors and are often installed in rooms or areas where space may be at a premium. The simplicity of flush doors makes them likely be positioned towards the “functional” end of the door design range rather than the aesthetic, stylish end! Indeed, you may deliberately opt for the simple appearance of a flush door to highlight other features of the room in which they sit!
Construction
Flush doors are built more simply than other door types and may have a solid, hollow or stave core.
Solid Doors
Solid flush doors consist of a skeletal wood frame covered with a very thin timber sheet creating an impression of a solid, thick wooden door. This solid-core door comprises of an insulating material – often MDF or low-density particle board, and sometimes a fire-retardant material for added safety – this ‘core’ is inserted between the timber sheets to create the finished door. These are ideal exterior doors as they provide more insulation and strength. Solid doors are, by definition, heavier than the other alternatives, but provide a more suitable option to form an effective passage between two rooms. Solid core flush doors are dense, strong and highly durable – they are long-lasting and can withstand regular wear-and-tear over long periods. Solid flush doors also offer more security and soundproofing than other types of flush doors.
Stave Doors
A stave-core flush door – often referred to as a ‘cellular’ core flush door – is created by taking multiple vertical lengths of an inexpensive wood stacked upon one another, then covering the front, back and sides with a higher-quality wood veneer. These cellular core flush doors offer greater durability than the hollow version but feature the same lightweight build. More suited to indoor locations, they are ideal for bedroom, closet or bathroom doors.
Hollow Doors
A simpler version of a flush door is the hollow-core door – this is self-explanatory, with the doors consisting of just the thin, wood veneer strips and no inner core. They will perhaps be just two sections of plywood attached to each side of a frame with some added support provided by a honeycomb or lattice system consisting of corrugated cardboard. Whilst easy and cheap to produce, hollow doors are not used that much as they offer poor insulation from both heat and sound perspectives and can appear somewhat lightweight and ‘flimsy’.
Functionality
If the doors are intended to be mounted on tracks – for example, as closet doors -the hardware will be recessed and with the sheer, plain surface of the flush doors, they can easily slide by each other.
Bespoke Flush Doors
Although a simple and straightforward design, you can still add some character to your flush doors – bespoke flush doors can be manufactured in a variety of sizes and finishes so you can tailor them to suit the environment in which you wish to install them. Flush doors can be designed to look like panelled doors whilst still retaining their smooth surface and are more budget friendly.
Benefits Of Flush Doors
Flush doors offer a clean, modern aesthetic to a space and are lightweight and easy to install. While plain, its use in an appropriate setting like a modern office or apartment complex can be offset by more decorative elements in other parts of the room in which it sits – plants, pictures and such. A flush door will not usually sit well in an older, more traditional period building, where a panelled door is perhaps more appropriate. The simplicity of a flush door is a benefit in that they can be easily and inexpensively manufactured, and the interior of a flush door offers an important feature as it is ideal for insulation and fireproofing!
Whilst flush doors are ideal for any internal environments, they are not always the best choice for external locations, and while they can be manufactured to the highest specifications, the very ‘make-up’ of them means that they will not be the most robust when exposed to harsh weather conditions. If to be deployed as external doors, it is usually recommended that flush doors are installed in locations that are semi-protected – perhaps by a porch or substantial canopy.
Whilst hollow-core flush doors are lightweight, and therefore easy to install and remove, solid doors are far more robust, so are more suitable for any security and safety-bound environment. Any building that requires fire-resistant doors should consider the solid door option.
Summary
Simply put, flush doors are always an inexpensive, aesthetically pleasing, and practical choice for many environments.
