Video /
Mar 18, 2020

What Is the Difference Between Hollow-Core and Solid-Core Doors?

A door expert cuts into entry-level and high-end models to show the differences inside

 

 

When it comes to doors, it is what’s inside that counts. Ben Baird from Baird Brothers Fine Hardwoods cuts into entry-level to high-end models to demonstrate the differences between hollow-core and solid-core doors. 

According to Baird, solid-core doors are higher quality due to their versatility, sound-proofing ability, and life span. 

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“You're not going to get sound,” Baird says. “It'll definitely act as a sound barrier compared to that hollow-core door that's gonna let a lot more sound in and out of the room.”

Learn more about doors by watching the video. 

 

Transcript: 

Hi, everybody, my name's Ben Baird. We're out here at Baird Brothers Saw Motor Dan in Canfield, Ohio. We're gonna cut into some doors, show you guys entry-level doors, all the way up maybe some higher-end doors. So let me start with the hollow-core door. That's more of an entry-level lower end door, and we'll cut into it, and show you guys the benefits and disadvantages of it. So the first thing we're gonna do for you guys is we're gonna put these things on a scale, and I get a weight for you. Just so you have an idea of what each door weighs. This door weighs roughly about 26-27 pounds. But let's start. 

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Cutting into the Doors

We'll take about 3/4 of an inch off. This would be in case you've got a new floor, or a new rug, and had to cut the door down to make some more room. So right here I'm marking it at 3/4 of an inch. When you're at home doing projects like this, doing home projects, please keep in mind that safety is always our first concern, especially here at Baird Brothers. And we want to make sure that you as the viewer is also being safe while you're doing these things. So as you guys can see we took about three, three quarters of an inch off. The bottom is still solid. It still looks like a good door. Let's go ahead, and let's cut a little bit more off. We'll take about an inch off this time. So as you guys can see on that last cut, we did get into the hollow core part of the door. This is why this is an entry-level door. 

Here at Baird Brothers when we get orders for hollow core doors that need to be cut down to fit a specific size, we would just simply cork this with a wood cork. At home that may pose a little bit of a problem if you don't have the capabilities of doing that, but that's what that would take to cork that door. I really want to break into this thing though. Let's tear this thing off, and see what the inside of this door actually looks like. So kind of what I thought here as you can see, there's really not much to this door. They actually have styrofoam in here, holding these two pieces apart from each other. So there's really not much to this door, as you can see. It's actually pretty easy to break open: You're not gonna do this with a solid wood door, and overall the solid woods just gonna be a better product and a better long-lasting door. Let's go ahead, and we'll jump up to the solid core door and show you the benefits of that, and why that might suit you a little bit better.

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Hefty and Sturdy

Alright, so the first thing I notice about this door, it's a lot heavier. I mean, you can just tell the quality of it is way better than that hollow core door but let's go ahead, and let's get this thing up on the scale just to show you guys exactly how much more it is in that hollow core door. So this one weighs about 42 pounds. As you guys can see one of the benefits of the solid core over the hollow core as well is the sound. You're not going to get sound. It'll definitely act as a sound barrier compared to that hollow core door that's gonna let a lot more sound in and out of the room at your end. So let's go ahead we'll get this thing up on the saw for you guys we'll take three quarters of an inch off and then bump it up and show you guys the inside of the door.

So as you guys can see the bottom of this door is still solid, still a good door. We haven't breached into the middle of the door yet. So let's go ahead and let's take a little bit more off and see what the inside of the door really looks like. Still the bottom of this door is still solid, unlike on that hollow core door. There's still a solid chunk down here so that's after our second cut. So at home if you were to if you were to cut this door down to replace the floor to add carpet or something, you wouldn't have to worry about corking it whereas you do have to worry about that with the hollow-core door. 

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Solid-Core, Solid Choice

So the next door we're going to talk about here, it's a veneer red oak door definitely is very very good product whereas the previous two doors were molded doors are more paint ready this is a more stained ready door. It's about forty nine pounds, so it's definitely got more weight to it than the previous two doors. I guess a disadvantage would be if you scratch this door, it's pretty hard to repair because you don't have the actual red oak all the way through. It’s just a red oak veneer faced with some sort of solid hardwood behind it. So the bottom of this door just like the other doors is still very solid, a very good door as you can see here made in China. I don't know if that means anything to you or not that's just where we happen to get these doors from. If you're looking for a stain ready natural wood look door let's go ahead, and we'll cut into this door like we did the previous doors. So at the end of this door you can just see the color change here: this is probably pine, whereas the veneer facing on this door is a red oak. Very difficult very hard to repair because of the veneer facing on it. You can't stand the door down like you would be able to do a traditional solid door. So let's go ahead, and we'll cut into this door a little bit more and see what the inside of the core looks like. So once again this door, it's gonna look the same you can cut into this thing the whole way up it's never gonna change you still have your solid wood the whole way through.

Veneers: Pretty, But Difficult to Repair

Once again, it's just not solid red oak. You have your red oak veneer facing with a solid pine interior on that. So now we're gonna go over one of our Baird-made doors: This is a solid door. It's solid poplar the whole way through. You can order this door in any species, but today we're going to be cutting into a poplar door. It's about 53-54 pounds, so it definitely is a little bit heavier. We'll go ahead and we'll put it up here, and we'll cut into it to show you guys that it's solid the whole way through. So at this door, unlike the previous doors, you can order this in many different species. You can order it if you want to. If you want it paint ready, it can come paint ready. If you're looking for a stain grade natural wood look in your house, we also

offer many species that can get you that look. We'll start by taking 3/4 of an inch off and we'll work our way up again. As you can see it's still popular the whole way through. The rails are. poplar. The doors poplar, it doesn't have that veneer face like we saw in the previous door. 

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So let's go ahead. Let's take a big chunk off here just to show you guys that it really is solid hardwood the whole way. So I took a pretty good chunk off this time to really show you guys that's why this is your best option. That's why we strongly recommend that you guys come out we'll show you all the doors,  the solid doors, definitely the best door. You might ask which door is best for me, Well I only recommend you to jump on our website, learn about our product, read about our doors, call one of our salesmen, come out to our showroom here in Campfield, Ohio. We'll make you a quality door that fits your budget and fits your style. Thanks for joining us today and have a good day