Do you find your house mysterious and perplexing?  

I have decided to bravely serve as tour guide to the home.  Each month I will dedicate one of my columns to illuminating some part of the house that most people might not know much about.  
This week’s topic: The Doors

Not the band that Val Kilmer sang lead for, these are the ones you have in your house.  There are tons of different kinds of doors, and I will try to give you a few facts that you will hopefully find helpful, or at least make you seem smart if the topic of doors ever comes up at a cocktail party (do people have cocktail parties any more? If they don’t, maybe they should).  

Words to know:

• Pocket doors  These are great ways to prevent the “dueling doors” problem.  Although ergonomically, they are more difficult to use than a standard swing door.  If you have the space, consider putting them in a 6” thick wall instead of the standard 4”.  This helps stabilize the door frame.

• Swing doors   This is an old concept–you may have had a swing door on the kitchen in your childhood home–but it is definitely back in vogue.  There are a lot of different hinge styles to accomplish it, so choose carefully.

• Materials  If the door will be stained, it should be solid wood.  If it will be painted, you should use MDF.  MDF is a more stable product, which makes it take paint smoother than real wood, and prevents it from expanding and contracting as much as real wood (which keeps it from cracking and warping).
• Right hand v. left hand   Doors are “handed” according to which hand it swings toward as you walk through it.  So a left hand door swings out to the left as you open it, and a right hand door does the opposite.  

• Sliding door or bi-fold  These are terms people use to refer to doors (usually on closets) that break so often that they don’t actually ever get used.  If you have a sliding door on your closet, I will wager one of them is sitting off its track right now?  Am I right?

Tips:

• Super matchstick   If you have a door hinge with a stripped out screw, put some wood glue on a matchstick, insert it into the screw hole and break off the excess, then try the screw again.  It should hold much better now.  

• No chips  If you just installed tile in your bathroom and find the door needs to be cut off, use clamps to hold a straight edge in place on the door at the right height, then use a utility knife to score the cut before using the circular saw.  This will prevent the door paint from chipping.

• It’s what’s inside that counts  You should never use a hollow core door (unless you just want to look really strong when you punch something).  Getting solid core only adds another $20 or so per door, and the difference in quality is clear.  

• Universal design   A lot of people ask about making a space “wheelchair accessible”.  Technically, ADA rules require each opening to be 36”, but this is often difficult to retrofit.  Most wheelchairs can fit through a 30” door frame.  

Questions to ask a door person:

• Will you use the existing frame (when you are replacing an interior door)?  Using an existing frame can be problematic since it is likely not square or plumb, but replacing the frame can affect the paint on the walls around the door.