Solid Core Doors:

Solid core doors are a great balance between quality, material stability, and price. These doors can be made from various materials such as metal, fiberglass and manufactured wood substrates but the most commonly used are the substrates. The wood substrates are commonly particle board interiors with a hardboard wrap on the outside, for a smooth surface to finish onto. This gives these doors the same beautiful weight and feel of the solid wood doors at a much more achievable price range. This same man made substrate that gives them this weight and feel also has very little expansion or contraction problems when compared to natural wood, which means that homeowners can have a less controlled environment in their interiors and less maintenance issues arise with large temperature and humidity swings.

The one big advantage that solid wood doors have over solid core is that they can be stained or clear-coated to show off their natural beauty. In recent years this has become less and less of a problem. Since most of the trim being installed these days is being painted the fact that these doors cannot be stained or clear-coated to match a wood grain is not commonly a big issue.

Pros

-sound deadening

-weight and feel

-stability Cons -still not the cheapest -unavailable for clear coats or stains to match natural wood trim

Hollow Core:

These doors are most well know for being cheap and easy to replace, but there are some other great advantages to the hollow core door. Because of their light weight, these doors can be great solution to doors that are often being slammed such as a kids bedrooms or a basement door down to a playroom. When heavy doors are shut vigorously constantly over time the pure weight of a solid core door will start to damage both the frame around the door as well as loosening the hinges that the door is hung on. For this reason, it is often smart to put a hollow core door on certain choice doors in your house that will take heavy abuse. This allows for an easy replacement if needed and less damage to the door frame around it. Also the thin steel stud used in many of the newer condo developments cannot take the weight of the solid core doors and need the lightness of the hollow core doors to function.

Hollow cores biggest advantage though really is cost. At half the price of the solid core doors, any project on a tight budget should probably swing in this direction, though this cheap cost does come at the price of loss of sound deadening, and the weight and feel that solid core provides.

Pros:

-cost

-less damage from vigorous use

Cons: -very little sound deadening

-Lack the weight and quality feel of solid core doors

Pablo Willis, Alair Homes Toronto Project Manager