Do old solid wood doors beat modern hollow core ones or is it just nostalgia?

I redid my hallway last month and swapped out three 1950s solid oak doors for new hollow core ones from the big box store. The old doors were heavy, had cool panel detailing, but took me forever to sand and repaint. New ones went up in 20 minutes each and look clean but feel kind of flimsy when you close them. My wife says the old ones had more character and kept noise down better, while I like that the new ones don't swell in humidity. What's your take on this debate after trying both?

2 comments

2 Comments

hunt.rowan21d ago

Can't believe you sanded all those old oak doors by hand...

alice_reed4721d ago

Hand sanding oak doors? That's genuinely insane. You can see the finish is perfect in the photos but at what cost. Your forearms must be screaming and you probably went through a hundred sheets of sandpaper. The grain on oak is so aggressive too, it just eats through paper. Honestly that takes a kind of patience I just don't have.