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Installing new doors in your home are a wonderful way to upgrade your living space. If you are looking to change your home decor or give it a more modern feel, swapping your doors for something more modern is a great place to start. Below you’ll find a list of some of the things you’ll need to install a simple prehung interior door.

Materials You’ll Need:

• Your chosen interior door
• Door hinges
• Paint or stain
• Door knob or lockset

Tools You’ll Need:

• Screwdriver kit
• A helper
• Tape measure
• Drill and drill bits
• Saw
• Hammer
• Paintbrush
• Safety Goggles

Installing Your Door

Step One: Choose Door

Before installing any kind of doors, make sure you know exactly how to choose the right type of door for your home, and that you’re installing it in the right place. You want to be careful not to install an exterior door inside your house. Chances are an exterior door won’t match the desired aesthetics of your room, or house. Believe it or not, there’s a lot of interior doors to choose from.

You should also make sure your door fits in the frame you want to install it in. Break out the tape measure, and measure the length and width of your old door if it fits the frame. The right fit now could save you a lot of time and money correcting mistakes later.

Step Two: Out With The Old

If you haven’t already, remove the existing door from it’s frame. This part is simple, but you’ll need an extra set of hands. You’ll need to remove the hinge pins from the old door. If you plan to reuse the hinges, make sure they’re removed from the old door.

Step Three: Cut and Trim

Trim or cut the new door, so it matches the size of the old one. If you’re not very handy with a saw, you can have this done for you at your hardware store where you purchased your new door. Test the new trimmed door, to make sure it fits.

Step Four: Paint or Stain

When you’re satisfied with the fit of your door, it’s time to paint, or stain, your door for your desired look.

Step Five: Attach Hinges and Door Knob Hardware

Once the paint has dried it’s time to break out the drill. Drill holes for your hinges, and screw them into place. And then drill holes for your door knob, and install your door knob hardware. Don’t install the door knob yet.

Step Six: Install Door

Now you can fit you door to the frame. You might need a helper for this step too. Fit the door to the frame,  and line up the hinges so they lace together. Then install the pins, and all the included screws.

Step Seven: Install Door Knob

Finally, install the door knob according to manufacturer’s instructions. And there you have it, you’ve installed a door all on your own! 

Photo: Unknown Source, Pinterest

Over the past few years, door making techniques and materials have drastically changed, making the prices of doors significantly cheaper. Therefore, there really is no reason not to invest in new doors, but it is still important to buy the right type. To help you to do so, we’ve have put together a quick guide:

Get the Style Right

When you enter most homes you are greeted in either a hallway, a corridor, or a foyer with doors leading into the downstairs rooms, closet and guest bathroom. Since this is one of the first things you and your visitors see when you enter your home, you need to make sure your doors look great.

Photo: Unknown Source, Pinterest

Decide on the style of door that suits your home the best. Consider your existing decorating style, as well as the existing architecture of your home. Is your home a 19^th century Victorian or a retro style 60’s bungalow? You need to keep all of these aspects in mind, which will help make your decision on what style of doors to purchase. Choose something that fits the present style to avoid any decorating disasters.

Choose High Quality Doors

It is always best to invest in high quality doors since they look better, and will last far longer than cheaper ones. If you buy those that have an engineered wood core, they will not warp and have good insulation qualities. Since you are already considering updating all of your doors, it’s best to do it right the first time and get the most out of your new doors.

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Consider Sound Insulation

This is an important consideration in a noisy household. Choosing solid doors instead of hollow ones provides an extra layer of sound insulation. If you choose the right type, you will be able to reduce the amount of noise that leaks from, or enters, your rooms. This will make your home a more comfortable place to live. It will allow family members to enjoy their pastimes, without bothering anyone else.

Photo: Prairie Perch Blogspot

Heat insulation

Buying good quality doors also has the added benefit of helping keep the heat in a room. The better the door fits the less heat will leak out into the corridors, hallways or landings. For your front or back door, consider purchasing composite doors made from PVC, wood, steel, aluminium, insulating foam, and glass reinforced plastic. All of these materials come together to produce a energy efficient door that has heat resistant elements and is very strong and secure.

Photo: Chinoiserie Chic

How to Buy Good Quality Doors

Fortunately, these days, it is relatively easy to buy good quality doors, at a reasonable price. For example, you can find many doors online like at www.doorstore.co.uk in all kinds of styles, colors, and materials.

However, you still need to do a bit of research before confirming your order. For example, it is important to check the cost of delivery, to be able to accurately work out how much each door will cost. You also need to find out, in advance, whether the door fixings are included in the price.

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If you buy from a well-established and reliable company, the chances are that you will be purchasing a good quality product. However, it is still wise to check what the firm’s returns policy is, just in case. The best firms always offer a warranty on their products, so there is no need to buy from a company that does not include a good guarantee.

Want more door buying guidance? Check out this article!