When looking at doors, you are likely to come across some new terminology. Here is a list of the words and phrases often used when describing wooden doors.
Architrave: A decorative moulding that surrounds the door, and bridges the gap between the edge of the frame and the wall.
Aperture: An opening in a door where glass would be fitted.
Beading: The mouldings that surround a panel in a solid door, or a pane of glass in a door.
Bespoke Doors: Doors that are custom made to individual requirements.
Bi-Fold: These are doors that fold together as they open to save space, using a tracking system that enables the door to slide into position. Bi-folds are particularly suitable for smaller spaces and can also be installed as a pair to create a room divider.
Butt Hinges: A type of hinge commonly used to assemble doors. A butt hinge is usually comprised of two leaves that match. One is usually attached to a fixed component (such as a door jamb) and the other is attached to a moving component (such as a door). In the closed position, the butt hinge leaves will remain flush with each other where only the curled barrel, often referred to as the knuckle, is exposed.
Caming: Formed metal stripping, usually made of brass or zinc plated steel, used between cut-glass pieces to assemble the pieces into a decorative glass panel. Caming is soldered at joints to bond the glass assembly together.
Core: The internal composition of a door.
Deadbolt: A latch used to secure a door closed, the latch being driven from the door into a receiver in the jamb or frame.
Door Pairs: Two symmetrical doors installed adjacent to each other and modelled to form a pair of doors, creating double the size of opening of an individual door.
Double-Glazed: Glass that is made up of two layers of glass with a sealed airspace between to help keep a building warm and to reduce noise from outside of a property.
Dowelled: A method of door construction using dowels to connect the different part of a door together.
Etched Glass: Glass on which a decorative pattern is engraved by means of chemical action or mechanical sand-blasting.
FD30 Fire Doors: Doors that have been tested by an accredited test house to ensure that they are able to resist the passage of fire for more than 30 minutes. Likewise, FD60 fire doors will last at least 60 minutes.
Finish: The surface of the door. Doors can be supplied finished, (usually with a clear lacquer), or unfinished/ natural (where you are able to apply your own finish).
Flat Panel: This is a panel on a door which is not raised, bevelled or profiled.
Flush Hinge: A flush hinge is designed so that one leaf will nestle into the other leaf, reducing the amount of space it requires. Many of these types of hinges are used in cupboards. Flush hinges cannot hold heavy weight like a butt hinge can.
Frame: The timber components (e.g. linings & casings) that are fitted within a wall opening to which a door is fixed.
FSC®: The Forest Stewardship Council is an independent organisation that promotes the responsible management of forests worldwide. The FSC standard is recognised globally.
Grooves: These are lines cut into the face of the door that create a pattern or design.
Handing: A term which describes or determines the direction of swing of a door when opening.
Inlay: A decorative strip, design or pattern which is embedded into the front of the door. Typically, the inlay is made of a complementary material or alternative colour to the door, like a veneer, aluminium or coloured plastic, and it is flush with the door’s surface.
Intumescent Strip: An intumescent strip is a component for a Fire Door. It is placed around the door frame and is chemically designed to automatically expand when exposed to extreme heat, thus sealing the gap around the frame. This therefore contains the fire and allows for enough time to escape. This is very important as it isolates the fire to one area and helps to protect people whilst also minimising damage to the building itself. It differs from a smoke seal as that is used to block smoke and not contain a fire.
Latch: A moveable, usually spring-loaded pin or bolt, which is part of a lock mechanism, and engages a socket or clip on a door jamb, retaining the door closed.
Light: This refers to an individual pane of glass within a door e.g. a ‘2 light’ door has two panes of glass.
Lippings: These create the door edge and can be reduced slightly in size to fit a specific door opening, without exposing the inner core of the door. Solid lippings (as long as they are large enough) allow the edges of doors to be modelled to form rebated pairs.
Low-E Glass: Glass which has been factory coated with a thin layer of material, nearly clear, which acts to absorb and reflect heat and light energy.
Mortice & Tenon (M&T): Method of joint construction. Traditionally how an external door was constructed.
Mullion: A post or divider which runs from sill to frame top in a multi-panel door, door, or door and side light assembly.
Pre-finished: A pre-finished door is one that is ready painted or varnished.
Pocket Door: This is a sliding door system that is built into the wall, so that the door disappears on opening completely into the pocket. A popular, contemporary door solution that is ideal for properties with limited space.
Primed: Doors that have been prepared with an undercoat ready for a top coat finish.
Rebating: This makes doors into a pair, by machining a groove into the edges of two doors, creating a partial overlap where the doors meet.
Semi-Solid Core: The centre of the door is part solid and part cellular components.
Shaker Style: This type of door has a simple, flat, recessed centre panel and usually no detailing. Most often the shaker style doors have right angled edges, although occasionally you will find those that have a slight bevelled finish.
Sidelight: A panel which is usually fixed at the side of a hinged door. A sidelight is normally a narrow panel of glass set alongside a larger door. Side Lights almost always contain glass lights.
Skirting: This is a decorative wooden board running along the bottom of an interior wall, to finish the join between the wall and the floor.
Smoke Seal: A Smoke Seal is basically a barrier on fire doors that prevent the flow of deadly and hazardous fumes travelling from room to room. It works by being placed between the door frame and the door on all sides. By preventing smoke passing through the gaps between the door and frame, allowing more time to escape as the rest of the building is not affected by heavy smoke. It is important to have a Smoke Seal as inhalation of smoke kills more people than fires do! A smoke seal works differently from an intumescent strip, as it prevents the smoke spreading whereas an intumescent strip blocks off the fire itself.
Solid Core: A heavy and solid centre to a door, it is normally made from wood-based timber components.
Standard Core: Standard core doors have a cellular structure inside the door. This means that the door is lighter in weight than solid or semi-solid core doors and is well suited to domestic use.
Threshold: Another term for sill. The horizontal part of a door assembly fixed under the door panel and bearing on the floor.
Triple-Glazed: Three layers of glass with a sealed airspace between the outer and inner sections help keep a building warm and to reduce noise from outside of a property. Used for more intricate glass designs.
Unfinished: The door is supplied prepared ready for a topcoat finish e.g. varnish or paint.
U-Value: A number which describes in specific terms, the ability of a material or assembly to transmit heat from outside to inside surfaces. Products with lower U-Values transmit less heat than those with higher values.
Veneer: A thin slice of timber used as a decorative material on the visible face of the door.
Warp: A permanent curvature or deviation from straightness, which can be induced in a part or assembly by a load or force, or by exposure to heat or moisture.