Interior and exterior solid core and hollow core office doors in Essex

Office doors come in solid or hollow core designs, each with their own benefits. Solid core doors reduce sound, great for a quiet working environment, and provide fire protection from between thirty minutes to an hour. Hollow core doors are a cheaper alternative that are popular for decorative purposes and when fire protection isn’t a requirement.

Find some of the clients that have used us for their office doors:

Oaklands Primary School
Add Consutrction (SE) Ltd
Fermax Ltd

Suitable doors for the whole office

We supply both of these types of doors, which can be made to your requirements. You may need a solid core door from the exterior to prevent outside noise disturbing your workers, and hollow core doors from room to room as to a cheaper alternative that still look the part.

We have a dedicated support team ready to answer any questions you might have. Our quotations and site visits are free – simply contact us to see how we can help you today:

More info on our doors:

Solid core doors are used to provide sound attenuation and fire protection to half or one hour. Hollow core doors are used for decorative purposes and are a cheaper alternative when fire protection is not required.

All doors come in a various high quality veneered finishes including oak, cherry maple and sapele.

Solid Core Doors

Solid core doors are found in the majority of commercial openings as well as most home entryways. These doors may feel like one piece of lumber but are actually made from many layers of materials. They are constructed around a solid piece of base material, or core, and may have a variety of different finishes or designs.

Solid and hollow core doors look virtually identical, but are constructed quite differently. A solid core door construction starts with a wood or mineral base. Manufacturers add a layer of plywood or particle board to either side of this core and then they top the plywood with a thin layer of wood veneer. This veneer gives the door its finished appearance and captures the natural colour and grain patterns of solid hardwood.
In most instances these layers are bonded using some form of adhesive for extra strength and durability. Some solid core doors may be non-bonded which means they are pressed together under high levels of temperature and pressure without the use of adhesives.
There are four basic core materials used for making solid core doors;

Particle cores – These are the most common and are made from pressed wood fibres similar to hardboard or fibreboard.
Stave lumber cores – These consist of many small wooden blocks joined together with glue.
Structural composite lumber cores – These are made from layered wood chips, giving them a similar appearance to plywood.
Mineral based cores – These are used in doors set within fire-rated walls. These cores are typically made from pressed gypsum which helps slow the spread of heat and flames during a fire.

Hollow Core Doors

A hollow core door is an interior door without solid materials in its frame. These doors are lightweight and are used in a wide variety of buildings. Although hollow core doors do not help with sound reduction they are a more affordable alternative to the solid core wood doors.

Hollow core doors are used in the majority of internal openings. They consist of two thin layers of wood veneer. Some units have cardboard cores between the layers of veneer, while others are completely hollow. The cardboard cores feature a honeycomb pattern and are often soaked in resin or glue to add strength. Alternative fillings are foam blocks or pieces of board placed in sections inside the door frame.

The most popular finishes for hollow core doors would be scrap woods and artificial wood, keeping the cost of manufacture as low as possible. These doors are also a popular “green” or environmental choice as they use waste wood which would otherwise be consigned to landfill.

Establishing Client Needs

Once we have been approached by a prospective or current client regarding a proposed project the first thing that we at GDL Interiors will offer to do, is carry out a free of charge, on-site survey with the client.

At this meeting we would discuss in depth what our client’s ideas and requirements are, along with taking the necessary measurements and going over the options open to our client in order for them to achieve what they want within the budget that they have allocated.

We will then go away and produce our quotation to include drawings where necessary and this would incorporate a full scope of works along with costs for our clients to peruse.

Due to the number of years GDL Interiors has been in this business we are able to obtain substantial discounts with our suppliers which we pass onto our clients therefore all our quotations are submitted showing our most competitive prices.

Once the quotation is accepted we would appoint a Site Manager who would oversee the project until completion and to the satisfaction of our client.

GDL Interiors are based in Essex and work with clients in London, Suffolk, Essex, East Anglia, Hertfordshire, Kent and throughout the UK.

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