Topic Summary
Stiles and rails may be solid lumber or veneered. Doors are available without finish, prime painted, or factory stained. The stile and rail framing members are joined with mortise and tenon or doweled joints, and glued to provide rigidity. Panels are usually allowed to float within the framing members to accommodate expansion and contraction.
Fire-rated stile and rail doors are available from some manufacturers. These are usually made with wood veneer over mineral core stile and rail framing and panels.
Factory finishing, especially for transparent finished doors, provides a more consistent, higher quality product which requires less field labor.
Doors can also be furnished factory-prepared for hardware and provided with additional blocking for door closers and panic devices, to avoid through-bolts. Hollow-core doors can be furnished pre-hung in wood frames.
Some manufacturers can provide doors produced with FSC-certified wood to verify that the materials are sourced from managed forests to meet "green" building requirements.
