ᐅ Painting, varnishing, or replacing wooden windows and interior doors?

We paid about 500€ for the door, frame, and installation by the carpenter. Half of the cost was for the door, the other half for the installation. During renovation, it might also be worth considering installing new glass in the old window frames. We did this in the guest bathroom; the frame was completely intact and properly insulated, but the glass was old and was replaced with modern glass. The difference is huge.

Buschreiter schrieb:

We paid about €500 (approximately $540) per door, including the door leaf, frame, and installation by the carpenter. About half of that was for the door itself, half for installation. During a renovation, you might also consider having new glass fitted into the existing window frames. We did this in the guest bathroom; the frame was completely intact and reasonably well insulated, but the glass was old and was replaced with modern glazing. The difference is huge.

So €500 (around $540) per door would not really be worth it for me. However, I can’t judge how much better a new interior door is compared to the old one or how it will look in the end (when painted).
The window frames are intact, as are the windows (except for two Velux roof windows). I want to keep the wooden frames and panes. Our building inspector said it’s either live with them or undertake a major project (meaning windows, insulation, front door...). We want to avoid that as long as the components function well enough.

Let's put it this way: you can get inexpensive white interior doors for around 100 euros, but of course, they are neither particularly scratch-resistant nor soundproof. If your current doors are high-quality wooden doors, then refurbishing them makes sense. A high-quality interior door usually costs no less than 300 euros.

Myrna_Loy schrieb:

Let's put it this way: you can get inexpensive, white interior doors for around 100 euros, but they are obviously neither particularly scratch-resistant nor soundproof. If your current doors are high-quality wooden doors, then refurbishing them is worthwhile. A high-quality interior door usually costs at least 300 euros.

These are just the classic dark brown wood veneer doors from the 1980s with wooden frames. How can I assess their quality?

This is what the doors and frames look like

If the doors feel light or sound hollow, they are probably made with paper honeycomb core, which is cheap material. Next up are particleboard cores, followed by tubular cores and solid particleboard. Finally, there are the expensive solid wood doors. Since these are veneered, solid wood can be ruled out.

We also spent about €100 (around $110) on new tubular core doors. Compared to the honeycomb cores, it was a huge improvement.

If you decide to buy doors and paint the frames, be careful with the shades of color. White is not always the same white. That’s why we chose anthracite for the frames.

Regarding the picture: It looks like how it was in our house before 😉 We also have a house built in the 1980s.