Are your inside doors just flat, dull slabs of wood, or do they add to your home’s warmth and … well, homeyness? Sooner or later you are going to notice this feature in someone else’s house and, if you don’t already have it, you are going to want it.
And if you put it off, you may find yourself someday making this upgrade to help sell your house for the benefit of the NEXT homeowner, while never enjoying it yourself.
You’ve seen them. The most typical “raised panel” doors seem to have fancy rectangles carved into them, six of them, and they add a lot of drama to what would otherwise be a large flat surface.
A lot of homeowners look at these doors and assume they must be very expensive. After all, each of those rectangles must have been cut-out by a skilled carpenter, right?
Nope. And, they’re not expensive. Would you believe that Home Depot often sells these slabs for as little as $20 apiece? That’s because the most commonly purchased ones are hollow and fabricated — they are not made out of solid wood that needs to be carved. And, if most are going to be painted white anyway, why would they need to have a beautiful, flawless wood-grained surface?
Since the materials themselves are now available so inexpensively, the key factors driving your project cost will be the cost of labor to install them and the number of doors you want to install.
Regarding installation, Fix St Louis can perform this service two ways. We can start with a raised panel slab, carve out grooves for the hinges, and simply swap them for your existing doors. Or, we can start with a so-called “pre-hung” door that combines the door with the frame, pull out the trim around your door, swap-out your existing door with frame, then replace the trim. The differences in cost between these options is not as great as you might think because one has higher labor costs while the other has higher material costs. Some of our customers like to save themselves money by painting the doors themselves, which is fine with us!
Regarding the number of doors, you don’t necessarily have to swap out every door in your house — only the ones that are seen together. For example, you can choose to swap-out all of the doors in a hallway, without doing the same thing in other living areas. You may also choose or not choose to swap-out those sliding closet doors in bedrooms, although given that you’re looking at TWO flat, dull slabs, an upgrade to raised panel doors can really make a difference.
Do you need help with your next home repair or improvement project? Fix St Louis offers professional handyman services for homeowners in West County and surrounding areas. Our experienced, insured and trained technicians provide quality home repairs and maintenance, guaranteed. Call Fix St Louis today to schedule a “House Call”!