Core77

Thrifty Material Use: A Solid Wood Door Made When Times Were Tight

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without"

By Rain Noe - December 6, 2019

in Sustainable Design

As I'm learning here on the farm, there are a million things that need fixing or replacing in an old house. But one great thing about an old house is that the interiors have nice, solid wood doors. For reasons of insulation (both noise and R-value) a solid wood door is always better than the cardboard-web-containing hollow-core doors common in modern homes.

However, when times were tight--think of the Great Depression, or World War II--even solid wood might not be easy to come by. Thus we see this 1940s DIY door example by an unknown thrifty craftsperson, captured by UK-based photographer Rich Sayles:

Image credit: Rich Sayles Photography, Facebook, Instagram

Those are solid wood strips sandwiched between two layers of thin plywood, providing the desired mass. I want to believe that these are cut-offs from some factory process, primarily because I shudder to think of someone taking the time to mill each piece to fit. And while it was undoubtedly time-consuming to assemble, I still think this is a better use for cut-offs than if they'd gone up the chimney.

It's worth noting that the UK's WWII-era motto was "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."

o

Favorite This
Q
3

Comment

Comments

E Saarinen

4 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

Block board?

!Report as spam
Lief Eriksen

4 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

I wish I still had some of my "textbooks" (ie. spiral bound photocopies) from when I was a Joinery apprentice, because I can't remember what this style of door construction is called. Today it's more common to use particle board with a solid wood frame for solid core doors, but at one time this construction style with laminated strips would have been common. The core would have been laminated and then had door skin pressed onto both sides.

!Report as spam
Nathan D.

4 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

That seems like more of a way to keep it from warping than a cost saving measure.

!Report as spam