For many homeowners, our interior doors receive much daily traffic. With people constantly coming and going, entries will show signs of wear and tear over time, impacting their functionality and visual appeal.
From noticeable damage and the diminishing of acoustic insulation to difficulty opening/closing and draughts, recognising these signs of deterioration is essential for preserving your home’s overall quality and aesthetics.
To help you determine when it’s time for a refresh, we outline several tell-tale signs that it’s time to remove your current entries and update them with shiny new oak doors. So, if you’ve been wondering if it’s time to bid farewell, keep reading to uncover the answer.

Noticeable Damage
Since they’re being used daily, it’s not unusual for doors to become scratched, cracked, and chipped or, in worst-case scenarios, even have holes. Whether your kids took a Crayola to them when they were babies or your partner accidentally made a hole in one of them when trying to manoeuvre a large piece of furniture, your doors bear the brunt of many situations over their lifetime.
Even the most minor damage can worsen over time, so it’s essential to routinely check all elements of your doors, from the hinges to handles, to ensure insulation issues don’t occur. Of course, you can prevent this by purchasing high-quality doors that promote longevity, like the range of oak internal doors from the Online Door Store.
Whether you’d like to replace your oak doors or are considering a new door style, consider visiting their website to browse their complete collection, read reviews from previous customers, and much more. Or, if you’re looking for something a little different, contact them directly for their bespoke door service.
Sound Filtering Through
One of the main reasons we have interior doors is for privacy reasons. Whether we want to escape to the bathroom for a few moments of peace away from the kids or have a private conversation with a friend/family member, interior doors help shelter these intimate times and ensure we’re not being disturbed/overheard.
So, if you’ve started noticing the sound of the TV coming from your child’s room or your partner rattling about in the bathroom, it might be time to bid your current oak doors farewell! Upgrading to new ones will allow you to relish in the privacy your old doors once provided you and ensure you’re not privy to your thirteen-year-old daughter’s gossip sessions.
Difficult To Open/Close
If you’re finding that you must throw your total weight at your interior door before it opens or that it’s leaving drag marks across the carpet, you might want to consider upgrading your internal doors. In some cases, this can be caused by changes in temperature, causing the door to swell, improper installation, or general wear or tear – but it can be not very pleasant either way.
While you can give a difficult-to-open door a quick fix by lubricating the hinges with some olive oil or WD-40, it is only a temporary solution; sooner or later, the door will revert to its general stubbornness. In times like these, replacing your internal door is the only way to rectify the solution entirely (or until it ages and it starts to happen again!).