Wood and stone are two common materials that we use for our door frames. But the underlying question that you’re probably asking is, “Which one is best?”
Stone door frames are better than wooden ones. They are stronger, more durable, and more versatile in appearance. Door frames like marble, granite, and limestone can last more than a decade, especially when properly taken care of.
The characteristics of wooden and stone door frames will be discussed in this article, such as their resilience, choices with appearance, and other aspects connected to their pros and cons.
Describing Wooden and Stone Door Frame
In this section, we provided descriptions of both types of door frames by their material, durability, resistance to damage, appearance, texture, and cost.
Material
Wooden
While we all know wood comes from trees, there are different kinds of it. The one suitable for external door frames is hardwood and softwood for the internal.
The kinds of hardwood usually used for door frames are mahogany, teak, and white oak. For softwoods, we have pine, poplar, and maple. This blog of Appliance Analysts has a detailed description of the wood door frames, you can click here for more information.
Stone
Complex geological and natural processes give birth to rocks, where stones come from. There are three rock classifications which are sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. If you are new to stone, please read our article “Two Common Ways to Classify the Stones” before continuing.
The most common stones used for door frames are marble (metamorphic), granite (igneous), and limestone (sedimentary).
1. Durability and Resistance to Damage
Wooden
Wooden door frames can be durable. But you must also choose quality timber (a lot of manufacturers process poor ones).
This type of door frame requires regular maintenance to preserve its caliber such as cleaning, sealing, and varnishing or painting. If properly taken care of, wooden door frames may last for years.
However, when we said wood can be durable, not as much as stone. Wooden door frames have a weak defense against weather damage; they can warp and decay, especially when exposed too much to water.
Moisture is also its enemy. Cold weather causes wooden frames to be swollen, and if paired with wooden doors, they will be harder to close—as if they never fit.
Eventually, they will rot and if lacking the right maintenance, your wooden door frame can get infested by termites.
If you’re someone sensitive to sound, wood can’t block those noises coming from your neighborhood too.
But again, proper care is also the key here. You can still use wood if you want to, just make sure to look after it so you will harness its benefits.
Stone
Stone door frames— such as marble, granite, and limestone— are naturally hard, making them resistant to wear and tear. They are unsusceptible to weather damage such as extreme heat and cold, although you must keep natural marble away from ultraviolet (UV) light.
Of course, you must keep them clean too. While it happens rarely, repair your stone door frames the moment you see cracks in them. Sealing will also increase the durability of natural stones, especially marble.
You don’t have to worry about rotting or termites with stone door frames. They are resistant to external elements including force, but that doesn’t mean you should intentionally slam your doors.
When it comes to a quiet place, stone door frames are dense and they reflect sound. While you might still hear a little bit of noise from outside, it will be muffled.
2. Appearance and Texture
Wooden
Wood is one of the most used materials in the interior because of its eye-pleasing appearance. Whether antique or contemporary, wooden door frames can make a place look good.
- Mahogany, one of the hardwoods that we mentioned, is rich reddish brown in color, but the brown tone can also vary. It is smooth in texture.
- Teak wood is popularly known for having a tawny honey-golden hue, but its color is known to change over time from when it is harvested to its decay. It is rough and firm in texture. Here is a blog with a detailed introduction to Teak Wood.
- White oak colors range from beige to light and medium brown. It is also smooth in texture.
These hardwoods are already beautiful in their natural state, but you may paint, polish, and varnish them to upgrade their appearance and protect them as well.
Wood is attractive. But for some people, the choices of colors and the physical aspects may provide them with limited choices. If you’re into other colors, textures, and patterns, we have them in stone door frames.
Stone
Stone can be used both in the interior and exterior of a place. We even recommend it as an exterior building material because of its toughness.
In terms of beauty, stone door frames are spectacular and can give a grand look to your home.
- Marble is popular for its unique patterns. No slabs of marble have the exact pattern. There are a lot of natural colors such as white, beige, gray, yellow, red, and pink.
But since its natural forming process is complex and involves different elements, other colors will arise. Its texture is smooth and marble door frames are naturally glossy.
- Granite is known to have vivid colors. It can be white, gray, pink, blue, ivory, and many more. Its texture can be glossy, matte, and sandblasted.
Your granite door frame can have patterns such as speckled, marble, or solid.
- Limestone provides a soft and matte finish as a door frame. The colors are also too many to mention, but white, cream, beige, black, gray, brown, and even blue are present.
We don’t recommend polishing your limestone. Sawn and honed finish are available and they will give you a smooth and sleek door frame.
All of these stone door frames will give your home a touch of luxury and the best part is they can fit any setting.
3. Cost
Wooden
Depending on the type of wood, wooden door frames can be both expensive and affordable.
We warned about ensuring that the timber you must use should be of good quality. In this case, wooden door frames will come with a cost.
Out of the hardwoods that we mentioned, teak wood is the most expensive because of its availability, and it is more durable compared with other wood.
On the other hand, mahogany is less expensive than teak but is still priced quite high because of its rarity as well.
White oak is the most affordable and much less expensive compared to mahogany and teak wood.
On top of these, you must ensure that you properly and regularly take care of your wooden door frames to prevent damage.
Stone
The pricing of stones will depend on the source, particularly on the mining and the market. While it is an impression that stone is expensive, it can actually be budget-friendly.
Marble tends to be priced more compared with granite and limestone, but this can also vary. Granite is the second when it comes to price, and limestone is the third.
The maintenance cost should also be considered, to maximize the quality of the stone door frames. If done correctly, they will last you a lot of years, like the statues made of these stones.
To Sum Everything Up
This is the moment of truth where your question of whether to choose a wooden or stone door frame will be answered.
Our answer? Stone door frames are definitely better to use. They are:
- More durable;
- More versatile and stylish that will complement any setting and ambiance and;
- They are economical in terms of cost. An expensive door frame that will last you a long time will cost you less in the long run, because you will not worry about spending money on repairs or replacements.
If you are confused about which stone you should choose, please read more information in this article “Which Is the Best Material for the Door Frame?”. I believe that you will have an answer.
Conclusion
When choosing a material for a door frame, wood and stone will be the common options. But between the two, stone door frames are preferable because of their quality features.
Stone door frames— like marble, granite, and limestone— are durable due to their resistance to weather, other external elements, and termites, which wooden door frames lack. Stones also offer a wide array of choices in terms of colors and patterns.
With cost, it may vary depending on the source. However, stone door frames are reasonable and economical because of their capability to resist damage which helps them last a very long time.
