At a glance
| Type | Built as | Fire, sound, weight and movement |
|---|---|---|
| Flush | Skins over a core, edged with solid lippings. Cores: particleboard, MDF, timber, composite or hollow grid. | Often certified as a fire doorset; mass and seals drive sound. Hollow core is lightest; a leaf wholly of chipboard density would be about 47 kg. |
| Panelled | Stiles and rails framing panels that float in grooves. Four, five and six panels in the old texts. | Panels are the fire weak point: needs a tested build. About 27 kg softwood, 38 kg oak; oak panels move 2.6 to 5.0 mm. |
| Ledged and braced | Tongued and grooved boards on ledges, with diagonal braces. | Not normally certified for fire; gaps open as boards move. About 27 kg softwood, 38 kg oak. |
| Framed, ledged and braced | The same, with a frame of two stiles and a top rail round the boards. | As ledged and braced. About 31 kg softwood, 44 kg oak. |
| Glazed | A panelled or flush leaf with glass lights in bars or beads. | Rated glass must be tested in the doorset. Glass adds weight: ask for it. |
| Louvred | Slats, fixed or adjustable, in a frame. | Built for air, not fire or privacy. Light; the slats are the weak point. |
| Dutch | A leaf split into two that open together or apart, often with a shelf. | The split weakens fire and sound. Each half carries its own weight. |
| Jib | A leaf flush with the wall: no architrave or handle, dado and skirting run across. | A concealed leaf on a fire route needs a doorset certificate. Often heavy. |
Leaf 2,040 x 826 x 44 mm. Weights and movement are our arithmetic; fire and sound statements are for a fire door specialist to confirm. Cost is left out on purpose.
Eight constructions in elevation
Door names describe how a leaf is built, not how it looks. A flush door and a panelled door can be the same size and finish and behave quite differently in fire, sound, weight and movement. The eight constructions below are the ones a specifier meets most often. The table says how each is built and what to ask; the drawings show them in elevation and in section.
Fire is a property of a tested and certified doorset (leaf, frame, seals, hinges, closer and glazing together), not of a door type: see Fire door specification guide. Sound depends on mass, seals and the threshold: see Acoustic doors and Rw ratings. Sizes and clear openings are on Door sizes and tolerances. This sheet gives no prices, and the cost column some door guides carry is left out on purpose.
How each is built
The section drawings show the one detail that sets each type apart.
- Flush: the Architectural Woodwork Standards list the cores as particleboard, MDF, agrifibre, staved lumber, structural composite lumber, fire-resistant composite or a hollow grid, with face skins over them (US standards, used here for the vocabulary). A flush leaf gains its stability from balanced faces: the same standards say manufacturers do not normally warrant a door with a different species, face or finish on opposite sides, or with different temperature or humidity on opposite sides.
- Panelled (stile and rail): the strength of the leaf lies in the joints between stiles and rails, and a wide bottom rail adds a great deal, so those joints are the design, not a detail. The panels are not glued: they sit in grooves and move.
- Ledged and braced: boards, tongued and grooved and often V-jointed, are held by ledges on the back. An old text says a ledged door with no braces will twist unless it is very narrow, and that both braces must have their lower ends toward the hanging (hinge) side, or the door racks.
- Framed, ledged and braced: the same, with a frame of two stiles and a top rail, whose thickness equals the ledges and boards together, so the boards are held at their edges.
- Glazed: glass sits in a rebate and is held by a bead or glazing bar. The glass, its thickness and its fire and safety rating are a separate specification line.
- Louvred: slats set at an angle between the rails let air through and block sight. Treat them as ventilation, not as a screen for sound or fire.
- Dutch: two leaves, one above the other, that open together or apart. Each has a rebate where they meet and the lower one often a shelf.
- Jib: a leaf finished as part of the wall surface, so it is built to match the wall (panelling, paper or paint) and its hinges and catch are concealed. The wall's dado and skirting run across the leaf.
Weight and movement: our arithmetic
Weight matters for hinges, frames and pivots, and movement matters for finish and fit. Both are our arithmetic on stated assumptions, labelled as such, using Wood Handbook specific gravity (coast Douglas-fir 0.48 and white oak 0.68 at 12 per cent moisture, with water content added) for a 2,040 x 826 x 44 mm leaf. They are upper-bound guides for solid timber, not maker's weights: ask the partner for the actual weight of the specified leaf.
| Construction | Assumptions (our own, not from a standard) | Softwood (kg) | Oak (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solid one-piece slab | 44 mm thick throughout (upper bound; not a recommended build for a stile and rail door) | 40 | 56 |
| Ledged and braced | 22 mm boards, three ledges 150 x 22, two braces 100 x 22 about 1,000 long | 27 | 38 |
| Framed, ledged and braced | Stiles and top rail 100 x 44, 22 mm boards inside, three ledges, two braces | 31 | 44 |
| Four-panel stile and rail | Stiles 100, rails 100, 150 and 200 wide, 44 thick, muntin 100, four panels 15 thick | 27 | 38 |
| Flush, wholly core | Chipboard density 640 kg/m3 throughout (a P2 chipboard data sheet; skins and lippings ignored) | 47 (any species) | - |
Hollow-core, louvred, glazed, Dutch and jib leaves are not calculated: their mass depends on the core, the glass and the wall finish. For movement, white oak across a swing of 5.1 points of moisture content (35 to 65 per cent relative humidity at 21.1 °C, Wood Handbook Table 4-2) changes in width by 0.00376 per point (plain sawn) or 0.00194 per point (quarter sawn). That is 1.9 mm across a 100 mm stile and 5.0 mm (plain sawn) or 2.6 mm (quarter sawn) across the 263 mm panel of the four-panel leaf, which is why a panel is left free in its groove. One old text allows about 1/8 inch of panel width per foot for swelling, which is 2.7 mm on a 263 mm panel: the same order. Across a one-piece 826 mm leaf the same arithmetic gives 15.8 mm plain sawn, which is why wide leaves are built up from boards or framed. The joiner sets the real clearance.
Parts of a panelled door, and the words that differ
A six-panel door is the usual way to learn the parts. The stiles run the full height; the hanging stile carries the hinges and the closing stile the lock. The top, frieze, lock and bottom rails run between them, and a muntin divides panels in a row. The panels sit in grooves in the stiles and rails; the moulding round each panel is either stuck (worked in the frame itself) or planted (a separate strip fixed on), and a bolection moulding stands proud of the frame and overlaps it.
UK and US usage
Door words travel badly between the UK and the US. The table shows where the usage found in the sources read differs. It is for avoiding a misunderstanding, not a ruling.
| Word | UK usage found | US or other usage found | On a drawing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muntin | Old UK texts: the intermediate vertical member of a panelled door, between two panels, tenoned into the rails. | Architectural Woodwork Standards (US): a short member between a muntin bar and a stile, rail or another bar, at glass openings. UK trade calls those glazing bars. | Say 'muntin' for panel framing and 'glazing bar' for glass, and draw it. |
| Mullion | Old and UK usage: a vertical member between lights or panels (UK windows use it for window verticals). | Standards (US): a vertical member larger than a muntin, between panels or lights, working like a cross-rail. | Avoid; name the member. |
| Light and lite | UK: a light is a pane of glass in a door or window. | US: lite. | Use 'light' for UK work. |
| Style and stile | Old texts spell the outer vertical member 'style'; the standards and trade use stile. | The same word with the same spelling in the US. | Write stile. |
| Raised and sunk, fielded, flat | Old texts: panels are flat (square-framed), raised, or raised and sunk; mouldings are stuck or planted, with bead butt and bead flush as the simplest. | The standards use raised and flat. | Give the panel profile, not only the word. |
| Handing | Hand is read from the hinge side and the swing; conventions differ between countries. | US: LHH and RHH. Germany: DIN left or right. | Draw the swing on the plan; do not rely on 'left hand' alone. |
Rules that follow the door type
A few rules follow the door type, not the finish. The figures are from Approved Document K, 2013 edition (England); check them against the edition in force.
- Glazed leaves (Section 5): in a door, glass between the floor and 1,500 mm is in a critical location, and so is glass in a side panel within 300 mm of the door edge, up to 1,500 mm (Diagram 5.1); other side-panel glass is critical below 800 mm. Glass in a critical location must break safely, be robust, be in small panes or be permanently protected (paragraph 5.2). The glass types and classes are on Glass types for lit joinery and luminaires.
- Solid leaves (Section 10): Requirement K6 asks for a clear view of the space on either side of a swing door and does not apply to dwellings. Paragraph 10.1(a) says door leaves and side panels wider than 450 mm should include vision panels towards the leading edge, giving the zones of visibility in Diagram 10.1, which run from 500 mm up to 1,500 mm above the floor (800 mm and 1,150 mm are also marked on the diagram). A flush, ledged, Dutch or jib leaf in a building other than a dwelling may therefore need glass. Ask building control which doors it applies to.
- Fire: any type can be fire-rated only as a tested, certified doorset, with the certificate covering the exact build (veneer, size, glazing and ironmongery). Planing, scribing or cutting a leaf on site can void it. See the fire door sheet.
- Access: the clear opening a door gives depends on the leaf width and thickness and on the furniture; see the door sizes sheet and Approved Document M.
- Sound: a louvred, ledged or Dutch leaf will not give acoustic separation. For any door that must, see the Rw sheet.
Specification wording
Paste into your schedule or specification and replace anything in [square brackets] with your own figures. Wording is a starting point: your specification governs.
Door [D01]: [flush / panelled, [4] panel / ledged and braced / framed, ledged and braced / glazed / louvred / Dutch / jib], hung [left / right] hand as plan [ref], leaf [2,040 x 826 x 44] mm finished, [species / face material]. Construction [core / frame and panel / boarding and ledges] as shop drawing [ref]. Fire [none / complete doorset to certificate [ ]]. Glass [none / type, thickness and safety class]. Maker to state the leaf weight [ ] kg for the hinge and frame design.
Stiles [ ] mm, rails [ ] mm, panels [ ] mm [flat / raised and fielded] floating in grooves with [ ] mm movement clearance; panels not glued; mouldings [stuck / planted / bolection]. Ledged leaf: boards [ ] mm tongued, grooved and [V-jointed], [3] ledges [ ] x [ ] mm, braces rising from the hinge side.
[ ] mm [laminated / toughened / fire-rated] glass in a rebate with [bead / glazing bar] on the [secure] side. Glass in critical locations to Approved Document K section 5; rated glass only as tested in the doorset.
Terms used on this page
- Ledged and braced
- Boards held by horizontal ledges on the back and diagonal braces rising from the hinge side.
- Muntin
- In UK panelled doors the intermediate vertical member between panels. US standards use it for a glazing member.
- Jib door
- A door finished flush with the wall, with no visible architrave or handle.
Standards and sources
- Approved Document K, 2013 edition (England): Diagrams 5.1 and 10.1. Read 6 Nov 2026.
- Architectural Woodwork Standards, 1st edition (2009), Section 9 Doors: US; vocabulary and warranty exclusions.
- BS 4787-1:1980 Wood doorsets, leaves and frames: dimensions: BSI: Current; one seller: withdrawn 11 Mar 2025. Not read.
- BS EN 12519:2018 Windows and pedestrian doors. Terminology: BSI: Current, 30 Sep 2018. Not read.
- USDA Wood Handbook FPL-GTR-282 (2021): Table 5-3a and moisture movement.
Questions we are asked
What is the difference between a panelled door and a flush door?
A panelled door is a frame of stiles and rails with panels that float in grooves, so it shows its construction on the face. A flush door has a flat face: two skins glued over a core and edged with solid lippings. The frame restrains movement in the first; balanced faces do it in the second.
What does ledged and braced mean, and which way do the braces go?
Vertical boards held together by horizontal ledges on the back, with diagonal braces that stop the door sagging. An old building text says both braces must have their lower ends toward the hanging (hinge) side, otherwise the door racks. A framed, ledged and braced door adds a frame of two stiles and a top rail.
What is a jib door?
A door finished flush with the wall surface, with no visible architrave or handle, so it blends in. The wall's dado and skirting usually run across it, and the hinges are concealed. Historically it was a servants' door in English houses.
Can any door be a fire door?
Only a complete doorset that has been tested and certified for that exact build. Flush solid-core leaves are the usual basis of certified doorsets; panelled, glazed or louvred leaves need test evidence for the specific build. Never plane, scribe or glaze a certified leaf on site. See the fire door specification guide.
Why do panels in a panelled door move?
A panel is not glued into its groove, so it can swell and shrink with humidity without splitting the frame. Wood moves most across the grain: our estimate for oak is 5.0 mm across a 263 mm plain-sawn panel over a swing of 35 to 65 per cent relative humidity, and the joiner leaves clearance for it.
Does glass in a door have to be safety glass?
In England, Approved Document K treats glass in a door between the floor and 1,500 mm as a critical location, and requires safe breakage, robust glass, small panes or permanent protection there (Diagram 5.1, paragraph 5.2). Fire-rated glass is a separate matter and must be as tested in the doorset.
What is a Dutch door used for?
A Dutch door is split in two so the top leaf can open for air and light while the bottom stays shut, and the two can be fastened together to act as one. It is a construction choice, not a rating: fire and sound performance need the split to be assessed.
Download the factsheet
A two-page A4 PDF with the eight constructions drawn, the fire, sound, weight and movement table and wording for a door schedule, to keep with your project file.