How to Select a Door Casing

Door casing, also known as door trim, is available in a wide variety of styles and profiles. Trim can be made from either solid wood or MDF (medium density fiberboard)---solid wood trim is classified as stain-grade trim and MDF trim is classified as paint-grade trim. Because solid wood trim is made from one specific species of solid wood (hickory, oak, pine, alder, walnut) the wood can be stained and finished to match other stained hardwoods in the home (flooring, cabinetry). MDF trim is painted to match and compliment other painted surfaces in the home (walls, cabinetry).

Instructions

1. Determine which overall decorating style that will be used throughout the home, or in each room of the home. Popular trim styles include Traditional, Country, Modern, Contemporary, Arts and Crafts and Victorian, among others that are less popular. Door trim pieces can be combined to create a fully custom look and feel for each room of the home.

2. Establish a trim finish technique, whether a stained trim finish or a painted trim finish is desired. There are usually no benefits or drawbacks associated with either finish technique. Choose the best finish technique for the decorative effect you desire.

3. Try different casing accent pieces after the casing profile is settled upon. There are many different pre-made casing profiles available in millwork specialty stores and millwork departments in home improvement stores. Adding a corner block can add an interesting flare to the door casing.

4. Decide how you would like to cut the corners of the door casing. Popular techniques include mitered casing, butted casing with mitered backband, butted casing with reveal, and casing with corner blocks. If you will be installing the casing yourself, some corner-cutting methods are easier to complete than others---the easiest being the mitered casing method. Choose the method that you like the most with the casing profile that will be used.

5. If you look all over town for the perfect door casing style and come up with nothing, consider making your own door casing. Door casing can be made with a router, a router table and various router bits to create a one hundred percent custom door casing profile that you will be able to show off for years to come. Again, you can make door casing yourself out of solid wood or MDF stock.

References

• Trimwork 1-2-3; Meredeth Publishing Group; 2005 (Book)
• You Can Build: Trimwork; Sunset Publishing; 2009 (Book)
• 1001 Ideas for Trimwork; Creative Homeowner; 2006 (Book)