Dining Room to Bedroom Conversion with French Doors?

[NextTime]

Hi all.

We are thinking of installing French Doors in our dining room so that we can turn it into a temporary (could be years) bedroom for my aging mother. I don't want her going up and down the stairs anymore. There is an 8' x 8' archway off the front hallway. It seems like the only way to get this done quickly is to purchase the Krosswood doors (link below) from Home Depot. Everything else I've looked at is prohibitively expensive, or takes 2+ months to deliver.

1. The doors I'm looking at are mdf rather than real wood. Should that deter me? They will be painted white, so don't really need the grain. Is it a huge step down qualitywise?

2. Would a 96" tall door fit in the opening? Is there usually space underneath the casing, or is usually nestled right up to the 2 x 4 above it? It would be nice to preserve the current height, but we can go down to the 80" if necessary.

3. Anybody have a recommendation on a better door that we can get sooner rather than later? We like the idea of french doors because it will preserve some of the openness of the room. We could also turn the room into an office at some point. I do not just want to wall in the opening. But I am open to new ideas.

The wife and I both have a really hard time making decisions when it comes to this stuff.  Even when we know what we want, we seem to freeze when it comes to pulling the trigger.
I've also been told I overanalyze everything. This is something I'd like to do semi-quickly. We already have people that will be available to do the work in early December.

I don't want my mom falling down the stairs, and my kids aren't ready to be moved to the basement.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Krosswood-Doors-72-in-x-80-in-Craftsman-Shaker-10-Lite-Right-Handed-MDF-Solid-Hybrid-Core-Double-Prehung-Interior-Door-PHID-SH-420-60-68-138-RA/308602505

[uniwelder]

I don't understand the various dimensions you describe.  You have an archway opening 96" tall and 96" wide, so the room ceiling height is likely 9 or 10 feet, or do the upper curves of the arches fade into the ceiling?  And your archway is actually a semicircular arch or oval?

It sounds like you've got a lot of options since you'd be tearing apart that arch to install a rectangular door, and you have plenty of space to work with.  If you didn't want to do any demolition work, a sliding barn type door might work.  It would be simple enough to build, so no worries about delivery delays.

[NextTime]

I don't understand the various dimensions you describe.  You have an archway opening 96" tall and 96" wide, so the room ceiling height is likely 9 or 10 feet, or do the upper curves of the arches fade into the ceiling?  And your archway is actually a semicircular arch or oval?

It sounds like you've got a lot of options since you'd be tearing apart that arch to install a rectangular door, and you have plenty of space to work with.  If you didn't want to do any demolition work, a sliding barn type door might work.  It would be simple enough to build, so no worries about delivery delays.

My apologies. Archway was probably a poor term. It is an 8' x 8' opening. Straight across.

We've thought about barn doors, but there is really no space to slide them open, with less than a foot on each side of the opening. I actually would have loved that idea if it would fit.
We could do two rows of barn doors (3-4 doors), but I'm not sure my wife will go for them. Menard's has a customizable barn door system on display that I plan to show her in the next couple of days. I'm not sure she will go for it though.

I'm also worried about noise, as my mother keeps weird hours and always has her TV blasting. Not sure if barn doors or french doors would be better at sound dampening.

[yachi]

These doors look good, I guess you'll be mounting some curtains to them too?  it's got a solid core even if it's MDF, so that's good - should cut down on the sound.  The 96" door has a 98" rough opening.  I'm not sure you'll have that much opening under the casing, but maybe.  The last door I added we just mounted to the existing casing - sort of framed it with some trim.  It was to turn a family room into a large bedrooom.

[Papa bear]

Not sure what door you’re looking at - the one linked is a 72 x 80. That’s just 2 36” regular height doors.

Given the space, I’d just frame out a rough opening of 75 x 82” and install a prehung French door if that’s what you want.  If you know you’re just going to tear it all out again when your MIL leaves, just frame it in and have a regular 36” interior door. That would be much cheaper. 

How handy are you? If you want custom made for cheap, you’ll need to buy slab doors, build the jambs and hang them yourself. Not for a beginner. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[NextTime]

These doors look good, I guess you'll be mounting some curtains to them too?  it's got a solid core even if it's MDF, so that's good - should cut down on the sound.  The 96" door has a 98" rough opening.  I'm not sure you'll have that much opening under the casing, but maybe.  The last door I added we just mounted to the existing casing - sort of framed it with some trim.  It was to turn a family room into a large bedrooom.

Yes. We will have to put some curtains in. I'm thinking the 96" door with casing probably won't work, that's why I linked the 80".

[NextTime]

Not sure what door you’re looking at - the one linked is a 72 x 80. That’s just 2 36” regular height doors.

Given the space, I’d just frame out a rough opening of 75 x 82” and install a prehung French door if that’s what you want.  If you know you’re just going to tear it all out again when your MIL leaves, just frame it in and have a regular 36” interior door. That would be much cheaper. 

How handy are you? If you want custom made for cheap, you’ll need to buy slab doors, build the jambs and hang them yourself. Not for a beginner. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm semi-handy, but I'm going to contract this out. I could probably do the research and do it myself, but I have a list of other projects I want to get done this winter, and I just want someone to come in and get it done.

[KarefulKactus15]

Would be great to have a photo of the space.  Worth a thousand words and all.

I just recently erected a divider wall and hung double doors in it.   Its actually really fun and rewarding to setup double doors.   They are NOT forgiving. Its about 4-5x harder than hanging a single prehung door.   

But if you are having a professional do it should be good.  If you are going to have a professional Id almost let them source the door.   I hung hollow core doors but I regret it.  If I could do over I would splurge for the solid core for noise, especially being off a main living area.  I might would even consider stuffing the wall cavity with R6 insulation even though its an interior wall.

[NextTime]

The doors I link say they are solid core.

Good idea on the insulation though. Mom has the tv on at all hours and keeps it pretty loud.

[sonofsven]

I'm not a fan of barn doors, if you think of a door as something that seals off noise and air flow then they really aren't doors at all.
They need to hang proud of the door casings so they have some pretty big gaps. You can't see through them when closed, that's about it.

[KarefulKactus15]

Barn doors were all the rage like 2 years ago. 

I saw them on everything.   Dog doors, vanities, kitchen cabinets.

They are best suited for a barn, and then I still prefer swinging doors for the main doors.   

Barn doors do have a few good uses. They can be retrofit alot easier than a pocket door if the space needs to be divided but not isolated acoustically.   They are excellent for spaces that remain in one position or the other mostly.

They aren't very ergonomic though. A standard swing door is much easier to actuate.    (Source: I installed a barn door in a commercial location that gets cycled 15 or more times a day)

[MayDay]

I can't speak for the availability and cost of different options.

We owned a house that has a master bedroom and bathroom that were open to each other, all one room. What in the world the former owner was thinking, I will never know. We put in two french doors, oak, and stained them to match our woodwork. We put sheer curtains on the doors.

We hung them ourselves and it was fairly easy. From what I know about installing exterior double doors, the particular model could be anything from very easy to very difficult to install.  Some doors come as one assembled unit and you just pop the thing in place and screw it in. Others come in multiple parts and you have to assemble the whole thing in place.

If it was me personally, I like french doors on a dining room/office type room, so I'd go for whatever you want long term.foe me that would be real wood, not mdf. And I'd try to get them the size of the full opening to keep it open and light. If not the full height of doors, you could put a transom over it.