Grade A Solid Oak Doors

Our Top Grade of Solid Oak

Grade A is the top selection grade of oak, with the boards chosen for even colour, clean grain and few knots. Every door in this range is Grade A solid oak, oak all the way through with no veneer and no hollow core. It is the grade to choose when you want doors that look calm, consistent and matched, especially where several stand in sight of each other. This is solid oak at its most refined, and the specification on each door confirms the grade.

What the grade actually means

Oak boards naturally vary. Some carry heavy knots and wide swings in colour, while the best are calm, even and clean, and grading is simply the sorting of one from the other. Grade A is the top of that sort, so the doors read as a set rather than a run of mismatched boards. Where our rustic grade keeps the knots and movement on show, Grade A selects them out for an even, uniform face.

Solid oak, all the way through

Grade A is solid oak, which means the oak runs right through the door rather than sitting as a face over a core. A door like this can be eased to fit an existing opening, and marks picked up over the years can be sanded out and the door refinished in place. You will find the full range of solid oak doors alongside these, and if you would rather an engineered build that stays flat, our oak veneer doors set an oak face over a core instead. Grade A sits at the top of the solid oak range, where the boards are the cleanest and most even.

The oak behind the grade

The grade describes the selection; the oak itself still comes in different tones and characters. Our American white oak doors read clean and even, while our European oak doors bring a warmer, more figured grain. For the palest tone, our light oak doors hold the lightest colour of all. You can compare every material, finish and character side by side on our internal doors by material and finish page.

Prefinished or unfinished

You can have these doors sealed or supplied bare. Our prefinished doors arrive with the oak already oiled and ready to hang, while our unfinished doors leave the final tone to you. A Grade A door shows its even grain especially well under a clear oil, so it is worth taking care over the finish. Either way, seal any edge you trim or cut-out you make as you fit the door.

Finishing and caring for Grade A oak doors

We recommend a clear hardwax oil such as Treatex, which soaks in and brings out the even grain, and Treatex also make coloured oils if you want to tone the wood. Avoid Danish oil, varnish and lacquer, as these do not protect the oak in the same way and can void the guarantee. Oak skirting and architrave cut from the same oak carries the look through a room, and you will find it in our oak skirting and architrave range. You will find the oils on our internal door treatments page, and matching door hardware finishes the door.