Construction defects in doors

There are a few things worth knowing about construction defects in doors: which entrance doors are recommended and why, which doors contractors install by default and whether it is worth living with them for a while before replacing them, and when and why it pays to protect doors against dampness.

Construction defects is an umbrella term for a wide range of problems that can occur during a home's construction or renovation, whether caught during a home inspection for a new apartment from a contractor, discovered over time in an apartment that is decades old, or found in the course of a renovation.

Construction defects that appear in the apartment or the building's infrastructure fall into several main categories, including:

• Construction defects that affect residents' quality of life
• Safety-related construction defects
• Aesthetic construction defects
• Defects caused by negligent work by the contractor
• Minor (reasonable) construction defects

One of the most common construction defects in Israel shows up as cracks in interior walls or exterior ones, caused by deficient plastering work, interior or exterior.

Common door defects and their causes

Doors can have many different defects. First, check whether they are actually the doors promised in the sale specification. Second, the law sets minimum dimensions for the door's net height and for how it is installed.

A poor installation can leave scratches on the flooring, since the door rubs against the floor and leaves an arc-shaped mark. An experienced, professional home inspection company will spot a defect like this easily.

How a door opens and locks also needs attention, or water, noise and air can get into the room even when it is closed. Other possible defects include peeling coating or paint, breaks, or a width that differs from the plan.

It is hard to put a precise number on repair costs, since these are such different kinds of problems. A small repair, like installing plumbing fittings, might cost a few hundred shekels, but the danger involved, which is not just financial, is much harder to estimate.

Defects in the entrance door, or in the area around it, can also damage the apartment or building, leading to dampness, mold and a range of health problems from exposure to them.

Interior door defects include things like missing door stops, which can damage the door itself, the handles or the walls. Exterior door defects can include failing to meet insulation requirements against water, wind or even noise. Some of these are purely aesthetic, but they can lead to more serious problems.

Entrance doors for an apartment

Doors provide entry into the house and its rooms. They need to function like a wall or partition while still opening, closing and locking easily. There is a difference between an interior room door and an entrance door (to an apartment, office and so on), and between an interior door and one exposed to outdoor conditions.

Israeli Standard 23 governs doors of every kind, and includes the following requirements:

1. Door dimensions: the standard allows a relatively limited set of possible sizes, so doors can be manufactured as an off-the-shelf product.
2. Permitted deviation from flatness: 3 mm.
3. Permitted deviation from a right angle: 0.2%
4. Warping: maximum 3 mm
5. Resistance to different humidity levels on the two sides of the door.
6. The door's strength.
7. Resistance to dampness and wear.

Most of these requirements exist simply to make sure the doors open and close without effort. The rest are there to ensure the door holds up and does not get damaged easily.

Doors are typically built in layers: two plywood or steel panels on either side, attached to a solid wood frame, with wood pieces or another filler material between the two panels.

Typical construction defects in exterior or interior doors:

• Doors that do not close properly.
• A gap between the door and its frame.
• A gap between the bottom of the door and the floor.
• Rot at the bottom of the door frame.
• A door that will not close because it has come off its hinge.

Which doors do contractors offer by default

Contractors mostly offer the simplest type of door, one that meets the Israeli standard at a bare minimum. That is why it is worth having a construction defect inspection done even on a brand-new apartment from a contractor: an untrained eye will not catch minor deviations from the standard, and those can cause long-term damage later on.

To check the soundness of the doors in the home, a home inspection engineer should check every relevant door in the apartment: the entrance door, the interior doors to the various rooms, and the door to the balcony or garden, if there is one.

What matters most when inspecting the doors:

Sealing of the door: the door needs to be properly sealed to the existing standard's requirements.

The sealing grade: the entrance door's sealing grade should be rated by its weighted sound-reduction index.

A standards mark for the door: the door must carry a standards mark attesting to its compliance, placed at the specific location the standard requires for entrance doors.

Various defects: the entrance door, and every other door in the home, should be free of flaws such as paint defects, scratches, peeling, loose hinges or a faulty closing mechanism.

Protecting doors against dampness

When part of a door frame below floor level rots over time, it is usually because the frame sits within the sand fill under the flooring. Continuous contact with water-saturated sand causes the rot.

Israeli Standard 23 requires sealing, usually with tar, several centimeters at the bottom of the frame, below floor level, and the flooring that covers the frame is laid on top of that sealing layer.

How water-resistant a dedicated door is can make the difference between one that lasts for years and one that wears out quickly. These doors work in any room, especially ones that are wet or damp to begin with.

Several types of water-resistant door are available, differing in material, protective coating, or the process used to seal them against water.

If you choose a door that is not made of dampness- or water-resistant materials, plan some kind of protective cladding with the engineer's help, at least for the bottom part, which can get wet when the floor is washed.

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