Venetian blind doors: wooden, plastic, metal

Classic doors are not good for all occasions. They serve as reliable protection, but practically do not allow air to pass through, which is why you have to either make special holes or arrange a complex and expensive ventilation system. Louvered doors can solve the problem of air access. These are ordinary doors with infill in the form of separate slats installed at an angle.

Features, advantages and disadvantages

The properties of louvered doors are determined by their design - the presence of transverse slats. They have the following advantages:

• Good ventilation. Louvered doors almost do not impede air movement, so there are no problems with high humidity or musty air. Even in closed, rarely used rooms.
• Better heat transfer. It is difficult to ensure normal air conditions in unheated rooms with conventional doors. The presence of blinds solves this problem. The temperature is automatically equalized in storerooms and technical rooms, separated by louvered doors.
  

  Louvered doors create almost no barriers to air movement

• Visually "lighter" doors with blinds look interesting, they load the interior less.
• Interesting appearance. This design, of course, is not for everybody, but in some styles it looks very good.

Doors with a large number of slats and gaps between them are technologically more complex. Their manufacture requires attention, precision, accuracy. Only under such conditions will the result be good - it will be pleasant to use and watch. Therefore, louvered doors are much more expensive than conventional ones. And this despite the fact that only the frame is made of solid wood. Partitions-lamellas are made of glued wood. This is due to the fact that thin wooden planks will "twist" when the humidity changes. The presence of several layers with multidirectional fibers, interspersed with layers of glue, solves the problem.

Other disadvantages:

• Lack of soundproofing. The presence of a large number of gaps between the slats negates all sound insulation characteristics. In this regard, that there are these doors, that they are not - all the same.
• Free movement of dust. One of the areas of use of louvered doors is wardrobes. But the clothes placed in them are in no way protected from dust, which is more than enough in our homes.
  

  When using blinds in cabinet doors, dust freely penetrates inside

The drawbacks of louvered doors are quite serious. Before installing, you should seriously think about and decide what is more important to you: their advantages or disadvantages.

Application area

The scope of use of louvered doors is determined by their properties. They are irreplaceable in rooms that require constant ventilation. At the same time, the degree of sound insulation should not be important for these premises. Our houses and apartments have several such premises:

• Technical rooms - storage rooms, laundries, wardrobes. In case of dressing rooms it is worth considering the feasibility of this option. After all, it is advisable to protect clothes from dust. A compromise is possible: make a louver in the upper part, where there is less dust and the warmest air accumulates.
• Bathroom. In the bathroom, it is advisable to quickly remove excess moisture and jalousie doors will help with this. But this option is only good if the bathroom is separate, since combined bathroom will become a source of not very pleasant sounds and smells.
  

  Louvered doors to technical rooms are an excellent option to achieve ventilation without organizing a special air duct

• Boiler rooms facing the street. In the street door for such a room, there may be a louver grille. Only it should be adjustable so that the room does not get too cold in winter. One point: before installing such doors, consult your local fire department. Just in case.

Except as doors between rooms, blinds can be used in furniture. They are good:

• In kitchen cabinets, both floor-standing and wall-mounted. In a dryer and a cupboard with cereals, they provide quick ventilation, in the rest - more like decorative.
• In cabinets that cover the pipes in the toilet as an enclosing structure. You can hang them on hinges, or you can put them on magnets.
  

  In bathrooms, toilets, kitchen cabinets, can be used as cabinet doors

• As blinds on the windows. The problem of light scattering is solved very well. It is not completely clipped, creating twilight lighting.
• For wardrobes, dressers and other furniture in living rooms. The pluses in this case outweigh the minuses, and the appearance is interesting.

Another area of ​​application is as shading structures with a large glazing area. On terraces, conservatories, large balconies and loggias with solid glazing. Why are jalousie doors better than conventional jalousies? The fact that “stationary doors can be opened by leaving shutters closed. There will be free air access and there will be no too bright light.

Louver doors can be used as shading

As a partition separating the room. For example, fencing off the sleeping area in studio apartment... This option is ideal if there is no window in the fenced off area. Such a partition will also provide air access, and allow enough light to pass through, and create privacy.

Louver partition to separate the sleeping area

In principle, louvered grilles can be used not for their intended purpose - as a notice board, a screen that covers or separates something.

Louvered doors: types, materials

Let's start with the materials from which the blinds are made. The bulk is made of wood. The budget option is made of pine and spruce, the more expensive ones are made of harder (and more expensive) species. There are also plastic and metal. Plastic is the cheapest option and is nevertheless very practical.

Plastic jalousie doors do not "lead" from moisture, they do not need to be painted, just washed. So for a locker in a bathroom or a bathroom, this is ideal. Such doors are good for cabinet on the balcony. In general, in a forehead area where there is high humidity and / or frequent cleaning is required.

Metal shutter doors - part of the home security system

Metal shutter doors are very rare, but there are some. Entrance doors with shutters are very rarely installed, except in boiler rooms with access to the street. So their scope is very limited.

In appearance, louvered doors are the same as ordinary ones:

• swing;
• sliding;
• folding (accordion or book).
  

  With the types, everything is the same - swing, sliding accordion / book

They can consist of one, two, four or more doors. Everything is as in conventional models, only with a difference in filling.

There are also adjustable shutter doors. In this case, the lamella plates are fixed movably. All of them are united by one bar. By grasping the bar, you can change the position of the jumpers - fully open, close, or leave small gaps.

Dimensions

In supermarkets such as OBI and Leroy Marlene, pine blind doors are usually available. They are usually presented in one or two rulers in different standard sizes. Most often, the parameters are as follows:

• width - 294 mm, 394 mm, 494 mm, 594 mm;
• height - 606 mm, 720 mm, 993 mm, 1100 mm, 1700 mm, 2013 mm, 2422 mm.
  

  There is a certain set of standard sizes

These standard sizes can be adjusted a little - cut a couple of centimeters in height and width. If you need a completely non-standard option, there are companies or private traders who will make doors to order - according to your size.

What to look for when choosing

When choosing jalousie doors in a store, you need to pay attention firstly to the quality of the wood. There should be no knots at all, or there should be few of them. They should be firm, brown in color (not black or cracked).

The second point is geometry. The entire door leaf must lie in the same plane. This is the first - no longitudinal bends or "twisting" of the elements and the entire door as a whole. Next, you need to check the length / width / thickness. They must be accurate to the millimeter.

Choosing blinds must be careful

And the last is the quality of wood processing. Wooden louvered doors are sold unpainted. Painting will be independent. But the wood must be well processed. It is advisable that there are no roughnesses, irregularities and other defects, which then have to be eliminated by hand.

Possible finishing methods

Wooden shutter doors can be decorated in almost a dozen different ways. There are traditional and not so much. You can do the following:

• Cover with stain. Everyone knows the effect and appearance.
• Saturate with wood oil. It is usually sold with a color scheme, but there are also wooden products that preserve their natural color. These compounds have antiseptic properties, and some can be used in baths and swimming pools. As a result of such processing, the wood pattern is more vividly manifested, water is not absorbed into it. There may even be puddles. At the same time, there is no film on the surface, it is absolutely "natural" in appearance and to the touch.
  

  Paint, varnish, oil for wood - the most popular finishing options

• Cover with varnish. This can be done with or without staining. It is better to use varnishes on a water basis. They are available in glossy, semi-gloss, semi-mat and matte. The difference is in the degree of gloss of the treated surface.
• Paint. There are very different paints for wood, with different effects. There are those that create a durable film, there are translucent ones that do not paint over the texture.
• Decoupage. Technique for a creative interior.
• Inlay. A sophisticated finishing method that gives the products a unique look.

These are all methods of finishing wooden lattice doors. In any case, it is worth remembering that before finishing it is necessary to fill all the irregularities with a putty on the wood and let them dry. Then - smooth out all the irregularities with sandpaper. And those that remained after the putty, and those that were allowed in the production process. After that, we cover all the planks and the frame with a primer for wood. The type of primer is selected for the finish. After drying, you can carry out finishing work - painting, varnishing, etc.

How to paint

The main difficulty lies in the large number of planks. When painting them, a lot of drips and splashes are obtained. In order to avoid this trouble, there is a special procedure:

• We glue the frame on both sides of the door with masking tape. We cover the floor and adjacent wall sections, furniture, etc.
• Apply a layer of primer to the planks with a wide flat paint brush (7-8 cm). We wipe the brush well on the edges of the jar so that there is a little composition on it. We process the planks on one side first.
  

  Staining - creating the desired color and effect

• With a dry flat brush of a smaller size (5 cm wide), remove all streaks and stains, evenly rubbing the composition.
• We pass to the other side.
• After that, you can process the frame by removing masking tape from it.

With this order of work, the quality of the painting will be at least normal. It is important to remove drips on time, before drying. It is better to work with formulations that do not dry very quickly.

If you have a spray gun, the work will go easier and faster.

For those who want to make blind doors with their own hands, the following video will come in handy.