Frame Type

What "frame type" means

The frame (also called the jamb) is the wooden lining that goes around the inside of your door opening — the part the door attaches to and closes against. Here you’re choosing what that wood is made of. Both options are made to be painted:

Door frame materials: raw MDF jamb (tan, left) and primed finger-joint pine jamb (white, right)

In the photo above: raw MDF on the left (tan), primed finger-joint pine on the right (white).

  • Finger-joint pine (primed) — real pine wood. “Finger-joint” just means it’s built from shorter pieces of pine joined end-to-end, which keeps it dead straight and stable. It arrives primed (already has a white base coat), so you just paint your final colour over it. Pine grips screws and nails very well — useful, because the hinges and the latch hardware screw into the frame.
  • MDF (raw / unprimed) — a smooth, man-made wood board with no knots and no grain. It paints up to a very clean, smooth finish and costs a bit less. It comes raw (a natural tan colour, no coating yet), so you prime it first, then paint. It holds screws well, though pine holds them a little better.

Finishing: pine is already primed (light sand, then paint); MDF is bare (prime it first, then paint).

Your frame arrives ready for the door

Whichever material you pick, the frame arrives as 3 flat pieces: two long sides and one shorter top. They screw together in your doorway:

Diagram: the door frame arrives as 3 pieces, two sides and one top, shown flat and then screwed together

And the important cuts come already made. The hinge slots (the shallow pockets your hinges sit in) and the latch slot (the small pocket the door's latch clicks into) are machined into the frame for you:

Hinge slot machined into a raw MDF frame board, with three screw holes pre-drilled

A hinge slot: the hinge sits flush in this pocket and screws straight in. No chiselling, no measuring.

Latch slot machined into a raw MDF frame board, with the deeper latch hole in the centre

The latch slot: when the door swings shut, the latch clicks in here and holds it closed.

We put these cuts on the correct side of the frame based on your door swing (which way your door opens). You'll choose that at the Swing Direction step a little later in this builder, and it has its own "What's this?" guide too.

Quick pick: choose finger-joint pine for the best screw-hold and a primed head-start, or MDF for the smoothest painted finish and the lower price.