As long as you like the door style there is no way I would replace them. for solid wood doors right now, the price would be extremely high. i just installed 14 solid wood doors, medium quality (they are not stain grade) and was happy to only pay $400 a piece for them (8’ 3-0). and was glad I only had to wait three weeks to get them. Check to see if there are any refinishers in you area you could take them to and have thme professionally stripped.

someone like this…. Furniture stripper

Have thought of that..... but I'm still stuck with nearly 100 year old doors, with a lot of corner chips, dings, etc. Mortise work would need redone, latches, hinges are splashed with sloppy paint jobs.

Guess my biggest question.... is it sacrilegious to get rid of original doors like these?

Thank you for the comments. I found the identical casing profile from a local millshop.... so the overall look won't change, and the casings really need to be replaced, they drive me crazy, they are so dinged up.... much like our base. We are doing a very era appropriate replacement with the millwork. We love old houses, obviously bought this one.

I may give a go at replacing the mortise assembly, new latches, etc.... the difficult functioning is my biggest pet peeve.

Any recs on where to shop for replacement mortise assembly?

Locate a lock restoration specialist, find them on the web. They can repair / replace interior parts / make new keys. IMO it's well worth it to preserve the home's original features.

Those old mortise assemblys are pretty easy to work on and the paint is fairly easy to remove. There are many places to get new ones , just gotta be careful sizing them up.There are also different grades in quality as the pricing will indicate.

IMO if you want to stay true to the age of the house then no MDF doors so either solid wood or redo the ones you have . Most dings are in the paint finish so once they are stripped you will have a clean slate . I am not a believer in all things old are better so for me I would do the MDF paint it and move on same as the woord trim id you are painting go MDF. We redid a whole 1905 house and actully replaced some of the trim that had been removed in the 60's but we also did not try to keep all the totally too many doors at all . I think homes need to reflect how you live in this century and often that means modernizing some aspects. I think kitchens and bathrooms should be brought into the 21 st century for sure

Thanks Patricia. I'm all for restoration of things when called for... but there is a line between historic and just old. By the time I pay for a skilled carpenter to do repairs to get them all adjusted properly... along with new mortise assembly, paint stripping, etc... I could probably end up spending just as much as getting new solid core wood doors installed.

I'm going to make a trip to a few lumber yard/ showrooms and see some options in person.

Remember the old saying they don't make them like they use to. It may cost more but restoration is the way to go Unless you want a new look. The quality of ur current doors is something that would be hard to replicate 

I think the current doors will provide charm and character that you could loose if you change the doors.

No matter the specs, new doors won't reproduce the old. They will just look like modern replicas. This is the same thing as looking at the difference between an Ethan Allen piece of furniture and a real antique. I'm not saying that one is better than the other, just that there's no comparison in looks.

What might seem immeasurable differences, can end up HUGE, e.g. the shadow cast by the beveling in the door panels.

If you're after original, KEEP the doors. Simply take them off their hinges and give them a good work over. This will free you up to get to the frames as well.

We’re going through a similar debate with our doors on our 1930s home. Several years of poor painting and they will take quite a bit of time and effort to get them looking halfway decent. We’re leaning towards replacement. May I ask what your final decision was? Completely agree with your point on old versus historical. I would guess that our doors were of low to mid qaulity of the time, standard 6 panels.

Seems like a personal choice in the end. I agree with some of the others on here, MDF isn't the same as solid wood, BUT it is a viable choice if you want it done fast and easy. This seems like one of those cases where you have to be in the room to make an educated call (Need to see, feel and smell... the house will decide for you after that).

@HU-321133690

We haven't done anything yet. Nor decided. I did get one quote to have the doors professionally stripped, and it was about $250/door. If I wanted them to factory paint them after was going to be $800/ea... so that's at least off the table (that shop painting them).

I'm think we may be dealing with lead paint hiding under as well, which makes it harder to do a quality job DIY.... even if I take the doors off, still have to deal with the jambs, etc....

True... Ouch. Yeah that's a tough one. Well, I think that pretty much answers it then.

@ras124 - Thanks for your response. We ultimately made the call to replace doors with updated Stile and Rail and new hardware. Tried to go the route of replacing mortise box and hinges, but reproductions were off dimensions enough that it would be more work and effort than total replacement of the doors. We are also dealing with lead paint, stripping would still require significant labor and cost in addition to the chemical stipping based on what our carpenter told us and of course no guarantee on finished look. In the end made the most sense for us to go new. I’ll circle back to the thread with finished outcome.