Door Casing
Door casing sets the visual standard for every room it's in — and most stock trim from the home center doesn't hold up to that job. Rainwood Construction installs and custom-mills door casing trim for interior and exterior openings, matched to the house or built from scratch.
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Why Door Casing Fails Before the Door Does
Door casing is the molding that bridges the gap between the door jamb and the wall. Simple enough in concept. But doors get touched, bumped, kicked, and leaned against thousands of times a year — and the casing absorbs all of that contact at its base. The bottom 12 inches of every door leg takes more abuse than any other trim in the house. That’s where MDF swells from mopping water, where vacuum cleaners chip the edge, where the dog scratches.
Interior door casing typically runs 2-1/4″ to 3-1/2″ wide in colonial, craftsman, or ranch profiles. The profile matters less than the joint quality. A mitered corner on a door casing looks tight the day it’s nailed — then seasonal humidity changes move the wood and the miter opens. In Seattle-area homes we see this constantly: 1/16″ to 1/8″ gaps at the head joints by February. The fix isn’t more caulk. It’s back-gluing the miter with CA adhesive, cross-pinning with 23-gauge, and using material acclimated to the house before installation. Skip that, and you’re re-caulking every winter.
Door Casing Pricing
Paint-grade MDF door casing trim installed runs $150–$300 per opening for standard interior doors — two legs and a head, mitered or butted. Stain-grade hardwood (oak, poplar, cherry) pushes $300–$550 per door depending on profile width and wood species. Add plinth blocks at the base and a built-up header and you’re at $450–$700 per opening.
Exterior door casing costs more because the material has to survive weather. PVC like Azek or Versatex runs $4–$8 per linear foot for material alone; composite and fiber cement trim boards sit in the same range. Installed cost for an exterior door surround: $400–$900 depending on whether we’re replacing just the casing or rebuilding the brick mold and threshold flashing underneath. A whole-house door casing project — say 12 interior doors and 2 exterior — typically lands between $4,000 and $10,000. We quote per opening after measuring on-site because jamb depths, wall thickness, and existing conditions never match what the homeowner expects.
OUR DOOR CASING SERVICES
What Rainwood Construction covers for door casing projects.
Interior Door Casing
MDF, finger-joint pine, poplar, oak, or custom-milled profiles installed around interior door openings. Interior door casing gets the same treatment as our window work — reveals set with a combination square at a consistent 3/16", miters back-glued and pinned, nail holes filled before prime. We measure every jamb individually. Even in the same hallway, jamb depths can vary 1/4" between openings, and that difference shows at the reveal line if you're not checking each one.
Exterior Door Casing
PVC, composite, cedar, or fiber cement trim at front entries, side doors, and sliders. Exterior door casing takes direct rain at the head and splash-back moisture at the sill — two failure points that wooden brick mold can't handle long-term in the Pacific Northwest. We back-caulk every piece, run head flashing over the top casing, and use stainless or coated fasteners rated for the material. Casing for exterior doors isn't just trim — it's part of the water management system.
Door and Window Casing Packages
Matching all openings in a room, a floor, or the whole house. Consistent profiles across doors and windows make a space feel finished. We source or mill all casing from one batch so grain pattern, profile depth, and dimensions match from the front entry through the bedrooms.
Custom Milled Profiles
Matching an old-house profile that nobody stocks anymore. We pull the profile from one surviving piece of original casing and reproduce it with a shaper or router table using custom-ground knives. Common request in Craftsman bungalows and mid-century homes across Snohomish County and greater Seattle where the original trim has character that stock profiles can't replicate.
Door Casing Repair & Partial Replacement
Damaged base sections, swollen MDF, split miters, rotted exterior casing at the threshold. We cut out and splice in matching material — no need to strip the entire door if only the bottom 18 inches went bad. Stain-grade repairs get color-matched; paint-grade gets primed and painted to blend.
Rainwood also offers interior renovations. Contact us to discuss your project.
See Our Work in Action
Watch how we transform homes with quality siding installation.
COMMON PROBLEMS WE FIX
Issues we see on door casing jobs done by others.
WHY CHOOSE RAINWOOD CONSTRUCTION?
alert.svgalert.svg. It’s at eye level, it’s at hand level, and every gap or shadow line is visible from normal standing distance. We treat it like finish furniture, not like baseboard that gets covered by a couch.
- Every jamb measured individually for depth and plumb — reveals set with a gauge, not eyeballed from the first door and repeated
- Miter joints back-glued with CA adhesive and cross-pinned — no reliance on caulk to mask open corners after one heating season
- Cut ends of MDF sealed before installation — the bottom of every leg gets a coat of primer on the end grain to prevent moisture wicking
- Exterior casing back-caulked and head-flashed before nailing — water hits the flashing, not the framing
10+
Years Experience
We had an excellent experience with them on our sunroom project. The quality of the work was outstanding, they were easy to work with, and they clearly explained each step, the schedule, and key decisions (with various options to help us understand cost) along the way. Communication was solid from start to finish, and the final result looks great. Highly recommend, they are my new go to recommendation when friends ask.
Rainwood construction completed 2 projects in my home recently. The first, which was to add a bar in my family room, which when completed fit so well that it looked like it always belonged there. It came out exactly how we wanted it and we love it. The second project was to completely remodel and modernize my 1955 original kitchen. The kitchen turned out fantastic! It’s light and bright with clean lines exactly how we had envisioned it. The team was polite, competent, hard working and always cleaned up after themselves at the end of the day. They always made sure to ask how I wanted things done when there were options, making suggestions where needed and made sure I was happy with the completion of items along the way. I was very pleased with the quality of the work, plan to use them again in the future and have already recommended them!
Excellent work done ✅ I’m really impressed and looking forward working further. Recommend 👍
Anatoliy and his company, is great person to have a business with!!!
We just remodelled the entire main floor of our house; the scope included changing floors, installing new cabinets including a drop ceiling, added a custom entertainment wall, and fully upgraded the powder room, among other work such as electrical upgrades including an EV plug. We are overall very happy with the work that the team has done, satisfied with the cost, and definitely recommend them to others.
Toli did great work renovating our home and upstairs bathroom. It was a great change.
Our Simple Process
From first contact to final walkthrough, we make siding projects straightforward and stress-free.
Request a Quote
Call or fill out the form. Let us know how many doors, interior or exterior, and whether you're matching existing casing elsewhere in the house.
On-Site Assessment
We measure jamb depths, check wall conditions, photograph existing profiles for matching, and note moisture or rot issues at exterior doors. Written scope with details.
Clear Scope & Schedule
Profile selection, material spec, finish plan, per-opening line items, timeline. Most whole-house casing projects run 3–6 working days.
Installation & Finish
Jamb prep, casing cut and fit, nail and set, fill, caulk, sand, prime or finish coat. Final walkthrough before closeout.
Ready to Get Started?
Contact us today for a free on-site assessment. We’re here to help protect your home.
Call us now
425-750-1025
Email us
Anatoliy@rainwoodconstruction.com
Visit us
12310 Hwy 99, Everett, WA 98204
Hours
Mon-Fri 9:00 am–6:00 pm, Sat 11:00 am–5:00 pm, Sun Closed
FAQ
Door casing is the trim molding installed around a door opening where the jamb meets the wall. It covers the rough gap between the door frame and the drywall (or plaster) and gives the opening a finished look. The door casing definition is the same whether interior or exterior — the material and installation method change, but the function is identical: cover the gap, hold the jamb, finish the opening.
The door frame (or jamb) is the structural box the door sits in — head jamb across the top, two side jambs, and a threshold at the bottom. Door frame casing is the decorative trim applied over the joint where that frame meets the wall. Think of it this way: the frame holds the door, the casing covers the frame’s edges. They’re separate components, though most people use the terms interchangeably until something breaks.
Almost always. If we can pull one clean piece — even 6 inches — we can replicate the profile. Internal door casing in older Seattle-area homes often uses profiles that big-box stores discontinued years ago. We run custom knives on a shaper to match the original. If the house has a common profile like colonial or craftsman, we source from a mill that carries the full depth and width, not the thinner versions the home centers stock.
Yes. Outside door casing needs to handle direct water, UV, and temperature swings without rotting, warping, or delaminating. Wood brick mold is traditional but fails within 10–15 years in the Pacific Northwest without aggressive maintenance. PVC and composite trims (Azek, Versatex, Boral TruExterior) don’t rot and hold paint better than wood. We use stainless steel or coated fasteners and back-caulk every piece — because casing for exterior doors is a weather barrier first and trim second.