Hidden closet behind hinged bookcase

That space is as obvious as a fanny pack... everyone always keys in on the potential of stairspace.

Do you never have passengers?

 

Tell me about it. For whatever reason, the builders of my house designed a big space of nothingness in and around the stairs. Without fail, appraisers and guests wonder what I'm hiding. There's nothing there.

 

that is why i do not have a cave to keep all my "things" in.





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A friend of mine has one, in which he installed his gunsafe and his handloading gear. Not meant to be really "secret", just out of sight. Probably an anti-clutter move on his wife's part, as much as anything.

 

I don't think Geo's comment was off topic at all. Incidents such as he described are becoming more & more frequent. I would never allow myself to be put in such a situation by a neighbors daughter of any age.

I would have to tell the parents for my own protection.

Concerns:

How old is this girl?

Is she prone to act out suggestively or sexually? (ETA This question is regardless of age)

What makes her think it's ok to share a family secret like that?

What is your relationship to her, does she have a pattern of trying to draw you into secretive behavior?

Why is it OK for her to separate an adult male from the rest of the party goers.

Just the minimal information you have given sends up several red flags in my mind.

 

I worked on a house outside of Dallas, by Lake Ray Hubbard, which had a large walk in closet/ small room hidden in this way. The space was flanked by a warren of other closets and a bathroom which were approached from the Master bedroom.

You had to walk out of the Library, down a hall, through the bedroom, and past these other closets and such. So because of the well thought-out, maze-like layout, it would require a very close inspection to notice the "missing space".

This was new construction in a custom house, of course.

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By the way, I agree with Treo's concerns. That girl is a loose cannon.

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Definately got to get me one of these secret rooms. It's a bonus to have a room where I can store guns AND Hatch plans for world domination. I don't need that kind of meeting going on outside of a secret room. Preferably the door can only be opened by pulling on a copy of "Moby Dick", then entering a thumbprint/retinal scan, going down an elevator, to emerge into a cave like dwelling.

 

i have a secret room
my wife knows about it also
so, why cant i find it??

 

I think they are great ideas...... most burglars dont spend time looking for things like this, they grab the obvious stuff and leave quickly.
If I ever get to build a home I will for sure have some type of hidden room for my gun safes to go in

 

I'm not sure which is more confusing, how this went from a guy asking about a hidden door to the Junior Detective League investigating a girl they know nothing about aside from this post for setting the guy up for rape charges or how any of this is related to firearms at this point.

Although, the building code discussion was interesting.

 

I stand corrected...electric it is.

 

My grandparents had a connected closet that went from one bedroom to the next. I can't remember what they're called. I remember that is where all the storage in the house was.

I'm pretty sure that if someone broke into my friend's house they'd die trying to get to his gun safe. I remember him talking about having to find all the ammo after he tripped on his way to the safe.

 

One friend of mine did something similar when he bought his current house. He pulled out the fireplace & the associated chimney. In the location of the old fireplace, he framed it out to create a little coved area that just so happened to be big enough to hold a nice size safe. In front of it, he built an entertainment center. The whole thing is on hinges and is held shut but a spring loaded pin hidden behind some trim. He did a great job and it looks great and you wouldn't even know its there. Of course, he made the first mistake in the world of hidden rooms, which is that he told people about it.

I'm also thinking about doing something similar in my house with some dead space that I didn't even realize was there at first, but that is project #4 on the list and the others aren't going anywhere any time soon.

 

It's not only closets that can be done, but entire walls, so to speak. Framed out with an addition, like 2X6's, quite a large, flat area can be accessed through a decorative panel that covers shelving, a rack, etc. They are easier to find from the casual marking up than measuring overall wall widths. You'd have to be paying attention to carpet tracking, excess hand prints in an unexplainable position, forensic stuff like that.

Think "Oval Office." There are about a dozen doors into that one, but only a few are aesthetically accomodated. Paneling and trim conceal the rest.

As for the car, no noxious exploding bags on mine. I like letting things like this percolate for a few weeks to consider all the options. Gives me something to think about besides work. I'd like a tilt out locking receptacle, but having my console wired for 110VAC would look out of place . . .

 

wow that is so cool
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My aunt used to do estate sales in and around Essex County NJ. She had a crew of specialty buyers and appraisers who would assist her with evaluating some of the more esoteric items. I did electronics, stringed musical instruments and photo items. The specialists were also given first crack at making offers to the owners or executors, before the hoi-polloi were admitted for the actual sale. As a result, I have been in many of the high-dollar estates, mostly in the west end of the county. A couple of decades ago, there was a Johnny Walker scotch ad that featured two houses side-by-side and the premise was that one neighbor stopped by to "borrow a cup of Johnny Walker". The houses exist, in upper Montclair, NJ and they are side-by-side. They were built by two wealthy brothers and there is an eight foot high, nine foot wide tunnel between the basements under the driveways and yards. There is a lockable iron gate in the tunnel at the property line and doors at either end. Another house belonged to the family of a boyhood friend of mine. There was an actual vault with steel walls and a vault door in the basement. The combination lockworks had been removed and were stored, intact because there was a housefull of kids and no need for a replay of "Jimmy Valentine" or a tragedy. My own home in Upper Montclair was right next to my aunt's. The house sale there contained a rosewood Martin mandolin that she had priced at $35. I told her to add another zero, at least, which she did and quickly too. There was a really old Remington semi-auto rifle, nickled, engraved and in a carved stock. I do remember a flip-down muzzle cap that blocked the front sight when closed. It had a patent date of 1901 on the receiver but that is all I remember. Sadly, after buying the house, I didn't have a spare dime left to buy any of that stuff. My uncle was a fire captain in the town and had a pretty neat collection of firearms from the business. His best friend was the chief of police and made any paperwork problems just go away. My cousin enherited the house a few years ago when Uncle Bill died and I'm certain that all of the guns were there. I was very close to Uncle Bill and Aunt Elise as well as being their next door neighbor for fifteen years but my cousin and I are like oil and water. I'd bet money that he turned all of those dangerous guns in to the police department as soon as he could. Karma has its revenge though. He is paying about $1200 A MONTH in real-estate taxes. On the other hand, the house WAS free.

 

I frequently hear from gun buddies about estate sales where the owners where anti's and didn't know what to do with all these guns. They couldn't be thrown away, and they couldn't imagine them being worth any money, so the whole lot would be sold at some ridiculous 1~3% their wholesale value.

Can't much complain about ignorant people actually. It may hurt the acceptance of firearms, but certainly doesn't hurt their procurement at estate sales.

 

I put mine on a heavy hinge with wheels on the bottom and a quick release toe kick. It's the way to go but tell your daughter not to show it to people without asking me first.

 

Random thought about hidden closet design. It doesn't hurt to have a secondary hidey-hole.

A design similar to what the original poster mentioned with a sliding bookshelf that reveals a gun cabinet. Except that if one completely empties the gun cabinet, they can remove the false bottom lined with felt to reveal a recessed handle. This can be the handle to a floor safe or a hatch that climbs down into a dug-out basement.

 

Hey, the OP never came back... how old was the girl?

 

We've got an awkward space in the house design after some remodeling that we're thinking of doing something like that. What we can't figure out is how to prevent the castors from leaving a gouge in the hardwood floors. I don't know if their is a hinge made that would handle the weight of a floor to ceiling bookshelf that is actually full of books if you didn't support the moving end on castors.

 

Hey Killerb,

I would think heavy duty piano hinges could do a reasonably good job without castors. Home Depot has them.

Keeping more weight near the hinge itself would also reduce the overall stress on the hinge....and then there is always placing knick knacks on the shelves...or what I call the 'dust collectors'. Less weight.

 

A bookcase that wasn't jammed to capacity with actual books would stick out like a sore thumb in this place since the 7-8 existing bookcases only let us unpack about half the collection.

 

I've seen them built where they have several hundred pounds of books on them, but all it takes is a finger to move them. Its all on how you build/ install them.