Hidden doors and unseen spaces...

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M

MyRoad

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I was just looking over the thread on building an inexpensive safe room, and it got me thinking. I'm in the process of purchasing a house that is partially incomplete (the downstairs is finished and livable, the upstairs is all studs and sub-floor). While I won't have the room or money to build a safe room, I will have the opportunity build in hidden closets, trap doors, etc.

This may be a tough topic to get going, because if its "hidden" or "secret", you're probably not going to want to talk about it on the Internet... but... anyone willing to share any ideas for interesting ways to make dead-space in a house accessible as a means of 'secure' storage? To be clear, this would be "safe" by virtue of being well hidden, not by steel doors or elaborate locks.

I've thought about putting a false wall in the back of a closet, for instance, but I wonder what would be the best way to "hinge" the openning would be, and how best to hide the seems? I've also thought about shortening a closet, and then putting a gun safe in the hidden recess.
 
I think if I was building a new house I'd take a look at the space surrounding the furnance vent/water heater vent. In our house it's a fairly big aread and I think you could easily slip in one or two of those safes designed to fit in between the wall studs. (last time I looked around $150). If I was trying to hide them then I think I'd put them in the wall of a closet. (preferably a sidewall) With a bunch of coats and such hanging in there I don't think it'd be obvious at all.

Have a good one,
Dave
 
In the house that I grew up on we had a small crawl space in the back of a closet that led into a decent sized area, about the size of a mini van. To my knowledge when an addition was built onto the house there was some space in one of the walls, underneath the room was additional cloest with high ceilings. It was always a neat place to play and fool around. Not sure if that helps at all.
 
My wife and I are planning to have our next house custom built with a combination vault/safe room in the center of the house. It will be surrounded by reinforced concrete and will be able to withstand a direct hit from an F5 tornado. :cool:
 
Here's an example of a bigger option I'm considering; When I finish the upstairs, I'll convert one of the downstairs bedrooms into a den. That room currently has two closets along an outside wall. I'm thinking about tearing off the sheetrock around the folding doors, and closing the whole thing in -- re-sheetrocking, creating a new wall surface and thereby enclosing an approximately two foot deep empty space (the depth of what was the closets) the length of one wall of that room...

I'm just not sure what the best way to access it would be. One of the narrow ends of the space could be accessible from the garage, but to access from the den, I'm not sure about how to best hide the doorway. I could make a built-in bookshelf that is hinged, I guess, or try to find some sort of large hanging decorative... thing.

Just wondering if anyone has been down this road, or there are any tried and true solutions for concealing doors.
 
IamtheNRA My wife and I are planning to have our next house custom built with a combination vault/safe room in the center of the house. It will be surrounded by reinforced concrete and will be able to withstand a direct hit from an F5 tornado.
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Why not just build the whole house to withstand and f5:confused:
If I lived in tornado prone area that is what I would do.
At least take the wheels off. After all tornados are attracted to trailers. :banghead:
 
May I suggest :

-You really need to know and trust the builder and any work-persons doing this work.

-Mom & Pop Safe and Locksmith persons are whom I would contact.
Many times these persons if not themselves into Cabinetry, Wood and Trim, have trusted persons they have worked with before.

These persons deal with Security and Confidentialiy on a daily basis and their livelihoods depend on it.

Concealed means Concealed.

I would NOT post on publicly on Internet any ideas, or what one is/ has done.

Back in the day, when folks made furniture such as Roll-Top Desks, hidden compartments were specially built.
These were NOT always the same from desk to desk.
More than once a furniture maker went to assist a widow to make sure no important items were in a desk...
Folks still find by accident "hiding spots" from generations since passed.

I had a customer find instructions , and these instructions lead to a large sum of ca$H in home...
Relatives did not trust banks, they had been through The Depression.

Careful what is posted please...
 
I can't find the website now but one company specializes in hidden closets. To hide the door seam they use trim work that extends beyond the seam. It seemed to work well using a fancy looking built in book case to hide the closet.

For a lock I've thought one or two magnetic child cabinet locks might work. Nothing fancy but you need to know exactly where to put a very strong magnet to open the door.
 
Why not just build the whole house to withstand and f5
Click to expand...

As an engineer who has completed courses on this topic, I'll only say that a house built to withstand an f5 would be extremely expensive to build and not at all comfortable to live in. These kind of winds are extremely powerful!

I had a customer find instructions , and these instructions lead to a large sum of ca$H in home...
Relatives did not trust banks, they had been through The Depression.
Click to expand...

As newly weds, my wife and I rented a house from a man who had lived there for 75 years! After his wife died, his kids had helped him "process" her life's cache of possessions and they found ever $10,000 in cash hidden in coffee cans in the floor boards. I'm still kicking myself for not going through the garden with a metal detector before we moved out.
 
Wouldn't be fun or easy.... But

for the ultimate hidden room check this out.

http://www.21club.com/web/onyc/onyc_c1a_cellar.jsp

This is one of the best retuants in Manhattan but it used to be a speak-easy. It has one on the coolest hidden doors where they used to have the booze stored. Check it out. If you are ever in NYC, I highly recommend stopping in for a fantastic meal and if you ask nicely, you can get a tour of some history. It is really cool. They still have bottles of prohibition whisky, bottles of JFK and Frank Sinatra’s personal wine that they are storing.
 
I'm not a handyman or anything, but it would seem to me that cutting a hole in the drywall would make for a perfect spot to cache some stuff between wall studs. All you have to do is choose an interior wall of such a texture and color that the seams are difficult to detect. I remember in my old house, my room had a dark wood with vertical lines of rougher wood. If the bottom went below the carpet, one could align the seams with the rough wood.

Alternatively, I'd look at furniture. Most of a bed frame or a chair frame is empty space, covered only by fabric. If you're any good with stitching, you just put the item in the frame through a hole out of sight and then you stitch up the hole.
 
Bingo! Bubbles, that's the kind of thing I'm looking for.

I'll keep looking for clues, but thanks everyone for your suggestions.

I should be in the house in about three weeks, and then the fun will begin.
 
If you have a built-in fire place and raised mantle in front. Those have really good possibilities.
 
I have a small niche in my house that would make a perfect sized gun storage area. I've been thinking of putting a normal door on the outside, which, when opened, reveals a small breaker panel (which is not hooked to anything). I'm thinking of making the wall the breaker panel is on a false wall, which opens to the room. Thoughts?

EDIT:

Or, how about no door, but have the hidden door open when the breakers are set to a specific sequence?
 
BGs already know this, so posting on Internet is not giving anything away to the BGs, still might be good for Good Guys to read.

Metal Detectors.

Going w-a-y back when metal detectors first came out, BGs started using these to find hidden areas in homes and businesses.

My interest was piqued, and so I contacted some Police buddies. They too were curious about a rash of metal detectors being used. So a ex con or two were contacted.

-Silver chest in a wall in a closet, along with a a handgun taken.
-Bottom of Silent Butler, and the wooden box with coin collection, and rolls of silver dollars.

-Couple renting a house while one being built. Older house, with no closet space as they were built back in the day.
Two foot lockers taken, others left.
The ones left never even opened - locks still in place and locked. Old textbooks, notebooks, photos....
Two taken had the Silverware, handguns, long guns broken down.
These just stacked in a extra bedroom with other boxes of non metal items ...

Ex cons said this was passed along in "Cell College" (jail) . While many think BGs are all dumb, many are not.
Some know about construction, varies phases of construction, some know about blueprints, and the Library is nice place to read up on HVAC , plumbling, wiring and all.

One ex con pointed across the room to a wall outlet.
This was not a "fake" outlet with a little "drawer" one can stick some cash, or small Jlry into - instead a real outlet.

"Notice the distance from others, and where located?" he asked.
"That is most likely where a bed would be placed..."

Empty room, and Rental Property of a Police buddy.
Policeman's dad had done that wall outlet when he was a kid, undo the plate screw, and wire was attached to a bag with cash in case of emergency.

Ex con found with a metal detector the slick hiding spot this Policeman's dad had used in that house when they lived in it.


Metal framing, instead of wood framing, while more expensive, does mess with detectors...
Still if a person knows how stuff is built...
Biggest breech of security is folks blabbing about it...
 
able to withstand a direct hit from an F5 tornado.
Why not just build the whole house to withstand and f5
Click to expand...
Probably the same reason they don't make airplanes out of the relatively indestructible material they build flight recorders in - viable for the intended purpose, but just doesn't work on a significantly larger scale.
 
Build a false wall in the basement and use peg board to cover the wall. Put up a shelf to cover the whole length at the top. Hang tools on the panels and prop a ladder. PM me. I've done it. #1 rule in security is if they don't know it's there they definitely can't steal it. You will never find where I put the door period.
 
I've always been fascinated with hidden areas. Always wanted to have a hidden ladder from bedroom closet down to family room, or passageway between my bedroom closet to another bedroom closet that led to a different escape route. Have also thought about hardened door between living areas and isolated bedroom area with escape through master bedroom. Do plan on getting a rope ladder!
 
Wow! Great (obscure) reference! I've read the books a thousand times.

I wonder if anyone else will catch it...
Click to expand...

I gave TallPine enough credit to assume that his comment was not simply a failure to take his meds, and was actually a reference to something, but speaking for myself I have no idea what it refers to.
 
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