Build a Secret Doorway on a Budget

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Build a Secret Doorway on a Budget
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With very little carpentry experience and less than $200, YouTube user luvguns61 created this secret door and safe room in his condo. The door is disguised as a recessed shelf and rolls on the floor with casters, which lets him use less expensive hinges. It even features a two-way mirror so that a person hiding inside can see outside without being seen. [via Lifehacker]

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6 thoughts on “Build a Secret Doorway on a Budget

  1. Secret door by a non professional - BuildLounge » BuildLounge says:

    […] via Make Share […]

  2. rahereJel says:

    Oh please, how to keep a secret, post it to the internet. How to hide a door, frame it exactly like the door a couple of feet to the left. How to keep people out, add glass to the door.
    A safe room is only safe at two levels: firstly it should not be evident during a cursory search, and secondly it should resist during a detailed search. No safe room will remain undetected during a detailed search, as it perforce takes up space, but once found it must resist attack until help arrives. That door, made out of cheap ply, will become lethal shrapnel if someone fires into it: if you must do it in wood, face it with sheet kevlar. Instead of a spyhole, which limits you to line-of-sight,
    The guy’s got several thousand dollars worth of guns there, a small arsenal for modern needs. That requires proper security, and not the kludge here. Firstly, the door: if he can’t afford to do it properly, flog one of those rifles. Get it in steel with heavy hinges, proper locks and anti-forcing rods on the hinge side. Secondly, the room: spin it clockwise 90 degrees so the door faces into the room to the left. Make the door look like a closet door (which it is) and have the door to the room open inwards to the right, covering it so nobody on a cursory search looks at it even once.
    Some of the earliest safe rooms were built in English houses in the sixteenth century to hide Catholic priests. They had the advantage that rooms were not rectanglar, so it was often possible to hide rooms on one floor but accessed from another, apparently looking like chimney space, or even hidden between floors. That can translate to modern housing, in service ducting: take space from wardrobe areas between rooms, and access from above. Google Priests Holes to discover more.

  3. Calisto says:

    I am sorry, this is a cool build but completely inappropriate for storing weapons. With no locking mechanism anyone could enter the “secret” room. I have to concur with rahereJel about how secret the secret door appears. It is still looks like a doorway and anyone looking for a secret entrance would find the “secret” latch within minutes. If a firearm safe was the goal a door made of solid 2X4’s would given him a door 3.5 inches thick. By placing casters at the bottom regular hinges could be used without being stressed out and used a combination lock to hold it. Better to have an obvious door that is secure than a flimsy door half hidden and unsecured. At least when firearms are concerned.
    As a build though it is really nice. It makes a closet into a neat hide-away and a door into a cool bookshelf or nick-nack space. I like the build and think it is very impressive just not right for firearms.

  4. rapidfire says:

    Dead link.

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Matt Richardson is a San Francisco-based creative technologist and Contributing Editor at MAKE. He’s the co-author of Getting Started with Raspberry Pi and the author of Getting Started with BeagleBone.

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