Remember all of those old suspense movies and Scooby Doo episodes where someone would move a book on a bookshelf, or tilt the sword on a suit of armor and suddenly a hidden door would be revealed behind a bookshelf. Didn’t those just rule!?
NOW, you TOO can build your own wicked cool hidden door!
Oh yes, SHTF peeps. Think about it. Need a place in the house your kids can hide in case shit hits the fan? Sitting on piles of gold you need to stash? Have to hide your dirty magazine collection? Want to increase the re-sale value of your home? Maybe you’re just looking for a cool project.
SHTF homies - THIS is it! As near as I can tell, so long as you have moderate carpentry skills, a little time, and the right home situation, you can turn a closet into a hidden room - hidden by a highly useful, space friendly bookshelf.
This person wired theirs to a Sherlock Holmes book. Pull the book forward and the door unlatches. Holy straight-outta-the movies!
This person built a nice one that seems to blend in quite well. Apparently they don’t use it much, but the kids enjoy it.
Here are straight forward directions from WikiHow.
Wood Web has additional designs right here.
House Calls has another approach - turn the closet door into a door with shelves. It’s a more simple, less bulky approach - here.
What? You’re a rich survival ninja and you don’t feel like lifting a hammer? Can’t hold that against you. Perhaps you’re better off heading over to www.hiddenpassageway.com (an engineering company) and have something sweet custom designed for you. Their prices range between $5,000 and $25,000. They’ll even build a fireplace that reveals a hidden room with the twist of a candle - CRAZY! They do all kinds of crazy stuff actually.
Perhaps a less costly option would be to visit www.spacexdoors.com and send them the measurements you need for a quote. I mean . . . just check this action:
That’s outta sight!
- Ranger Man
BTW: Want really cool, paperback, EMP-proof field manuals on many survival and SHTF topics? Check out . . . the bookstore . . . today. I appreciate all support!
15 responses so far ↓
1 Rebel // Feb 15, 2008 at 6:30 am
Ranger-Man,
I’m not pleased. Can you not ask your friends to Aim a little more to the left?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3372001.ece
2 Dragon // Feb 15, 2008 at 11:43 am
Not fer me thanks. I’m waiting for them to market a tesseract.
But then again I probably read too much Heinlen. As I understand it putting in things wouldn’t be too much problem.
But getting things back out will take some work. I’m sure we all could figure it out though,eventually
3 ryan // Feb 15, 2008 at 11:53 am
I think this is an interesting idea and sweet if impractical. Castles and such with enormous odd shaped rooms and multiple stories are much better candidates for hidden rooms and such then a standard 1 or 2 level home. A person with half a brain would notice an 8×8 space missing in a normal house.
However a hidden compartment that is 1 or 2 ft deep would be more realistic. An unused closet? That is enough to hide a large gun collection (the spare set?) and some assorted coins. Putting the gun safe in there is an option.
4 EG 707 // Feb 15, 2008 at 11:58 am
Hey, I bought the new Weath, War and Whatever book you recommended through your store…. Where is my love! Just Kidding. But seriously, did it register and did you get a commission? It is a good book so far. A little heavy on WWII but with great wealth preservation ideas!
5 Jennersen // Feb 15, 2008 at 9:43 pm
My lady just loves it! I agree with Ryan though that it would be noticeable if the space missing was too large. Another option, one a friend and I contemplated, was to build a gun safe into one of those areas of your home where there is empty space between the wall in a closet and the next room by several feet. Most houses have such an odd area in them if you look around, which could save on storage space and hide the safe away into the house behind a fake wall.
6 Greg // Feb 15, 2008 at 10:50 pm
On the subject of the space shoot down - potential exists for this to be a ‘weapons platform’ of the glow in the dark type…if the deal goes down wrong…can you say ‘EMP’ with a vengence. If it goes down over Iran with that sort of action…may put two (2) big players out of the running (don’t be ‘rushin’ to grab that ‘china’ plate) source is suppossed to be good but who knows, and anything can happen. Think about how this deal has been talked about, just in open source documents. Strange. When was the last time you heard about anything quite like this? Greg
7 SHTFblog Daily Traffic Record has been SHATTERED! // Jul 21, 2008 at 5:26 am
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8 Survival Gear // Jul 22, 2008 at 12:26 am
I don’t even really care about it’s actual use. It’s just my dream to have hidden bookshelf doors, pictures with removable eyes and trap doors that lead into ponds or something.
9 Angry Mike // Sep 9, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Anyone could easily build a “built in” type cabinet or shelving unit in any room of their home with a secret opening device, revealing space behind it that could conceal firearms, supplys or even people. They do not have to be enormous, bedroom sized spaces to be effective. The smaller the better in my opinion as they are less revealing. A wall unit that slides and reveals a space in between wall studs for goods stashing is a novel idea and easy to build. No door needed.
10 Megan // Sep 17, 2008 at 2:32 am
I bought a door from “Hide A Door” in Humble, Texas. The door was great, it hid a closet in a studio in D.C.
The customer service however left much to be desired. I paid some 200+ to have it delivered. I lived on the 2nd floor of a building downtown. The door was delivered while I was away on business. I found it in a crate in the lobby of my building. I’d asked them to contact my building manager specifically, to have him let them in to my apt. and leave it there. When I contacted them, they said the delivery person that worked for the company with whom they’d contracted, had only one man there to deliver this 300 pound package..so they simply left it. I had to have my two brothers do what I’d paid 200 dollars to do. Upon complaint to Hide A Door, I was told that I’d receive at LEAST a partial refund. I called and called and called and got the run around. There are TONS of companies that sell these doors, do not buy from them. Co-owner Krystal Strong is not reputable.
11 Steve // Jan 15, 2009 at 5:21 pm
A folding door in front of an opening is okay but to actually hide the opening w/a door that looks like a built in cabinet is totally awesome. We thought so! I now have a safe room behind a door that looks like a built in cabinet AND built into the door on the back side of the bookshelves is a gun safe w/8 long guns, 8 handguns and ammo hidden. All in the door so my wife and kids can actually lock themselves into the room WITH the guns. When the built in is opened from the hallway side the guns are hidden behind an invisible hinged panel in the back of the cabinet. Bought it from Creative Building Resources, www.hiddenpassages.com, and great family to work with.
12 Ken // Feb 21, 2009 at 5:22 pm
love the design. clean and simple. here is one I made http://www.instructables.com/id/Hidden-Door-Bookshelf/
13 mess // Mar 12, 2009 at 3:05 am
i have a closet that has shelfs and in one of the shevels i have placed a piece of wood that makes it look like it is just the end os the closet it fits perfectly but know i dont know how to get to the little hidden crack but it fits so tightly i cant move it now i want to be able to cut in from the lowere shelf but still i dont know how to bring it back and fowerd do you have any iders
14 Keith // Apr 8, 2009 at 4:36 am
I used to install home safes back in the early ’90’s. I always liked the floor safes. One lady had us make a ‘lip’ in her closet floor carpet and install it underneath. Air hammer thru the floor, dig a level square, position safe and fill around it with quik-crete. She just put a few shoes on the floor and Presto! I would never have thought to put it there. She was a keen old bird… mean, too.
15 Todd // Aug 12, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Keith - I think that would be AWESOME for new construction! I`m sure the cost would be much less than having to rip out existing concrete, install and repair.
Not to mention you could make it more secure doing it the first time
Great post about hidden book cases!
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