Secret Book Shelf Door

[mcluma]

Secret Book Shelf Door

My wife bought about 2 years ago these double secret bookshelf doors. They were originally to be fitted as access doors to our library. We later decided against this, due to the fact we wanted more light into our hallway and changed the design that all the doors leading off the hall ways are to be double doors with glass panels, which meant we weren’t going to use these doors in their intended place
The doors in question


Doors1 by mcluma, on Flickr

Doors3 by mcluma, on Flickr

Doors4 by mcluma, on Flickr

And the other side of the doors


Doors2 by mcluma, on Flickr

As we got underway with the refurbishment of our house we midway changed the ground floor layout. Originally we planned a double internal garage with at the back of the garage the plant room and Gym. Walls and doorways got build, and as these are structural walls they couldn’t be moved without a cost aspect. In the new lay-out the garage is to become our new lounge.
So a solution had to be found for this doorway into the Gym



Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

Which we had and that are the secret bookshelf doors!

So after the floor was screeded the walls plaster boarded and plastered I set about to fit these doors.
Originally they were fitted with 3 hinges each. Now there was no way I was going to use these hinges.
1) The door weighs a hefty 100kg (or so I think, as it was more then I could lift) so this was not going to work with just 3 hinges (no ball bearings)
2) The door is to open outward, so the hinges had to be changed and would then be seen from the inside
I found the solution in using these Hafele floor hinges

http://www.hafele.co.uk/Hafele35a1/Imag ... 760P1.JPEG

These are rated up to 150Kg

Here the doors in position to show what it’s going to look like


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

The doors are bigger than the current opening, and to give it that “bookshelf “ feeling I had to build a frame to hold the doors


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

Here the floor pivot hinge fitted on a 30mm threshold, This will enable later on the carpet to be fitted and still being able to open the door. I should have done the threshold in oak, but I didn’t


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

And the top pivot hinge fitted


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

With the doorframe done its fitting the other bits to the door. Had the help of my son to move the door about
Here the bottom floor hinge receiver fitted (flush with the bottom rail)


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

And the top hinge


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

On this photo you can see the little hole in the style, this gives access to the screw to adjust the hinge in and out


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

Door is fitted and adjusted


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

The action is SOOOOOOOOOO smooth, and the whole door, despite its weight can be moved with just one finger – I really like these floor hinges


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

Time to make it look more like a bookshelf, the sides are build out of oak, which will be stained darker later on, this will then match the rest of the furniture of the room


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

We have two of these doors, and we like symmetry, I fitted the other door at the other side of the room.


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

As I was working to a tight schedule with the carpets being fitted, my wife already started with staining the unit dark oak


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

First coat of staining done


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

Inside of door to white


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

Prep work for fitting the crown moulding


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

Here the crown fitted


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

First coat on the crown and second on the sides of the unit and prep work underway for fitting the rads


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

Yesterday the carpets got fitted, so here is the final product .


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr


Over the weekend I will be fitting the electric door opener with a concealed button (pictures and video to follow
Thanks for looking

[thebigdaddy81]

WWOOOOWWWWW, Absolutely Fantastic,,,

[Bikergirl]

They are fantastic! Personally in my house I would have them in the light wood, but if the rest of the furniture is dark it will look stunning.

Love the floor hinges, too.

[moderator6]

You can get away with the dark colour in a place that size

I think it looks stunning

[rough cut]

they are awesome i really really want them in my house now

[big-all]

i started to loose the will to live at the begining
i thought a fairly tacky but fun idea
i thought out off context as 2 single units there is no way they will look anything special-------


















----- how wrong i was well done amazing job

[breatheasy]

They look great !... nice and bold against the white

[nick200]

Looks great, always seen them but they would not work in our house. In yours and in that room they look great.

[mcluma]

Secrete Doors Part II – The automation

What is a secret door without a secret way of opening it?

I have been thinking about voice recognition, etc, and as it’s all very cheap to do, and boards are readily available, I have chosen for a less elaborate solution (I hope) I will go for a double knock on the door solution – I bought a clap-on-clap off module board that has the option for single or double clap and switch for pulse or toggle mode. (Still have to see if this works out of the box, otherwise I have to get some more relays fitted to ensure the pulse mode works for me

I bought an electric door opener (as you expect from EBay) which was used, but in perfect new condition – the opener is specifically for swing doors
The opener has options for push and go – which is good for one side of the door, as you just push it lightly and the motor takes over. – So no switch has to be fitted on this side.

Here some pictures of the opener which is a kaba FDC – it has electric opening and electric closing

Here is the box as it arrived

Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

There is a lot of electronics and mechanics inside


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

Had a quick test to see if it worked, which it did, its really smooth and very quit


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

[royaloakcarpentry]

They aren't secret any more lol

[Wee Eck]

Impressive.
But am I the only one thinking... Josef Fritzl...?

[mcluma]

Secrete Doors Part III – Fitting the opener

Fitted the opener last weekend, and it’s all up and running, action is smooth and very quiet.
Due to the structure of the door I could not fit it closer to the door, and to ensure the full travel of a 90degree opening was still obtained I had to fit a little block on the door, another option would have been longer rods, which could still be an option as I have some stainless steel rods laying around. But for now I am happy how it works.

I also had to fit a piece of oak above the door to fit the opener to
1 this is part of the door trim, and
2 as there is a concrete lintel above it is difficult to put screws in, so I fitted the unit to the oak,

What I still need to find at a reasonable price is a hydraulic damper. The door is so heavy and this closer does not have a deceleration adjustment build-in to slow it really down for the last 5 to 10 cm of closing, so there is a little bounce when it hits the door post

I have seen these dampers, which are specifically for swing doors, but at a price of £120, - I do not think I will go for that


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

This door gives access to a small hallway, which a doors to the back garden, and Gym
Here a few pics of the Gym – still have to fit the back-wall mirror but I managed to fit the TV last night.

Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr

The TV I had planned to put there was just a tad too big, so we went with a slightly smaller one


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr


Untitled by mcluma, on Flickr