How to Install Secret Doors

Door closed, door open

It seems you’re hooked on the board game, “Clue”™ or perhaps you’re intrigued by the secret room in Mel Brooks’s "Young Frankenstein" (“Put ze candle back!”). In any event, you have decided it will be really cool to have your own secret doors leading to hidden places in your home. Secret doors can add an element of interest to your home, and they promise hours of fun when unsuspecting company sleeps over. Contractors and home builders report that secret doors are growing in popularity, so go ahead--join the secret movement!

Difficulty:

Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• A doorway leading to an appropriate space
• A construction plan
• A commercially designed secret door or
• A home-built secret door
• Hardware for hanging the door
• Tools

1. Select an appropriate place for your secret door. Remember, it needs to open onto another space in your home–a secret room, a walk-in closet, the master bath. A door to no place is no fun.

2. Decide how you want to disguise your door. You can use a moving bookshelf, a wine bar or a large framed picture. Use your imagination, but be sure to select something that blends in with the rest of the furnishings in the room so you secret isn’t obvious.

3. Build or purchase a secret door. Many purchased doors promise very easy installation, very similar to hanging a regular door. To find a company that sells pre-made secret doors, use the term "secret door" in a web search.

If you are manufacturing your own secret door

1. Review your building plan and perhaps build a scale mock-up to make certain your plans allow sufficient space for the door to open easily without leaving a gap when it’s closed.

2. Soss invisible hinges

   Choose the right hinges to hang your door. To keep the secret, you need to conceal the hinges, as well. Builders and contractors recommend Blum hinges, Soss hinges or a center pivot system.

3. Hang your hinges straight or your door will sag in its frame.

Tips & Warnings

• Install your door in a manner that will let you open it from either side; it's a really bad idea to shut yourself inside a secret room if you can't get out!

Resources

• Commercially manufactured secret door