Get a new carpenter?

I can't. He's doing our whole house. We've already begun on other rooms with him.

You need heavier hinges and a furniture maker, not a carpenter.

It might depend on the hinges used and the weight planned, for the bookcase. I'm sure others will have better suggestions, you just had me at 'secret bookcase'. That is going to be such a great feature! :)

I would exclude that portion from his contract and find someone else to handle it if he can't do it to your satisfaction. I would not want a roller ball on the floor under any circumstances!

It my be necessary the way he is designing it, but I don't have a roller ball on mine. I can stand on mine and swing. 4 large hinges and it swings into the room.

The roller ball will prevent your ability to decorate with an area rug.

Here are some up close pics:

athens, that's what i'm leaning toward. i just found a company online called hiddendoors.com and am waiting to hear back from them about obtaining a quote.

i agree that the roller ball is a mistake. he's suggesting we eliminate the bookcases on that wall, move them to the adjacent wall, and do a door that's hidden in the wood paneling instead. this is less exciting to me.

milz, that's great to know. any idea what the name is of the hinges you used and any other pertinent info. for this? love the color of yours, by the way!

Threeapples...this is our local secret doorway guy. He's been making these forever. Eventually we plan to have them in our basement (when we get around to finishing it!). It looks like you can buy just his hardware package, so I thought it might be helpful for you. Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Secret Doorways website

ohlaches, we are in ohio as well. i'm going to send this to my builder--thanks so much!

has anyone heard of, or dealt with, hiddendoors.com i got a quote from them to make a bookcase door in cherry for $2,000. Not sure if that's a decent price. They'd ship it in shock absorbent packaging from California. Any thoughts on all of this?

thanks!

It looks like the OH place doesn't like to ship because it invites damage and it is costly... What is the California policy on damage returns? I'd try to go local if possible.

Heck, the place Olaches linked to is in Sunbury Ohio which is smack dab in the middle of the state. Threeapples is also in Ohio so it CAN'T be more than about 200 miles from her home to the Secret Doorways store in Sunbury. If they don't want to ship, I'd just borrow a truck and go pick up the door. Or tell my builder to do it.

Course, I'm from Texas where we think anything less than 100 miles away is LOCAL. LOL!

The owner of hidden doors.com in CA said they shop with shock protectors and if something is wrong they will replace it. Theirs look nicer than the place in Ohio. Any thoughts?

If you like the ones at HiddenDoors.com better, and they guarantee against damage that happens during shipping, I'd order from them. On my computer doors from the two companies look pretty similar - but maybe you're seeing something that I'm missing.

Perhaps if the place in Ohio is only a short drive, you might want to stop by and take a look at their doors in person first. You'll be able to tell a lot more about quality if you see them for real rather than just in a picture. Would be really great if you could see the doors at HiddenDoor.com in person as well.

Has your carpenter come around to believing he can install them without a roller ball? If you need someone else to install them, it might be better to go with the Ohio company and pay them to install them for you.

Threeapples....how far away from Sunbury are you? You might want to call the Ohio guy and ask him to look at the ones you like. He custom builds all of them, so he might be able to make what you want. He's a nice guy....been at the Home and Garden Show for many, many years.

Nope, my carpenter hasn't come around.
You know, maybe the website for hiddendoors just looks more elegant than the place in Ohio that's about 3 hours away. I think I'll call the Ohio guy on Monday and talk it through with him.

I'll post back. thanks! :)

How "secret" is the door when it, or the "secret" room it accesses, are on approved building plans and known to 30 or more trades people on site? Or do you terminate them all with extreme prejudice when their jobs are done? (I thought that was only POTUS's prerogative.)

"How "secret" is the door when it, or the "secret" room it accesses, are on approved building plans and known to 30 or more trades people on site?"

these are not the folks you need to hide things from, and depending on location there may be no permanent record of non-commercial plans.

Surely you jest!

The list of former trades persons and casual labourers in homes who have come back to rob, murder, rape and kidnap is not hard to compile. I instantly recall Elizabeth Smart and the Mississauga Maid in the Mansion murder.

we're just doing this for fun. it enters into a computer room with filing cabinets and a laptop. we have nothing to hide, but thought a door like this would be kind of neat.

I'm with apples. If I did it, it would be for fun/cool factor; not to necessarily hide anything.

"The list of former trades persons and casual labourers in homes who have come back to rob, murder, rape and kidnap is not hard to compile."

How many murders and what percentage then?

Until the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program can get more specific, we're stuck with the fact that 22.9% of the 13,636 murders for 2009 were committed in connection with other felonies and a whopping 35.4% were committed in unknown circumstances.

Now, if you don't think building a "secret" room in your home might give some one of the 30-40 people building your home--including guys recruited from in front of the local Home Depot and day labour agencies--and all the people they know, an idea you have something valuable to hide and a reason to come looking for it, go right ahead.

Or, as the posters above note, make it clear it's just a child's retreat etc.

Interestingly, the only "secret" rooms and exits I personally know of were built by a carpenter who was "connected", so the knowledge of their existence was still in the Familia.