You’d be hard pressed to find someone who didn’t think secret doors are cool. They can come in many different forms, a built-in book case, a fake fireplace or even the rudimentary trap door under the rug. [oggfaba] has created a sweet secret door to enter his house. It is so well done there is no need for an architectural detail to hide it, it’s right there in plain sight.
To the unknowing onlooker, the rear of the house looks as any should with a window and water spigot. That water spigot is actually non-functional and acts as a door knob. The door-part of this secret door is just a standard fiberglass exterior door fitted with an electronic deadbolt and covered in exterior siding painted to match the rest of the house.
There are two methods to lock and unlock the door. There is a fob that can remotely unlock the installed deadbolt. There is also a keypad hidden under its own mini-secret door disguised as house siding material. There was no hacking involved with the deadbolt, keypad or remote. The Morning Industry QF-01SN deadbolt is available off the shelf with both unlocking options.
[oggfaba] is more proud of his door than worried about keeping it secret since he threw up a YouTube video of it in action. It’s not like he would show the code to the electronic lock in the video….. would he? Want more secret doors? Check out this bookcase complete with tipping-book actuator.
I’m pretty sure this secret door has been about for over a year now. It would be far more impressive if the spigot also worked.
Agreed, no point if the spigot doesn’t work. It wouldn’t have been that hard, either.
What really needs to happen is the spigot needs to be modified to work as an electronic version of a padlock. Turn one way, then the other, then back again to unlock the door. Call japan, I’m sure they have a small enough shaft encoder.
This has been already posted.
now to just replace the front door with one of these, to keep away all those political and religious groups.
Also useful for people whose house straddles an international border and the location of their front door determines to which country they pay property taxes.
no front, no taxes!
Best use of a hidden door ever. Also place a hidden camera out so you can see the members of the “political and religious groups” searching.
And plumb in the tap so it can be operated remotely when members of said “political and religious groups” walk past.
For a moment I thought this article was posted by Dave Javu…
First thought on seeing the photos was how odd of a spot that was for the sillcock. Being that the woman is wearing a headband I’m going to assume they get freezing temperatures there. That means the sillcock would likely penetrate the wall at least 8″ depending on the plumbing, most exterior walls are only 6″. Now there could be an interior closet that could be hiding the plumbing within, any other interior wall that close to a window isn’t likely, or that window could sit about a foot off of the floor and the sillcock plumbing penetrates into the floor joist space. Either way, one walk around this house not knowing there was a door there, I’d find something rather strange about it.
no reason it couldn’t be on a riser inside the structure before penetrating the wall. heck, it could be tee’d off the back of a washing machine feeder out of convenience. Sure, it’s a little on the high side when viewed from the outside, but what’s to say something hadn’t formerly been below it (such as an elevated planter or whatnot) and that height was chosen out of necessity? That said, I doubt that the siding seam-lines would remain perfectly aligned for all that long after the project was completed. Expansion/contraction of framing, cladding, or siding members would wreck havoc on perfect alignment. I’d be noticing the siding cuts before it occurred to me that the sillcock was oddly positioned (of course, I tend to be much more observant than most, so this may be the exception). Nonetheless, a very clever idea…
I grew up in a house with all sorts of “hidden” features like that. Hidden doors and rooms were the norm in my youth. One really cool feature were “auto switching” light fixtures before sensors were available. It was always funny watching my friends try to figure out how my dog could move from room to room without her ever leaving through the “only” door.
It’s always a bit strange living on my own in a house that isn’t like my old house. With the normal framed doors, “logical” room layout and normal light switches.
I would have thought a better idea than an electronic lock would be to just have a regular deadlock keyhole concealed under that hidden flap, that way there’d be no problem during a power failure.
That lock is also provisioned with a traditional key. The bigger issue is when you leave the key inside out of convenience and the batteries in the lock go flat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2da1DRLuo9o#t=56
Apparently HaD doesn’t like YouTube links to a particular point in the video: 56 seconds in: The Keypad. Shows everything you need to see.
Yes, I’m certain this has been posted before… still good tho