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I’m a restorer of old homes with twenty plus years in the field. I’ve run onto a project that simply has me stumped! My client wants me to install two “concealed” doors on interior stud frame walls that have a solid wood wainscot and chair rail about 30″ off the floor with 1″ thick plaster walls above. I’ve been looking for the hardware that would allow the door to open toward the operator by simply pushing on the door and a spring loaded catch would release the door, allow it to come into the room toward the operator about 4″ to clear the projection of the chair rail and then turn on its hinges to open and reveal the next room. One would walk through the doorway and pull the door shut with a discreet looking handle and pull the door shut until it latched. This is a high caliber type of job and there is no room for compromise. If there is anyone who’s been exposed to this kind of application, please email me at [email protected].
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Don't conceal the answer too. Bring it up here so we all can see.
*Bill,Two questions:1. Do both sides of this wall have wainscot and chair rail?2. I know the latching mechanism is available. Do you know or just hope the hinge is available?
*Bill, consider Soss hinges. The push-to-unlatch hardware should be easy to lacate.Wasn't there a recent thread on "hidden doors"? Try "Hidden doors in library". Also search the archives under Soss hinges.Try'n to help, Steve
*Bill,We have done a lot of this. SOSS won't work because of the projected layering of the attached woodwork. If you didn't have to layer on the wainscoat, SOSS hinges would work just great.(except at the baseboard). You have to get the piviot point of the door away from the edge of the door. A simple post at the top and bottom of a slab door that is hung in the plane of the wall will give you the clearence you need to layer on the wainscoating making the joints on a 22 1/2 degree mitre. The piviot point has to be greater than the thickness of your applications of woodworking. For example....if your putting on 2" of wood, then the piviot needs to be about 3" away from the edge of the door. The thickness of wood will include the base and shoe mouldings as well as the wainscoat. Hiding the joints in the wainscoating is easy, all it takes is very exacting joinery, but you will have to make or have made a slab door the fits the width of your paneling layout unless a standard size door fits your wainscoat lay-out. Hiding the joints in the open wall above is a different matter. I have not found a way yet to perfectly hide door revels in a blank white wall. Even with mitred revels, you still see a shadow line. There has to be enough revel for the door to operate. What good is a concealed door that doesn't work? Maybe someone else here has a solution for that. The hardware is another issue. Touch latch hardware won't work because of the over-laping 22 1/2 degree joinery in the wainscoat on the latch side. You can't push in past that point to engage the touch latch. In the past we have put a finger pull in the underside of the chair rail and just used a roller catch to hold the door closed. For some we did several years ago, we used an electric lock with a button to unlock the door in a conceled area of the room. It was a mortise type lock and was mounted in the jamb that plunged a dead bolt into the door when activated. You might try something like that mounted on the inside of the hidden door that when activated would push the door open. Just a thought. This is a simplified method. There are ways to hide them even better depending on the moulding profiles.Good luck,Ed. Williams
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Ralph,
I don't have a clue as to where to find the latching mechanism nor the hinges. I have an idea in my mind how they should look, but no idea where to even begin to look.
Sincerely,
Bill Wine
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Ed's got the answer with the pivot post off the edge of the door, although if the wood shrinks you'll see the overlap. You also have to oversize the door to get enough clearance to walk through and that makes it heavier. Any hardware that allowed the door to move straight toward you probably wouldn't carry a heavy door very well.
We don't usually do anything this exotic but frequently do 'jib doors' - flush with the wall, but not quite the same as you describe since we hinge at the edge. You can't use Soss hinges but you can use butt hinges, special-order without holes on one leaf (std. holes would be in the wrong place - drill in field) and you have to bevel the baseboard on the hinge side.
Exactly what type of door surface do you think will match the look of 1" plaster to a full-bleed edge? That's a problem, too!
An electric latch would work. Doesn't sound like cost is an object.
Jeff Clarke
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The answer to this issue lies in Clarksville MD, contact Charles H.Shaw and Son, J.R. Shaw (the son) has experience with this hidden door dilema, check out the oldest hardware stores in the cities closest to your location,
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In the old grade "B" movie matinees of my youth, they always had the secret passageway in the castle as a sliding or rotating bookcase - usually activated by pulling on a book or on the light fixture on the wall nearby. Of course, to do this right, you need a stone staircase on the other side descending into the dungeon and filled with lots of spiderwebs and dust...
You might check out a few old Abbott and Costello movies for ideas...
*Bill, For an inspiration, you might try Jim Tolpin's book, Built-In Furniture (Taunton Press). Pages 108-109 are photos and diagram of secret door in a residential library. It uses a standard paneled passage door faced on the view side with a false bookcase. The "books" are only book jacket spines glued to the open upper "shelves". The lower "doors" are only glued on panels. The builder uses ball bearing butt hinges and an electronic opener. A bookcase may not be what your client has in mind, but might inspire something else. Hope this helps. GP.
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God, how I hate saying this, but...
On This Old House, the current project, rebuilding Dick Silva's house, features a hidden door with trim details exactly as you described. Perhaps their web site or (lousy) magazine would have some details. Might just provide some inspiration. The install looked pretty good on TV, but I wasn't paying close attention.
Mike
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I think behind that door is where they're hiding Bob Vila. From what I'm told, Tommy built a real nice box (He's a big fan of Pulp Fiction) and a special "tool room". Riley tried to rescue him, but after the last remodel, he didn't have enough fingers left to pry open the door. If I hear more I pass it along . . .
Eric
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Lee Valley Tools (Ottawa, Ontario) sells a fully concealed magneticaly operated catch which would probably work for you, Bill. It's a mechanical latch operated by a magnetic "key" shaped like a knob which is applied to the surface over the latch to open it. The "key" is removed when the door is closed. It's made in the USA but no brand name is mentioned in the Lee Valley catalogue.
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I'm a restorer of old homes with twenty plus years in the field. I've run onto a project that simply has me stumped! My client wants me to install two "concealed" doors on interior stud frame walls that have a solid wood wainscot and chair rail about 30" off the floor with 1" thick plaster walls above. I've been looking for the hardware that would allow the door to open toward the operator by simply pushing on the door and a spring loaded catch would release the door, allow it to come into the room toward the operator about 4" to clear the projection of the chair rail and then turn on its hinges to open and reveal the next room. One would walk through the doorway and pull the door shut with a discreet looking handle and pull the door shut until it latched. This is a high caliber type of job and there is no room for compromise. If there is anyone who's been exposed to this kind of application, please email me at [email protected].
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Ron, I think thats a Rev-a-Shelf product. They make lots of cabinet accessories that I use, lazy susans, sink front trays etc. Ive never used the magnetic latch but have seen them in my catalouge.
Chuck