I am in search for ideas/suggestions for a dummy door on my grow closet. I want to keep the regular door on the outside for stealth reasons but on the inside of the door frame I want to install a dummy door. The entrance dimensions are 32"Wx82"H and the frame is 4" deep. I have a 600w HPS so it needs to not look like I am hiding the Holy Grail in there. On my last grow I rigged up a few reflective car windshield visors, but I was only using 300w of HPS. It worked OK but you could still see the light coming through the cracks of the regular door when both were shut and it was very annoying to enter and exit. ANY suggestions are welcome.
Weather stripping around the door will make it light proof. If this doesnt work you could buy home theater curtains. They are very thick and made to block out light. That should do the trick.
Building a Secret Room 1. Step 1 Locate the room where you want your secret room to be. A single doorway into it and no windows is ideal for this. Remove the door. 2. Step 2 Calculate the dimensions where your bookshelf will be located and create plans for your bookshelf. Based on the bookshelf dimensions, determine where your door will be and where the doors' pivot point has to be in order to open far enough to clear the wall. 3. Step 3 Calculate the size of your secret door based on the bookshelf drawing, keeping in mind your secret door will be the size of one full section of bookshelf. 4. Step 4 Create a metal frame for the secret door. This allows your bookshelf door to support a shelf full of books. 5. Step 5 Weld your metal plate to the top and bottom of your metal door frame where your pivot points will be. 6. Step 6 Cut the bolts to be two inches long and weld them into place at the pivot points on the plates. 7. Step 7 Create a ceiling anchor out of steel, boring out holes to match up with bolts that you will need to crew into your ceiling joists as well as a hole for your pivot point and attach to the ceiling. 8. Step 8 Create a floor anchor out of steel to match your dimensions with holes bored to bolt it into place as well as a hole for the pivot point. 9. Step 9 Insert your metal frame onto the anchors, lining up the pivot points with the pivot holes you made in your anchors. 10. Step 10 Following your plans, build the first set of bookshelves inside the secret door's metal frame. 11. Step 11 Create a "T" bumper out of scrap wood by nailing a piece to the wall above the door and the "T" section jutting out from the center of it so when the door closes the metal frame stops and hits the bumper. Add a magnet to the bumper piece of wood to lock onto the metal frame. 12. Step 12 Add a piece of wood to the stop point of the door to act as a bumper to keep the door from opening too far. 13. Step 13 Create your remaining bookshelves around the steel frame. 14. Step 14 Measure the space between the stationary bookshelves and the secret door and cut decorative trim with your bookshelf material and affix around the secret door bookshelf. Add more trim to cover the area above the door where your bumper assembly and top pivot points are. Repeat for the bottom section. 15. Step 15 Screw in your eye hook to the back of the secret door and knot your rope to the eye - this will allow you to close the secret door when you are inside the room. 16. Step 16 Open the door by pulling on the side of the shelf unit closest to the magnet.
I remember a thread recently where a grower had a similar problem to yours and what I recall he did was to staple some panda film on the inside of the closet door frame. On the panda film, he glued or fastened a zipper so that he could get access to his space. With the regular closet door open, the space was light-tight with the zipper closed. I'll try to find the thread if that approach is interesting.
Thanks johnk. That sounds perfect. I will have to give it a try. I think I am going to try velcro around the door frame instead of staples. Seems like it would make it would make it "extra" light-tight and easier to take down in case of an emergency. You never know.
they sell the zippers at homedepot next to the tarp sextion for only 10.00 bucksit self sicky tape on them it only last one grow though
Velro actually works pretty good... I used it to build a stealth door on my grow box and it is 100% light proof... gets kinda annoying though always tearing the velcro to get it open and it's pretty loud. Works though and it is pretty cheap at Walmart.
is this a rental or do you own? i researched a lot of info on making the "secret bookshelf" door with what they call piano hinges. very stealth, especially if your doing the sealed room environment.
I own. Dont get me wrong, the secret bookshelf would be very stealthy. But I think the panda film is more than sufficient for my current set-up. Thanks for the link 77.
I have a friend that uses the zippers and they are light tight. I think they would easier to use than velcro cause u have a gap between the 2 velcro pieces. plus trying to put it back up when u leave. staple and duct tape around the panda film and use the zipper is my suggestion.