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296

I built a craft room for the wife in the basement. When I was framing the walls up and checking levels the basement walls gave me a headache. The house was built in '67. I don't know how they done things then, but these basement walls are not level. They lean outward by about 5-10 degrees. I wound up keeping the frame against the floor wall but the top of my wall was a few inches out from the basement wall so I could build level walls. When doing this I got the idea to pull one of the walls out by a whole framing segment. This created an approximately 2 foot gap between the basement wall and the room wall. At the time I was worried about door to door forced vaccinations. So this allowed me to build a secret room where we could hide. I blended the door in by using trim to decorate the wall. I also created a method for locking it, and I sound proofed it as best as I could. Thoughts? I can post pics of the whole wall, but most of the trim is blocked by bookshelves and such.

https://pic8.co/sh/nwdhPc.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/ka20ee.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/MGp5Cr.jpg

I built a craft room for the wife in the basement. When I was framing the walls up and checking levels the basement walls gave me a headache. The house was built in '67. I don't know how they done things then, but these basement walls are not level. They lean outward by about 5-10 degrees. I wound up keeping the frame against the floor wall but the top of my wall was a few inches out from the basement wall so I could build level walls. When doing this I got the idea to pull one of the walls out by a whole framing segment. This created an approximately 2 foot gap between the basement wall and the room wall. At the time I was worried about door to door forced vaccinations. So this allowed me to build a secret room where we could hide. I blended the door in by using trim to decorate the wall. I also created a method for locking it, and I sound proofed it as best as I could. Thoughts? I can post pics of the whole wall, but most of the trim is blocked by bookshelves and such. https://pic8.co/sh/nwdhPc.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/ka20ee.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/MGp5Cr.jpg

(post is archived)

[–] • 2 pts

Thats really neat. Just some constructive criticism but you could have put in a drop bar. Good job man.

[–] • 1 pt

Looking back there's a couple things I wish I'd have done. I considered a drop bar for the lock, but I went an easier route. If you notice the backside of the door there's a black angle iron. I drilled a hole through the 2x4s. The bar is removable and sticks into the boards, holding it shut. I added a pic of the rest of the wall, as well as a pic of the other side(inside the room).

https://pic8.co/sh/nSZVol.jpg https://pic8.co/sh/dEXyPc.jpg

[–] • 1 pt (edited )

I was thinking something more like this https://pic8.co/sh/1sX2v3.png but that could be dangerous if you have children. Im just saying this because you seemed to have security in mind, your iron bar would be better off going into the top or bottom of the doorway, or even better both. I dont mean to sound like a jerkbag man what you built is really cool but the middle of the doorframe is the weakest point.

[–] • 1 pt

You don't sound like a jerk at all. I don't mind the critique. I've got some other ideas for hidden rooms and compartments that I'll be working on in the future. Some of them will be beefed up much more than this. In fairness though, this was just kind of thrown together with little planning. However it did give me a lot of new ideas in how to go about building these as well as other ideas in how to hide the entrance.

[–] • 2 pts

The number one thing that would give that away is the lack of a shelf in front of it.

You should put a dartboard or something on it.

[–] • 1 pt

Great idea! At the moment I just have wine supplies in front of it, but I had the same idea as you. If I saw it I'd wonder why the shelf isn't against the wall.