Secret doors are built differently than other doors. By their nature, they face unique challenges, which underscores the importance for rigorous testing and precise assembly.
At the Hidden Door Store, we are committed to an internal design and manufacturing process that takes these specific challenges into account, with the goal of ensuring lasting quality and premium performance. Part of that process includes hanging fully-assembled doors at our shop, in jigs that meet sizing specifications for each particular style, to test for operational integrity.
Some of the novel challenges that secret doors face, after leaving that jig and making it to a homeowner, include issues related to clearance. Even when a door is designed and built to precise specifications, crafted to fit in a predetermined opening, the walls and floors of the homes the doors are going into may not be precise.
Or, if the floor beneath a door becomes compromised in some way, experiencing some type of damage, it could affect the performance of a secret door. Our use of premium materials minimizes the chance that a door will warp over time, but environmental factors could play a role, if — for example — the door is exposed to moisture or excessively humid climates.
It is with an understanding that a secret door will be used regularly, that it may need to support the weight of its contents and its operational mechanisms, and that it needs to interact with its surroundings in a smooth but covert way that we embrace the need for tighter tolerances during the manufacturing process.
What that means is that our team at the Hidden Door Store works to achieve extreme precision when manufacturing parts and assembling them to create our industry-leading doors. That precision and that commitment to tighter tolerances allows the internal mechanisms to work together smoothly, which elevates the door’s functionality and minimizes opportunities for detrimental wear and tear over time.
Precision, on the manufacturing and installation side, also extends to light leakage prevention. Secret doors are meant to stay that way — a secret. However, if doors aren’t built or installed in a way that prevents the light behind a door from spilling through the seams, it neutralizes the whole secrecy effect.
To mitigate that, at the Hidden Door Store we use light leakage prevention techniques that include tight and sometimes overlapping seams, and the use of black paint when and where it is needed. Since secret doors need to blend in with their surroundings entirely, these techniques allow for flush closures that prevent any light from leaking through and, by default, conceal the existence of the door itself. Thinking about a secret door? Consider what’s possible by browsing our secret door options.
Hidden Door Store, a Gilbert, Arizona-based company, designs and manufactures a variety of premium secret doors disguised as bookcases, wine racks and hutches, among other options. An offshoot of Creative Home Engineering, which has been an innovative leader in the field of hidden passageway design for more than 20 years, Hidden Door Store allows homeowners to install a “hidden gem” inside their home. Learn more at www.hiddendoorstore.com.