Can You Build Secret Passageways Without Spending a Fortune?

[scott1]

http://www.hiddenpassageway.com/
This really cool!
Does anyone know if it's possible to build rooms like this without having to spend $10 thoundsand

 

[russ_watters]

You could probably build some of that stuff yourself...

 

[kleinjahr]

Sure can. Generally best to build in while building the home. Of course you then have to dispose of the builders, architects and anyone else who was involved in the build. Also somewhat expensive what with the death traps and all.

Caught an episode of Weekend Warriors, a while ago. They built a "secret room" in the garage. Accessed through a set of built in shelves in the kitchen. Quite nicely done. Of course they did lose some cubic in the garage.

 

[Astronuc]

http://www.hiddenpassageway.com/
This really cool!
Does anyone know if it's possible to build rooms like this without having to spend $10 thoundsand

Looking at the examples on that site, one would have to spend several thousand dollars for the quality materials and carpentry.

I would not want to live a lifestyle in which I felt compelled to have 'secret passageways' and 'hidden rooms'.

I just need a library for my books and a study where I can sit, read and think.

Oh, yeah - a laboratory and machine shop would be nice.

So would a particle accelerator, plasma generator (with neutral beam capability), and a tokamak or mirror fusion device.

 

[FredGarvin]

Now if one of those book cases opened up into a secret refrigerator...

 

[yourdadonapogostick]

wow, that is cool. i'll do that when i retire and get a house built.

 

[FredGarvin]

I immediately started thinking about Scooby Doo when I first reaad this.

 

[HappMatt]

I love this kind of stuff. One day when I am ritch and powerful(most likly in my dreams), I am going to build a home with more secret passages, hidden rooms and other neat features such as a room that elevates from the first floor to the second or third. Then when i have big partys people are going to be so confused after they have 2 drinks and walk out the door to realize they are in some part of the house different from where they came in and all they want to do is use the bathroom. I have more crazy ideas on how to build a house than i know what to do with.

 

[kleinjahr]

HappMatt: If you really want to confuse them, build a house based on Escher's work. http://www.worldofescher.com/gallery/
Or perhaps a tesseract or kleinbottle.

 

[Danger]

HappMatt: If you really want to confuse them, build a house based on Escher's work.

You have to be really careful with those Escher houses; if there's an earthquake, they fold up into a one-dimensional point and squish the inhabitants.

 

[kleinjahr]

Danger: I forget who wrote it but there is a short story, " He Built a Crooked House" I think it was. Guy builds a house like an unfolded tesseract, then there's a quake and it folds up. Then, of course in Heinlein's "Number of the Beast" There's the reception hall for critics, a Klein bottle. They check in but...

 

[Danger]

I can't remember the author either, but I'm sure that it's in one of my anthologies like "Year's Best SF -- 1979" or whatever. I'd forgotten about it until now. The one that gave me the idea for the joke was about a freeway cloverleaf (or whatever you call them where you are) built as a Mobius band. (Or maybe both concepts are in the same story? I haven't read it in over 20 years.)

 

[NoTime]

And He Built a Crooked House -> Robert A. Heinlein

Don't recall the Cloverleaf bit, but not the same story.

 

[kleinjahr]

Notime: Thanx for clearing that up. I kept waffling between the Good Doctor and the Grand Master.

 

[russ_watters]

The one that gave me the idea for the joke was about a freeway cloverleaf (or whatever you call them where you are) built as a Mobius band.

That's twisted. [rimshot]

 

[Moonbear]

I've just always wanted lots of secret tunnels and passageways and doors behind bookcases. Actually, I think I'd rather have those in my office so I can slip out a secret door when people are looking for me.

When I was in grad school, I worked in a really old building, and we found that there was an attic access panel in the grad student office that allowed you to walk over the eaves all the way to another access panel in one of the labs. It was great to "initiate" new grad students by entering through the lab and either making lots of noise in the walls while they were working late at night, or suddenly appearing in the room with them without coming in the door. Of course, the other things that went on within the eaves among some of the grad students were best off not knowing about...suffice it to say there was a beanbag chair in there that I wouldn't touch with gloves on!

Hey, I'm surprised Russ hasn't mentioned it yet...make sure you hide all the ventillation ducts...it would be terrible to have a glaring tip-off that there's a secret room because you see a heating duct running off the furnace that doesn't seem to go to any existing room.