Bathroom - 30" MagicMirror

[kclemen]

Hi,

We’re renovating our house. This time we are renovating our bathroom.
For the wall were our bathroom cabinet comes we’ve worked with metal studs and drywall. This way we could make sure that the cabinet behind the mirrors is placed in the wall, instead of in front of the wall.

Past days I’ve worked on the cabinet that will house our mirror. The middle part sticks out in respect to the left and right part. When the doors are closed, everything is nicely even.

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Placing the cabinet

With the doors closed the front is nicely even…

Left and right we can place our products

Enough space in next to, above and behind the tv to place everything.

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At this point I have 37 mm free on the sides. In the height I have 48 mm to spare. Now I have to think how to attach the tv to the cabinet. I don’t want to glue the mirror to the tv.

i was thinking of placing on both sides 18mm wide wood. On the bottom and top I would also place 18 mm (or I have to glue an 18 mm and 6 mm thick board together to come to 24 mm). This way I get a frame where I can glue the mirror to. The area to fix the mirror to will be 538 cm2. Only question is if this will hold the mirror!? The mirror will be around 528x841 mm and 8 mm thick, meaning it will weigh almost 9kg.

edit: I’ve searched for the specs of the silicone I’m going to use:

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mirror: 9kg
Area to fix it to: 53800 mm2
Mirror = 795 Newton
Mirror will have a force of 0.015 N/mm2

Max tension of glue: 1.50 N/mm2

I think I’m making a mistake in the calculation, not? The Max tension of the glue is factor 100 larger. This would mee that with the glueing surface I have I could hang a mirror of 900 kg !?

[johnnyboy]

@kclemen

Great idea design ;-) This will be really nice when completed.

Ok, what I would do here is this… ( I’m a carpenter, so you could play about with this suggestion to suit)

Your center cabinet space protrudes out by the width of your door… say 18mm?

Right, you could rebate both sides in by the 8mm thickness of your mirror, and since I am unsure what material you are using here as the cabinet - Painted wood, or Melamine faced chipwood, you could either paint that sawn/routered edge, or glue/iron on the 18mm X 1mm edging tape - to cover up the cut edge… Painted black so it wont show through mirror.

This would leave the top, and bottom, still protruding, and the bottom would act as a sorta ‘Prop’ to hold the mirror up, and the mirror itself would sit flush with the doors, and have a white ‘Border’ top and bottom.

You could easily play about with fixings for the monitor to bring it forward enough to sit flush with the mirror… and use some kind of cardboard sheet, colored black, all around the outer edges of the monitor to hide the outer framing of the monitor, (that black cardboard will not really be seen behind the mirror anyway.)

To actually hold the mirror in place, there are quite a lot of brackets in the market to suit…

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=brackets+to+hold+mirror+on+wall&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwii5YumwbrTAhXMKVAKHYHsA9YQ7AkIqQE&biw=1536&bih=740

AND/OR…

If you then cut the top and bottom in, by say 3mm, you could attach a flat piece of Single/ Double round moulding beading… say 25mm - if your cabinet is 18mm thick?
That will hold your glass in place.

Obviously you would then have to compensate that 3mm depth into your sides… making them 11mm rebated…

edit… The trouble with using any kind of Glue with 2 way mirrors is that the glue/silicone can react with the film on the mirrors… and with some mirrors, the glue will show through as a smudge… I already looked into this, and the glue would only be an option if the glued edge would be covered by some kind of edging… so the glue would not be visible fron the front.
That MirrorBond is great - For normal Mirrors… because of the silver backing… so you wont see the glue… But on a see through 2 way mirror…

[kclemen]

Thank you for your reply.

It seems that my OP was not totally clear. There will be 3 equal size mirrors next to eachother. That is also the reason that the middle cabinet is 18 mm larger. If you are right at that you will always see the glue, than I will have a big problem, because I can not use any visible fixture/frame, since I want 3 frameless mirrors next to eachother with only 3 mm gap.

edit: Indeed, I’ve used 18mm melamine board for the cabinet.

[johnnyboy]

@kclemen said in Bathroom - 30" MagicMirror:

Thank you for your reply.

If you are right at that you will always see the glue, than I will have a big problem, because I can not use any visible fixture/frame,

This was my very own dilema in my original design… and with no other solution at hand, other that to use the Clear Plastic brackets, because I was not willing to ruin everything by using glue, I then abandoned that idea and just went with Plan B… Not as sleek as the Frameless idea, but…

[kclemen]

What about spraying the outer edges of the mirror with something? Only the size of the tv should be see through…

I tried to search for your project, but can not find it on the site.
Would it be possible to show a picture of your setup?

[johnnyboy]

@kclemen
Yeah spraying the outer edge would do.

I have not fully completed my build yet… still a few additions and tweeks, but i will post a pic … i went for a sorta Mirror within a Mirror… so it contains the 2 way mirror within the frame thats made of mirror… and then had to cut strips of mirror to hide the side framing… making it look like a solid block mirror… of sorts.

With hindsight… now that i know the pitfalls about frameless designs, my next build will obviously be done by experience… This MM was made for my wife because she wanted me to install a new kitchen, so I made this with her in mind… and I incorporated this design into the side of the Fridge Freezer housing I built.

[johnnyboy]

[johnnyboy]

[johnnyboy]

[kclemen]

@johnnyboy beautifully executed! WAF is important ;)

[johnnyboy]

@kclemen

WAF is important ;)

For sure ;-) She says its in the perfect place too, for a last pose before leaving the house :-)
Positioning was spot on too for during the day with bright dayling shining through the french doors, and I already have 9 LED spotlights in there, one directly above, and to the front of the mirror that shows up the mirror as a mirror better during darkness.

In either situation, seeing the MM is always crisp and clear, along with the actual mirror image of who is in front of it… When completed, I will upload the entire build from scratch, as I took a picture with every step… but finding the time just now is hard :-(

I have still to add the PIR, and position the USB Micro Mic somewhere less obvious than on top of the fridge hinge, and possibly get Disc speakers - The small flat ones more commonly seen in Car doors, and in ceilings? I have a BT one I purchased for MM, but unsure of getting that to work with alexapi ( when/if I get round to actually getting that set up right) so even though my MM is up and running, and in situ, I still have a few things to do before I sign off on this one.

Anyway… Keep us updated on what you decide to do with yours, as I am interested to see what solution you come up with, )and I do hope you find one as I can visualise the end result and know it will be really nice…) that may even give me better ideas for my next build?

[broberg]

If you are placing 2way mirrors on all 3 sections (I would suggest this since normal mirrors and most 2way mirrors have a different amount of reflection and different colors, it will cost more but look better)

Blacking out the back of the 2way mirrors on the side is easily done with vinyl (the kind used to make vehicle decals and wrapping cars with).

And I do believe @Goldjunge_Chriz had some good “tape” to make the mirror stay in place. Something similar to the sticky stuff they apply car windshields with I suppose?

[johnnyboy]

@broberg said in Bathroom - 30" MagicMirror:

If you are placing 2way mirrors on all 3 sections (I would suggest this since normal mirrors and most 2way mirrors have a different amount of reflection and different colors, it will cost more but look better)

I second this… because mines is noticeably different. Not so much when MM is on, but more so when off. The 2 way mirrors look tinted compared to the normal silver backed, clearer mirrors, so if you place 2 normal mirrors on either side, the centre MM one will look a lot darker… sorta like a smoked glass, door.

[kclemen]

Thanks for the replies.

Back in december I already asked a glass company the exact same questiong about the difference in color. They also recommended me to use 3 times a 2 way mirror due to the color difference.

Back then I got this invoice:

1. 2 way mirror
2. mirror clear
3. mirror grey.
   
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Could anybody give me some more info about the type of 2 way mirror I have to order? I see here different percentages on the website. If the mirror is 8 mm thick, what is the best type?

[kclemen]

A possible solution to “carry” the mirrors istead of glueing would be the use of an aluminium strip on the bottom and top? anybody already used them and could share a picture?

[broberg]

@kclemen I do believe there is one user on here that made a bathroom mirror with those, I’ll try to find the thread.

Edit : Can’t find it, but I remember it looked quite sharp with the aluminium top and bottom!

[kclemen]

Today I’ve called the glas company if they can give me some more info about the type of spy mirror they can deliver me.
They send me following information:

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So, if I’m correct, this type of mirror has a transmission of 15%. Any good?

[broberg]

@kclemen 15% is close to the best “all-around” light transmission, will not work well next to a window during sunny days. 40% is recommended in really bright rooms.
Bathrooms however isn’t usually superbright, so will work nicely. (mine is only 3% and I can’t do thin texts and lines, I have to beef up everything in size and use bold fonts)

[kclemen]

I’ve asked 3 companies to do me an offer. So, if I understand correctly, the 15% is "perfect’?

[broberg]

@kclemen

I’ve read an article a while back, they tried a bunch of different mirrors with a few light transmissions variations (1%, 12% 20% and 40% If I remember correctly). Their conclusion was that 12% was okey and 20% was the best of them all.

And with the combined information I’ve read (not tested in real life however!) is that the general guide line is :

Anything below 3% will not be useful, I would say 5% would be absolutely minimum.
8-10% for darker rooms with no windows and limited lighting
15-20% for normal lighting and not placed next to windows and/or in sunlight
40% for bright rooms with lots of daylight

Do note, that higher light transmission also makes your screen edges more visible, this is due to the backlight of the monitor. so if you have a 40% mirror in a bright room and then turn the lights down the edges of the screen will be clearly visible.