We need to build a temporary wall to create a bedroom in an apartment building. The wall needs to be approximately 12 feet long and probably about 7.5 feet high. It will need to have a door in it.
Any suggestions? I could always frame it /sheetrock it in the usual manner, but I'd like to find an easier/quicker alternative. Are there prefab walls out there?
I thought of office cubicles, but those walls usually aren't high enough -- or are they?
You can make your own. Build boxes from say 2x3's say six inches short of the ceiling and cover them with cheap light paneling or masonite. You could even just do one side and if you like cover the unfinished side with cloth. Secure them to both the floor and the ceiling. Check out the framing to start with to make sure you will have something solid to secure them to in the ceiling.
It's important to know whether you own this building, or rent the apartment in it. If the latter, you probably do not have the right to make structural changes without express permission from the landlord (not to mention the city). This would include any kind of framing, no matter how intentionally "temporary".
This last comment suggests you don't need the room to be completely private. Yes, you can get cubicle-type walls that are at least head height -- I believe I've seen them up to about 8 feet tall. So this could meet your needs for creating a semi-private space without altering the building and allowing easy knock-down.
You could do this without going the office route, too (you're not the first person to want to subdivide a room). Since you're ready to sheetrock, I assume that temporary doesn't mean opening and closing the room more than once. But there are a variety of ways to subdivide a room in more flexible ways.
Japanese (Z-folding) screens would be one way. You can buy them, or easily fabricate your own even with rudimentary woodworking skills (i.e. cutting a straight line, installing hinges). A heavy curtain would be another way. Sliding partitions would probably require framing-like work and lots of wall fasteners or braces.
I think I like the office cubicle idea best, though. What's the room to be used for? Guests? Work from home?
actually as long as the wall is NOT attached to the building you can make a "free standing wall" with threaded rods,washers and nuts.
we do these at the home shows all the time we set up the walls and 3 days later we remove them with NO damage to the building. we even hang cabinets on these temp walls for display purposes.
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