I'm looking for ways to partition a room into two rooms.  It's in an
apartment that I rent, not own, so I can't do anything permanent, but I
plan to live here for awhile and don't want something that would fall over
when I open the door and the wind rushes in.  Ideally this partition would
be high/large enough that a person on one side of the partition can't see
what's going on the other side, and I'd need some form of a door or
something that opens and closes to get from one side of the partition to
the other.  I'd like to be able to fix up something myself, but I've never
done anything like this before.  Any suggestions?

26 responses total.

First get a book on beginning carpentry from the public library to see how
walls are typically built, with 2x4 vertical studs, connected top and bottom
with top and bottom plates (long 2x4s), and then a skin of drywall on each
side.  A frame around the door.  You are also welcome to come look at the
house we are building, and see this in real life.  If you want any sort of
soundproofing, run it up to the ceiling.  You can put some temporary sort of
caulk around the top and bottom and ends (rope caulk?) and attach it to the
existing wall at both ends so it cannot fall over (get the owner's permission
first to make holes in the wall).  If you are not fussy about the looks, you
can get a free door where they throw them out near us, probably about 30",
and some cheap hinges from Kiwanis, and a used knob or other handle.  We can
give you some free colorful oil paint, or Kiwanis has cheap latex paint.
        Call us at 995-9463 for more details or to come visit our project.
If you just want a visual barrier, consider a tarp, cheap at KMart, hung froma
wire stretched across the room top and another at the bottom.
        I bet other people have more ideas.

You could also go to Property Disposition and see if they have any 
portable office walls.  They often have quite a selection.
 
If you do build a wall, just put some carpet padding along the top plate
of your wall to keep it from sliding on the ceiling and then use wedges
between the bottom plate and the floor to push it tight to the ceiling.
I'd use a 2 X 2's, covered with paneling, for temporary walls.

Unfortunately, I don't have permission to drill any holes into the wall.
I'll look into the tarp idea.  There's gotta be a KMart somewhere.
What is Property Disposition?

Or you could go to a Salvation Army or a rummage sale and buy some long used
curtains and hang them from a rope stretched across the room, if you are only
after visual privacy.  (It Happened One Night, an old movie, uses this idea).
Or even hang sheets, but the light goes through.  Blankets?  Bedspreads?  To
stretch the rope would require a couple of hooks or the like in the wall, is
that allowed?  What part of the world are you in?  Property Disposition is
in Ann Arbor.

Klaus wasn't suggesting any holes are needed. If the wall is built to bit
close to the floor and ceiling, it can be wedged upward so that it cannot
slip (unless you really push on it). 

(Property Disposition is the University of Michigan's ongoing garage sale for
anything they've decided they don't need, from worthless junk (which tends
to hang around) to occasional things such as never-opened brand-new computers
to (in a recent case I know of) a luxury motor home.  Some people make a
pretty good living, or most of one, hanging around there a few hours a day
waiting for something they can resell at a profit.  Those things don't usually
hang around for as much as a day.)

There's carpet so I'm not sure how a wall would stay up.  I could probably
get away with a few nails here and there.  I live in the United States but
not in Michigan; therefore local stores aren't much help to me, but stuff as
generic as KMart exists all over the United States.

If you nailed a cross piece every few feet at the bottom of the wall, and
maybe also at the top (after the wall is up) it would probably not fall over.

Right, but nailing things up in rented housing isn't usually legal.  The trick
is to wedge it in well enough that it won't fall.  That should be possible
even with carpet, if you wedge it tightly enough.

The wall should also probably be something you can get out and hide if housing
inspectors show up.  They may not like that sort of thing.

I meant to nail the cross piece to the wall, not the house.
There is a rule that says that you cannot walk through one bedroom to get to
another, and another that says bedrooms in rental property have to be at least
80 sq feet for one person (70 if you own the bedroom and live in it) or 100
for two persons.  

Re #1: how far apart should the 2x4 studs be?

16 inches center to center.

Thanks.  Is there a standard regarding the vertical spacing
of any horizonal pieces of wood between the studs?

We put them in midway between studs at 24" and not at all if the studs were
spaced 16".  This is assuming you will have a skin on both sides (drywall,
sheathing, etc.).

Re #14: I'm confused.

What part are you confused about?  If the studs are 16" apart, no blocking,
if they are 24", blocking at midpoint.  If the stud wall will be left open,
block it at 16" too.

Does "blocking at midpoint" mean a horizontal piece of wood
between studs half way up the wall?  16" vertical spacing
appeals to me from a symmetry point of view.  Is that for
extra rigidity that a wall would otherwise get from its
skin?

Midpoint on an 8' wall is 4', on a 10' wall it is 5'.  16" spacing lets you
use standard insulation, as does 24" spacing.  There are rules about how far
apart a load-bearing wall can be if made from 2x4 (usually 16") or 2x6 (24").
Drywall comes in 48" widths which is a multiple of both spacings, so does
plywood.  Modular.  

I was asking about horizontal pieces of wood though, that's
why I was confused.

Thinking about it, is the insulation...

  a) 16" (406mm) wide, so that the space between the right
     edge of one stud and the left edge of the next is 16",
     or

  b) 14" (356mm) wide, so that the space between the left
     edges of each stud are 16" apart (assuming 2x4" studs)?

To answer my own question (I found the stuff on the Web) the
rolls of insulation are 16" wide, so the studs are on an 18"
(457.2mm) spacing (left edge to left edge).

Wrong, the studs are 16" apart between centers and the insulation is 14.5"
wide because a 2" stud is now only 1.5" wide (they keep getting skinnier).
The 2" is before they were smoothed.  Studs are normally vertical, so that
they will bear weight, since gravity is vertical.  Horizontal members are
usually called joists (floor or ceiling joists), diagonal ones rafters (in
a diagonal roof), and purlins can go perpendicular to them.

Does anyone have any 6' pieces of 2x8 or 2x6 treated wood they don't want?
Treated = pressure treated with poison solution of copper and arsenic to slow
down rot, makes them look greenish.  

I must have been looking at the wrong kind of insulation
then.  Do you buy your studs already planed?  I would never
have guessed that a "two by four" might not be.  How wide is
the longer side after it's planed?  I'm glad I found out
about this /before/ I had proper drawings made up!!

I think a modern "2x4" is 1.5 inches x 3.5 inches, but don't quote me 
on that.

They used to be 1 5/8 by 3 5/8 and might be 3/8 by now instead of 5/8.

They are now definitely 1.5 x 3.5 inches. This "standard", however, has
changed, as keesan says. That is a real nuisance if you pick up a load of old
builidng material (cheaply) and discover that it isn't commensurable with new
material.

Response not possible - You must register and login before posting.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss