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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Partition can be removed later


Creating a home office that offers some privacy  can be accomplished with a temporary partition that can later be removed.
 (File/Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Tim Carter Tribune Media Services

Dear Tim: I’m moving into a rental house and need a temporary wall to partition off a portion of the living room to create an office. My idea is to put in an L-shaped wall in the corner to create a 6- by 9-foot office. Is it possible to put in a temporary partition wall that I can take down without any damage when I move out? Ideally, I’d like the small office to be as noise proof as possible, since I have small children. I plan to work from home.

Brian M., Lafayette, Calif.

Dear Brian: It is indeed possible to build temporary walls that can be removed without any damage at a later date. If done properly and with care, there will be little or no evidence any walls were ever installed. The skills and tools required to do this are minimal, although you will need several helpers for certain parts of this job. The hardest part will be holding the top plate of the wall up against the ceiling as you tap a few of the vertical studs in place.

The temporary wall partitions can be friction-fit between the floor and ceiling, but I would not recommend this if little children will be playing near the walls. If you made a mistake, a wall could fall down, causing injury or even death.

All you have to do to keep the walls from tipping over is to make them fit tightly and use a few fasteners through the top plate into the ceiling. These small holes, if you decide to make them, will need to be spackled and painted when you take down the wall.

It’s quite common for remodeling contractors to build temporary wall partitions. The walls are needed to support loads temporarily as bearing walls are removed and replaced with beams. Once the job is done, homeowners don’t want to see any traces of the temporary wall — just as your landlord doesn’t want to see you damage his building.

I have discovered many cool tricks over the years that helped me eliminate damage from putting up temporary walls. To protect the ceilings, floors and walls from damage and to help soundproof at the same time, I installed a 1/4 inch thick piece of foam between the rough lumber top and bottom plate faces and the surfaces they contact. This product is sold in rolls and called sill-plate sealer. It is used to stop air infiltration between the top of a house foundation and the first piece of lumber installed on top of a foundation.

Before any cuts are made to the vertical wall studs, determine where the wall will go and take precise measurements between the floor and ceiling. Check the measurements in many locations, because floors and ceilings are sometimes out of level. The foam will help you achieve a tight fit if you cut the vertical wall studs three inches less than the exact distance between the floor and ceiling. This assumes the bottom and top plates you install are each 1.5 inches thick.

Start with your longest wall, and cut the two end vertical studs first. Have your helpers hold the top plate in position as you tap the end studs in place. If they are loose, you can close the gaps with tapered wood shims. Once the studs fit snugly, use a drill to create angled holes at the ends of the studs that allow you to drive three-inch long drywall screws through the studs and into the top and bottom plates. The screws will lock the studs into the plates. Screws can be removed easily when it is time to remove the wall.

Once you have all wall studs in place, it is time to get ready to drywall. Do not even think about installing electric in these walls, as it would be a significant safety hazard. The power for your office equipment will need to come from existing outlets on the permanent walls.

Before you drywall, install sound batt insulation in the stud cavities. This will not eliminate noise, but it will help. You also can help reduce noise by installing different thicknesses drywall on each side of the wall. Use 1/2 inch on one side and 5/8 inch on the other. This eliminates noise caused by sympathetic vibrations.

Do not bother taping the drywall where it contacts the walls and ceilings. Just nail simple wood trim to the new wall surface to hide unsightly gaps between the new drywall and finished wall and ceiling surfaces.

If you plan to install a door, consider using an exterior door with complete weather stripping. Noise travels through air. Regular interior doors have all sorts of air gaps between the door and the doorstops on the jambs.

Be careful about hanging cabinets on the temporary walls. This weight can make them top heavy and more likely to tip over. The L-shape of the walls gives the system a certain amount of stability, but only if the two walls are joined tightly together in the corner where they meet.