Any experiences with Room Dividers NY?

amother

Tangerine

Tue, Apr 21 2015, 7:19 pm

Has anyone had experience with dividing a bedroom? Please share. I want something that looks permanent but doesn't damage the room in any way. I do not want to use a mechitza type of thing... Does anyone have any info? I live in Brooklyn.

lizard8

Tue, Apr 21 2015, 7:38 pm

I know some people who put up drywall in their one bedroom apartment to make room for a nursery.

amother

Tangerine

Tue, Apr 21 2015, 7:40 pm

lizard8 wrote:

I know some people who put up drywall in their one bedroom apartment to make room for a nursery.

Do you have more details? What is drywall? Thanks.

sky

Tue, Apr 21 2015, 7:46 pm

Would a pull down curtain work?

amother

Tangerine

Tue, Apr 21 2015, 7:47 pm

Thanks, but no. I want it to look permanent.

zaq

Tue, Apr 21 2015, 8:05 pm

Drywall: a type of panel made of plaster, wood pulp, or other material, used to build interior walls. May be called Sheetrock (a brand name), gypsum board, plasterboard, wallboard or other names. If you know nothing at all about construction, this is not a DIY job: hire someone who knows what s/he's doing. Drywall is hung on supporting members called "studs" which will also have to be installed since the wall does not yet exist. If you are renting, you may have to remove the whole thing before moving out, but such a wall is permanent in that it is not movable and, unless abused by a gorilla or a teenage boy showing off his karate kicks, should remain in place as long as the building does.

http://m.wisegeek.com/what-is-drywall.htm

sourstix

Tue, Apr 21 2015, 8:08 pm

[quote="amother"]Has anyone had experience with dividing a bedroom? Please share. I want something that looks permanent but doesn't damage the room in any way. I do not want to use a mechitza type of thing... Does anyone have any info? I live in Brooklyn.[/quote]

if drywall is the same as sheetrock then it will damage the floor and walls and ceiling when its taken down. so its probably not what you need.

Coke Slurpee

Tue, Apr 21 2015, 8:16 pm

We made a large bedroom in our basement and divided it with an accordian wall. We wanted a large guest bedroom, but also two bedrooms for my kids. The wall stays closed, but can be opened when needed.

zaq

Tue, Apr 21 2015, 8:27 pm

Several people we know did this. Exactly where and how you divide depends on size and shape of space, intended occupancy, placement of doors, windows, electrical outlets and so on. Easiest is converting a squarish room with French doors in the center of one wall and double windows on the opposite wall. Then all you do is split right down the middle so that each half has one of the doors and one window. you might need to have some electrical work done if the outlets are also in the center of the window wall and/or you have a center ceiling fixture. If thet leaves you with too little space for a desk, dresser or storage, you could make the wall an inverted T, with a door in each short leg of the T. This splits the room into three parts: two adjacent sleep-only areas with a shared study/play/storage/whatever area outside.

If the room is a corner room with a window in the middle of each exterior walls, you could put one wall across the width so that each section has a window, and build a door in the wall for access to the second room. This is not optimal because the outer room becomes a passageway, and the occupant has little privacy. It can work if the inner room houses an older child and the outer one houses an infant, for whom privacy is not a concept. Or, if space permits, you add another short wall cutting off a small piece of the width of the outer room to create a corridor to the inner one.

If a section of a divided room won't get any daylight, consider making the top foot to foot and a half of the wall transparent to let in light from the other side. You have to know your kids, though--if they're going to peek, this may not be a viable plan.

Your best bet is to peruse some home design/remodeling books to get ideas for ways to divide a room. But if you want it to look permanent, it will have to BE fairly permanent.

MagentaYenta

Tue, Apr 21 2015, 8:38 pm

Remember too that both sides the room need access to escape routes in case of emergency. Check with your building codes too and see what they require even if you are doing a non permanent divider. (It's likely your codes will define the term.)

Rubber Ducky

Tue, Apr 21 2015, 8:48 pm

According to USA codes, bedrooms needs 2 escape routes: 1 door and 1 exterior window. A permanent divider (ie., framing and drywall) essentially creates 2 bedrooms, and both would need escape routes. I don't think that non-permanent dividers like accordion doors fall into this category.

amother

Tangerine

Tue, Apr 21 2015, 9:07 pm

Coke Slurpee wrote:

Would you be able to post a link to what you're talking about?

Rubber Ducky

Tue, Apr 21 2015, 9:25 pm

Interesting article about temporary walls in New York — and rooms created with these walls do need to meet code for egress, so they must have exterior windows: http://www.brickunderground.co.....n_NYC

amother

Turquoise

Wed, Apr 22 2015, 11:20 am

An idea someone gave us and we used when we needed to split a room was to use bookcases. Bolt together several bookcases (from ikea or target if you don't want to spend too much) then bolt them to the walls on either end. Does some damage to the walls but they can be spackled and painted fairly easily when wall is taken down. We did this and it worked pretty well. Just as an FYI though it doesn't do much in terms of cutting out sounds so if you're using this to create a second bedroom and it will be attached to you bedroom and don't want kids/others hearing you then you may want more of a real wall.

(Anon. because a bunch of people IRL know we used this method to split a room)

ETA: I don't know if you've done any research yet on temporary walls but they don't come cheap. Depending on the size you need it can cost between $1,000-$2,000 dollars so really only worth it if you are going to need them for a while.

amother

Tangerine

Sat, Apr 25 2015, 10:30 pm

Thanks everyone for your input. I am specifically looking for information on the company called Room Dividers NY, based in Williamsburg. I will edit the title. I am aware that it is expensive, but no other options seem to be viable.

amother

Tangerine

Tue, Apr 28 2015, 7:26 pm

Bump. Has anyone used Room Dividers Ny?