Sectioning off 1/2 garage for a shop?

[Alan Tolchinsky]

HI All,

I'm moving into a townhouse with a two car garage and was thinking of constructing a wall to divide it in half. I'd use one half for the car and the other for the shop. I'd put a large door(any ideas here?) in the dividing wall so I could use the whole garage when needed.

I'm going to build a 2x4 stud wall with insulation and drywall and the shop should be around 10x21. I see one problem already with the single door interfering with the wall as it opens. :(

I think this division will make a/c easier to do also as I'd put the unit in the dividing wall and vent it into the other side.

Does this sound feasible? Anybody ever done it? I may have asked this in the past but wanted more feedback now. :) Thanks for any help.

[Ken Miller]

Alan, after suffering thru temps. of around 95 with high humidity, I guess having a/c in the shop would be nice. Unfortunately I can't help you there. I do, however, work in a two car garage where all tools are on one side but everything (well, most big things anyway) can be rolled out and I essentially have both sides to work in. I can't imagine having a wall down the middle. I'm not sure what you mean by "having a door so you can use the whole garage when needed?" To me, you would have to be able to move machines to the other side to make it practical. I guess I would rather have the heat and no wall than a wall and a/c. I have been entertaining the idea of a widow a/c unit being I have two of them but no real need for them since the house has central a/c. I imagine dust being a big problem. Has anyone had any success with this?

[Bob Noles]

Alan,

What problem are you seeing with the large door interfering with the wall? You could always make it a double door to shorten the swing. I see more problem with the garage door opening above the wall unless you have double doors there.

Give some additional details and we can put our heads together on this.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Alan,

What problem are you seeing with the large door interfering with the wall? You could always make it a double door to shorten the swing. I see more problem with the garage door opening above the wall unless you have double doors there.

Give some additional details and we can put our heads together on this.

Hi Bob, I wish it was a double door; it's a big single door and that makes putting a wall down the center more difficult. Basically when I open the door the garage door would hit the dividing wall. So..... I thought of making the shop under the garage door(when it's open) with a lower ceiling that would be under the garage door. I'm not sure how this would work. Why didn't they just use double doors!

So basically I have to be able to accomodate the center of the door in the dividing wall. Thanks for any ideas and your interest Bob.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Alan, after suffering thru temps. of around 95 with high humidity, I guess having a/c in the shop would be nice. Unfortunately I can't help you there. I do, however, work in a two car garage where all tools are on one side but everything (well, most big things anyway) can be rolled out and I essentially have both sides to work in. I can't imagine having a wall down the middle. I'm not sure what you mean by "having a door so you can use the whole garage when needed?" To me, you would have to be able to move machines to the other side to make it practical. I guess I would rather have the heat and no wall than a wall and a/c. I have been entertaining the idea of a widow a/c unit being I have two of them but no real need for them since the house has central a/c. I imagine dust being a big problem. Has anyone had any success with this?

Hi Ken, The door would be in the dividing wall so I could open the door when I want to use the whole garage. But when it's hot I could close it and only air condition the 1/2 garage shop. I was thinking of putting in a fairly large door so I could roll out the machines into the "car side" of the garage. Thanks for your help.

[john whittaker]

Alan, I also work in a 2-car garage. Your choice is a tradeoff. Which do you want/need more, space or climate control?
I went with space and store all equipment on one side and a car goes in the other 1/2. When working, it is very easy to move the car giving me full access to roll out the machines and tables.
[BUT...After spending some time out there today (100 degrees) I see your point]
I think a big door to roll tools through would not be something I would go for because I know it would always be blocked. (I'm not very organized) But if you can figure out a way to seal between the garage door and your new wall it might work for you. Off the top of my head...I can't imagine how to do this.

[Frank Hagan]

You might think about finding one of those "strip doors" (a vinyl strip curtin) like they use in warehouses for keeping cool air inside. Not as effecient as a wall, but a lot easier to put on a track so you can move it aside.

See http://www.mauritzononline.com/stripdoors.html for an example.

I have thought of doing something similar as a "temporary" spray booth.

[Bob Noles]

Alan,


Not knowing your restrictions or diminisions I will throw out some thoughts to consider. If covenenants permit you could replace the double door with a single door and frame and finish the exterior of that half of the space with an outside wall to match existing structure. Another option as you mentioned would be to build a false ceiling below the double garage door allowing space for it to open above the ceiling. Another and possibly the least complicated as well as economical would be to build some sort of sliding or pocket door type wall that could be slid from the rear half of the garage to the front when the garage door is down allowing the shop to be closed off from the garage half. The only problem here is to remember to slide it back before opening the garage door or you could have some real problems in more ways than one. A final option would be to replace the double garage door with a pair of singles and build a narrow exterior divider between the two allowing a dividing wall down the center of your garage.

I will keep thinking and post again if anything else crosses my pea brain.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

You might think about finding one of those "strip doors" (a vinyl strip curtin) like they use in warehouses for keeping cool air inside. Not as effecient as a wall, but a lot easier to put on a track so you can move it aside.

See http://www.mauritzononline.com/stripdoors.html for an example.

I have thought of doing something similar as a "temporary" spray booth.

Thanks Frank the thought of the vinyl curtain crossed my mind but I had no idea where you buy that and now I do. Thank you for the link. If that would work it would be terrific. Alan

[Bart Leetch]

You might think about finding one of those "strip doors" (a vinyl strip curtin) like they use in warehouses for keeping cool air inside. Not as effecient as a wall, but a lot easier to put on a track so you can move it aside.


Alan this sounds like a real good work around for you. Maybe in the cooler part of the year you would use the whole garage. & in the hot part of the year you could put the tools your not using on the hot side of the garage to be able to have more room in the cool side to work. If you have moisture problems you could rig up some breathable covers to put over the tools on the hot side.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Alan,


Not knowing your restrictions or diminisions I will throw out some thoughts to consider. If covenenants permit you could replace the double door with a single door and frame and finish the exterior of that half of the space with an outside wall to match existing structure. Another option as you mentioned would be to build a false ceiling below the double garage door allowing space for it to open above the ceiling. Another and possibly the least complicated as well as economical would be to build some sort of sliding or pocket door type wall that could be slid from the rear half of the garage to the front when the garage door is down allowing the shop to be closed off from the garage half. The only problem here is to remember to slide it back before opening the garage door or you could have some real problems in more ways than one. A final option would be to replace the double garage door with a pair of singles and build a narrow exterior divider between the two allowing a dividing wall down the center of your garage.

I will keep thinking and post again if anything else crosses my pea brain.

Hi Bob, No I couldn't replace the single with a pair of doors. I don't think the association would like that. The sliding pocket door thing sounds interesting. I'm going to think about how I could do that. The false ceiling sounds like it might work as I'd only loose some ceiling height under the door when it's open. Thanks and keep the ideas coming. Alan

[Alan Tolchinsky]

You might think about finding one of those "strip doors" (a vinyl strip curtin) like they use in warehouses for keeping cool air inside. Not as effecient as a wall, but a lot easier to put on a track so you can move it aside.


Alan this sounds like a real good work around for you. Maybe in the cooler part of the year you would use the whole garage. & in the hot part of the year you could put the tools your not using on the hot side of the garage to be able to have more room in the cool side to work. If you have moisture problems you could rig up some breathable covers to put over the tools on the hot side.

Hi Bart, The vinyl curtain would be too easy to be true for a solution. I wonder how much of the cool air they'd keep in? What a solution! Nice thing about them is if you open the car door into it there's no problem. Now if there's some cast iron sitting right behind it then there could be a problem. :)

[Russ Filtz]

Why not try a large double pocket door? Now that would challenge your framing/woodworking skils!

[Glenn McAfee]

I am doing the same thing, although I have a three car garage, closing off a single bay. The wife has had it with dust on her cars, also I can lock it down and keep my young boys out of danger.

I am going with a standard 3foot door. I figure if I need to use the bigger space, I can wheel things around using the garage doors/driveway.

good luck on the remodel.

Glenn

[Bart Leetch]

I am doing the same thing, although I have a three car garage, closing off a single bay. The wife has had it with dust on her cars, also I can lock it down and keep my young boys out of danger.

I am going with a standard 3foot door. I figure if I need to use the bigger space, I can wheel things around using the garage doors/driveway.

good luck on the remodel.

Glenn
Throw the cars out then she won't have to worry about work shop dust on them. :eek: Cars are made to be outside anyway. :D

TLOML knows & agrees that if & when we don't live in an apartment & manage apartments & have our own house with no separate shop & only a garage the cars will set outside.

She agrees that its far more important to protect the cast iron tools & that the cars are painted to protect them from the elements. :D :D :D

If you can just shut off the electrical circuits to the shop. I have seen small padlocks snapped through 1 prong of electric plugs to keep them from being plugged in.

[Ellen Benkin]

I think it would be better to keep the 2 car garage and put all the tools on wheels so that you can wheel them out when you use them and put them away when you need to pull the car in. If you want to build the wall you will want to check your building codes to make sure the dividing wall is fireproof and legal.

[Chris Padilla]

Alan,

I think you definately need a temporary wall solution over a permanent wall solution. There will be PLENTY of times you'll regret being confined to 10' (or less) of width. Shoot, that only gives you a foot on each side of a piece of plywood! :eek:

Use Google and various keywords and I'm sure you'll find someone out there who makes decent plastic/vinyl sliding curtains for just such a feat. I know I saw quite a few when I was researching temporary paint booths. In fact, there ya go...look up "paint or spray booth" and maybe "temporary" or "portable".

[Glenn McAfee]

Bart wrote

Throw the cars out then she won't have to worry about work shop dust on them. :eek: Cars are made to be outside anyway. :D

TLOML knows & agrees that if & when we don't live in an apartment & manage apartments & have our own house with no separate shop & only a garage the cars will set outside.

She agrees that its far more important to protect the cast iron tools & that the cars are painted to protect them from the elements. :D :D :D

If you can just shut off the electrical circuits to the shop. I have seen small padlocks snapped through 1 prong of electric plugs to keep them from being plugged in.

--

There is a little bit more to the story - we want the two bay part of the garage for the kids, we don't have a basement (we are in southern california) and really need the space.

Anyway, the door size is not important, because if I need to use the rest of the garage I can wheel stuff through the garage car doors.

I have done a test mock up and have cross cut a through a 4x8 on the table saw useing the available space. It does require some very careful organization.:rolleyes:

I am new to this forum and will give a more proper introduction in my own posting, I certainly don't want to hijack Alan's thread.

glenn