Folding walls

[Mike Lush]

Has anyone used a folding wall in their shop? I'm building a 30' x 24' shop/garage and I was thinking of having an area set aside for a spray area but I'd like to reclaim the area when not spraying. Some of the better folding walls (or accordion walls) run along tracks on the ceiling and are sealed top and bottom so I thought that might make an interesting and useful addition for the shop. Any comments?

[Jim Becker]

Could be a very interesting solution to have temporary isolation of some shop space. But they are definitely not inexpensive... ;)

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
Well - kinda - but not really a folding wall.
I'm getting around to putting the final touches on my wood rack.
I lagged a 4x6 to the wall and set 3 heavy duty hinges on it. I plan to add three more FWIW. Then I fashioned a swinging gate - type rack which attaches to it and rides on some braced wheels ( I used 8 of the nylon wheels made for under bedframes - each wheel is rated for 300#).

Sheet goods are going to go one one side, and other wood on the inside.
"Closed", it stands out from the wall a little over 14". "Open", it swings out to allow access to the wall behind, where I'm going to mount 1/2 of the miter saw station.
On the inside, I mounted 3 cleats ~ 24 inches apart. Then I made "racks" out of 2x4's with a 7/8" hole bored into them an 1/2" black pipe suppots. those have the mating cleat so i can position them wherever they are needed.
I also picked up a half dozen plastic storage bins from Wal Mart to store assorted "junk" in. I'm going to bolt a cleat to the back of each so they can also hang on the inside.

Pictures will be coming in a couple of weeks when it's all finished
-LOL! Provided the whole contraption hold together and doesn't fall down :D

[Eric Gustafson]

Hello,
Pictures will be coming in a couple of weeks when it's all finished
-LOL! Provided the whole contraption hold together and doesn't fall down :D

I will be looking forward to those pics, Rich. It sounds like a innovative solution to ultilizing compact space.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

Interesting!! I had thought about trying to do something similar to optimize space for lumber and sheet goods, but what you're putting in sounds much more robust. Good luck, and post pics when you're done!