Temporary shop wall for winter

[martik777]

My shop is approx 24' square in a garage attached to the house (all sheet rocked including 8' ceiling). Problem is, it's hard to heat in the winter so I'm thinking of ways to keep the heat in. Easiest way is probably to build a wall down the middle so I only have to heat 1/2 the space but I like it all open in the warmer season (6 months) so I'm looking for something I can easily tear down each year. Any ideas?

 

[GK1918]

Yes. Just think of those portable office partitions. You have it made with 8' ceilings, I simply boxed off an area with strapping and that 4X8 1 inch white styrofoam stuff. Its light and easy to move around. Reserve a place to store it for the summer even outside is fine this stuff dont rot. I love my ole
kero wick heater, I use diesel and a gal lasts a week and they dont stink only when you lite it. who cares-- shops stink anyways. I know I'll get replys but
this shop is a mix between grease and sparks, thats why we are adding on for a machine shop. So my son puts springs or something on a diesel dump
truck, after the job, starts truck in there 20 min to get the air up, thats why the ceilings are black, open door there goes 50 bucks worth of heat down
down the drain. So I just slide this movable box around you dont have to over kill and have to make it air tight, couple of c clamps close enough.
the addition is going to happen the only way out for me.

 

[epanzella]

Get some 4x8 sheets of 1/4 inch luan plywood (bout 10 bux ea) and stiffen the perimeter with 1x2 furring strips using 1 inch drywall screws. Run two furring strips across the ceiling about 1 1/4 inches apart to form a track. Just slide the luan petitions up into the ceiling track and let them sit on the floor. Leave a space for a doorway and put a 1x2 across at the top. For the door attach a large piece of plastic to the 1x2 with about a foot of overlap at each end and attach a piece of 1x2 only to the plastic at the bottom to act as a weight to get the flap to close behind you. We use this system for major house renovations when the family is still living there. On one job the homeowner had a severe dust allergy so I trimmed the vertical ends of the plastic sheet with pairs of small magnets (sticking to each other with the plastic in between) and then put some nail plates on the petitions for the magnets to stick to. Worked great.

 

[pineyfolks]

What are you heating this space with martik777 ? Maybe a different type of heat would work better. If you don't use the space that often changing temps from cold to hot will make everything sweat causing rust problems.
.

 

[stern]

I just run an electric heater when im in the garage in winter, works well and heats the place in no time.

 

[LEEQ]

Here is my take on it. run a 2x4 across the ceiling and across the floor.(actually 2, 12 footers each. ) cut a stud every four feet snug and assemble with screws. cover floor to ceiling with foil backed 2' x4' fanfold insulation installed with pole barn screws, truss screws, or screws with washers. Number everything from left to right before disassembly. Now you have a system that requires no holes in the floor or sheetrock, just extra hands putting up. Construction notes; Layout studs left to right from the wall. The first stud starts at 47"1/4 so that 48" falls in the middle of a stud. The next stud goes 48" from that stud and so on. Now your 4' fanfold will break all nice and you will only have to cut the last one. Similarly, the first ceiling and floor plates are cut 12' even from left to right. This puts the center stud centered over the cut so that one stud holds up the end of two ceiling plates. Facing the foil side of the fanfold styrofoam in will be nice and reflective of both heat and light. If you cut the floor and ceiling plates and stack them together on the floor, you can measure from ceiling to floor for your studs. Or you can just measure floor to ceiling and take off 3". Clear as mud, right?

- - - Updated - - -

We also used to drape a concrete blanket floor to ceiling to partition the side of the shop with the longwood furnace for comfortable beer drinking/wrenching. It's the tarp you see over a fresh pour in cold weather. Theyre insulated

 

[LEEQ]

You can also buy rolls of fiberglass insulation covered with heavy plastic on both sides 8' wide. It is used in polebarn (post frame ) construction. Use this in a similar drape from the ceiling set up. The first method would take up the least space in the off season though. Another product used in polebarns is 1/4" thick bubble wrap on 4' wide rolls. It is similar to packing bubble covered with reflective foil type plastic on both sides. If you used that in the place of fanfold you could make an easy door as described by another member above. I'm sure you could fold the fanfold up or back to make a door also though. These two products are pricey though. Should you use lumber and find yourself on a tight budget, I have a scrounging tip for you. When you drive by a local concrete project offer to strip their form boards or remove them from the job once they are stripped. Not the prettiest lumber, but Free Is My Friend.

 

[pineyfolks]

How about making small sliding barn doors. Maybe 4' sections with 3 or more tracks. Open in summer , close in winter.

 

[DMS]

They sell a type of insulation that is a rigid foam backed with aluminum foil. Pretty high R value. If you screwed that to some plywood, and added some feet, they would probably make pretty good temporary walls with a high insulation value. Taping the joints between pieces would help a lot too.

When I was in school we turned a cargo container into a giant curing oven for composites. Worked great.

 

[GK1918]

Ok If all else fails think of high school stage with the big curtin>>>