To build a false wall in a Housing Association rental property?

Hey! Im shared ownership also and really need to divide the kids room as i have a 8 year old boy and 3 year old girl and they need their own soaces, what type of wall did you put in? Was it a proper stud wall with a door? Thanks x

There will be a way of making the door thing work but it will cost you more to create it. Can you do a super-accurate plan in cm rather than feet and repost it? Maybe show the other rooms and landing etc.

If this isn't possible I'd give your son your room and then still create a small room for your daughter and you walk through it to your bedroom.

We split a room using floor to ceiling hardboard tacked to the back of wardrobes/drawers, and had a curtain for the 'door'. This gave more of a wall and furniture feel to it with more space rather than using a full run of storage units.

My kallax plan is getting more detailed.

Large Kallax unit, panel 50% of the unit on one side and 50% of the unit on the other. Both sides then get some storage and some wall space (put a bed or table along). Use acoustic wall panels to reduce noise transfer.

https://www.noisestopsystems.co.uk/shop/wall-soundproofing/noisestop-acoustic-panel/

The door is harder (because you can’t create a room in a room - sensible fire reasons). A sliding wardrobe door attached to the ceiling might work, or a sound proof curtain?

Does your son stay in his room when he wakes?

Alternatviely, depending on space, could the partition be made of Pax wardrobes, which would give you the storage you need and you daughter gets the other half of the room? Could you cope with a standard double bed, the saved room could make a difference.

I've used free standing panels to divide a bedroom - the type found in exhibition stands.They're over 6ft tall can be slotted together and sit on a sturdy metal frame at the base. Can pick them up cheap on eBay sometimes.They're fabric covered and great for pinning pictures on ,can put door hangers over the top for space saving clothes storage .
For the door ,can use a folding screen ,curtain etc or just leave it.
Tried Kallax,but found them too dangerous as my pesky kids took out the baskets and used them like a ladder!!

Ikea Sidorna room dividers might do the trick. Reinforce either side by using furniture if worried it’s not solid enough?

I actually helped my friend build a partition wall to divide a room into two in her housing association property. She didn't bother asking for permission (because they most likely would have refused it). We did it in such a way that it is easily removable without leaving any real damage - just some screw holes to fill in the walls and ceilings. Worst that could happen is they ask you to remove it, and that's unlikely until if/when you move out.

Something like these could work? www.everblocksystems.co.uk/pages/applications-room-dividers

Could you take that double window room for you and your daughter and you have the Kallax unit and a curtain to close it off. Then your son is safe a door away from your daughter.

She’s not ready to move yet so you can take the time to figure it out, but ultimately at least you know your son can have his own space and you don’t have to deal with building an actual door.

(Have read all of OPs posts but not the rest so sorry if it’s been suggested before.)

Is that really going to be a satisfactory outcome?

I did mine for less than £100. I used those planed 2x4 lengths that they sell as a loss leader at B&Q for £4 each for the studs, and used OSB instead of plasterboard, as cheaper and less messy. (Although plasterboard is more soundproof- your DS sounds like my DS2, OP. It's tricky, isn't it?! Mine have to split a window, so there has to be a gap, meaning it's never going to be properly soundproof, and DS1 has resorted to ear plugs, poor thing:().

Couldn't you and the little one go in the room you are thinking of dividing and ds go into the other?
Ds will then have a room with a proper door and privacy and DD's section of room can be divided more easily with storage furniture and decorated so it is her part of the room, ideally you'd like to move but waiting lists are horrendous. I joined the register as I could downsize but they are telling me it takes 4-6 months just to get on there currently!

Stud walls are not cheap to put up and really messy to take down. Far messier than I expected and I was shocked at the cost of a new one ( different rooms, I wasn’t just swapping walls)
Ikea do slimline wardrobes. You can’t hang much in the top part but there are pull out metal baskets in the bottom part that hold holds. If you put one for ds to use, then one for dd facing the other way you could add a billy book case fixed in some way to stop it toppling at the end. That would make a pretty good divider. Would cost less than the wall and you’d have the furniture when you eventually move.

My mum did this in my shared room on our local authority house when I was younger. Only one window so I ended up with a teeny tiny room with a tiny section of window. I loved the privacy and she just took it down again when I moved out. If it's easily removable I don't see why you couldn't do it.

I’m a Housing Officer for a large HA. I would just do it- make it removable so that if you move you make it good. I have never in 18 years of Housing heard or seen of anyone being evicted for something like this. The worst would be a notice telling you to take it down. It sounds like the best option for your family, in terms of getting a move, it may not be that long I’m seeing quite a few Band C’s nominated for houses lately.

I've just roughed your idea out on a piece of paper, OP. How are you going to create a door into the new room without a) building a door in the partition so that you enter the 'new' room through the old one or b) knocking a door-sized hole through the new room wall to the landing? Is that wall structural?

In theory it's not a stupid idea. It might cost a couple of grand to build, put in a door frame and door, line out and paint. It might cost similar in a few years' to turn back. Up to you whether you're prepared to risk it.

It is fire regs that matter.

We did this without asking - we hadn't realised we needed to as it was only a stud wall. The HA did a lot of significant building work (wiring, heating, new kitchen etc) a few years ago. Obviously the stud wall got noticed. They just asked us to apply for permission in retrospect and because they were wiring they moved the centre light and added another so each section had it's own ceiling light and put sockets into the wall so each side had the same amount, so they actually improved it for us!

I think most HA will allow these kinds of changes with permission.

You need to be careful. My lease explicitly says I can't add built-in storage. I've made a faux wardrobe by putting large Ikea units at right-angles; they only need brackets top & bottom so I am not 'building on'. The HA has also given me a warning about using the loft, which is a bummer but it's their fire insurance!

I love those sliding panels, @MikeRafone. I'm having to sternly tell myself it's pointless rearranging things just so I can use some 😂

I bet you can do something with some trusty Kallax, @WheelbarrowKid. They're insanely sturdy. I've used Oxberg doors on my fake wardrobe, as they use flat hinges so it's just measuring & screwing on. You can fill in any ceiling gaps with boxes, fabric, or make some panels if you're handy.

People do this all the time….my sister IL has put up a stud wall in lounge diner to make a 4 th bedroom…..council workers have been out many times in the last 9 years for repairs etc….no one cares…..my DD put electrics out to her shed …..fed off the mains….again no ne cared ….her partner did a walk in wardrobe in the main bedroom…..it’s really no big deal…..when she left and they did the survey check they just said ‘yeh yeh’

This is exactly the layout of our room. However, the window diagonally opposite the door is a proper fire escape onto a small flat roof, so I suppose that makes a difference. I agree with pp suggesting an OT assessment. We do have a gap at the end of the kallax unit and I understand why you can't do that. I am so sorry. The housing situation is so hard. My dd's school friend had to share a tiny room with her brother until he went to university. She is two years younger. Council flat.