What if you could change the size of a room?

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What if you could change the size of a room?

Account Closed
Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2015 · 70 posts · 14 votes
Movable walls are being used more and more but usually for commercial applications.  But imagine if you have a space where you could move a wall making one side bigger while the other is smaller.  It would need to move on floor and ceiling tracks.  Not easy, to be sure. 
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  • Kevin Liu
    Property Manager · Nationwide · Member since 2022 · 67 posts · 21 votes
    3y

    That would be a hard detail to describe in a lease between two units, but if this was a feature in a singular property that would be really cool! 

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  • Garrett CrosbyPro Member
    Real Estate Agent · Los Angeles, United States · Member since 2021 · 392 posts · 162 votes
    3y

    Hi @Account Closed - well. As an investor like you in LA like you - I actually think this would serve us really well. As an investor-friendly agent in LA I like it too just from the standpoint of the potential cash flow opportunities that could exist from having the ability to add 'lofts' or even an additional room in our very overly congested city. It would be pretty wild.

    I think this would appeal a lot to investors, but probably not too much to homebuyers. Maybe I'm wrong! I guess it depends on the application and how well the walls are designed/how they look. 

    [email protected]
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  • Chris SeveneyBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Investor · VA · Member since 2015 · 21k+ posts · 19k+ votes
    3y

    @Roger Simons

    And how will you control electrical/hvac and lighting?

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  • Account Closed
    OP
    Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2015 · 70 posts · 14 votes
    3y
    Quote from @Chris Seveney:

    @Roger Simons

    And how will you control electrical/hvac and lighting?


    Good question.  I would think the most you'd move the wall would be about 1/3 of that total space.  So as long as the air ventilation and lighting were in the correct area you'd be fine.  For electrical as long as you have enough outlets you'd be fine.  I'm glad you brought that up though.  Its very important.  Without air and light most tenants might get a little upset!  You know.....the mamby, pamby ones that just HAVE to have air and light.  Wusses!  :)

    Seriously, most light fixtures are in the middle of the ceiling.  So the issue would mainly be with the positioning of the air duct for that room if it used forced air.  
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  • Account Closed
    OP
    Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2015 · 70 posts · 14 votes
    3y

    When googling movable walls its clear that the vast majority of applications involve either the wall being there or not.  That doesn't help us.  https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab...

    Another option that is easier to implement is to have a pivoting wall.  This is really good for people that are making one room become a bedroom for instance.  Like this:  

    But we need to be able to control the size of that room.  Of course having a pivoting wall would mean that existing space could be far better utilized but that's for another discussion.

    Here's a video showing a very sophisticated, motorized system (that probably cost a fortune).  

    What we need is something that doesn't move so far, is not motorized, at a reasonable cost.  It would probably use wheels every few feet for the floor (no carpet would work) though tracks on the floor would be more stable, with a track every few feet on the ceiling.  Obviously the lighter the wall the easier this is.  Many people are moving thick, heavy walls.  That just hugely magnifies the difficulty of this project. 

    Here Ikea is experimenting with a system whereby the wall floats without touching the floor.  What about inevitable swinging?  Maybe it doesn't matter if the wall is moved slowly. If it was moved manually it could be pushed from the middle minimizing swinging.  Maybe a little swinging during moving the wall doesn't even matter.  The great thing about this is it would work with any floor covering, even your priceless Persian carpets!  Obviously the wall can't be heavy if it is suspended from the ceiling.  As most people use hardwood floors these days it seems much easier to just use wheels on the floor.  Then push it in the middle manually (and carefully).

    https://www.mentalfloss.com/ar...

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