Hello all,

I wanted to hack a wall in between the walkway of my 2 rooms and erect a new wall so that I can extend my master bedroom.

Now, my management is having a tough time as they are worried with the weight of the new wall that may cause certain hazard to the entire building. Hence they suggested to build a lightweight partition. I'm quite happy that my condo management is strict on this which means they do not simply allow this kind of things to happen in the condo.


I've checked with my contractor and he said it is doable, pros and cons mentioned by him.

Pros
Lightweight - meets management's expectation
It does look like wall albeit being 5inches wide vs bricks 6inches
Soundproof-able

Cons
More hollow
When you knock on it, you'll know it's wood
More expensive due to workmanship involved- even more expensive if I choose to soundproof it.

I've seen many new condos that uses partitions instead of brickwalls due to lightweight (Bukit Utama 9). But is it really MORE expensive than to erect a brick wall?

You can try cement board

Ohh good idea. Do you know what is the price like?

try wall partition like office.

normal one quite sound proof enough

Thanks. Do you know if it is more expensive than erecting a brickwall?

If you want solid brick wall but light. Use lightweight bricks.

Sadly, my management is on a strict "no bricks" rule...I'm checking with my contractor on the weight difference of lightweight bricks and normal bricks.

No brick? Go for concerete wall then.

In general, they are worried about the total weight. Isn't concrete heavier? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Just go for partition. Those cons are not really important. Mostly japan, US etc house is wood partition. Why they can accept and not us? Change our mindset.

It is probably material is expensive. To soundproof, you need to have a fireproof wool or cellulose to sandwich.

I like partition more than brick and cement for inner wall. Flexible, easy modify, less messy if change.

Fire proof plaster board, green products but very expensive...... 9 utama condo was using...... And most important is lightweight.....

Forget about concrete, it was the heaviest among the all products in the market.....

FIRSTLY
I would question if your Condo Management really has the ultimate authority on this? I doubt it!

Is you building "Concrete Column & Beam" construction OR "Concrete Panel Wall" construction?

If "Concrete Column & Beam" construction you can knock out just about every single wall and have practically ZERO effect on structural integrity, and as long as you don't add back more walls than you removed you haven't increased the weight loading and thus had practically ZERO effect on the structural integrity.

If it is "Concrete Panel Wall" construction, then you can only hack certain walls and usually not more than 20-30% of an entire wall. And it will very clearly speel this out in your strata title documents or the S&PA. Again if you don't add back more walls than you removed you haven't increased the weight loading and thus had practically ZERO effect on the structural integrity.

I would hazard a guess that there is some control freak on the Management with only a partial (mis?)understanding of the structural issues and just being a Zealot in quashing anyone's reno brinck wall plans. Having Said that I do feel that Malaysians are to fixaed with brick internal walls and partition walls can be a great alternative.

And now to the Construction Methods

a) Brick wall will be heavy and will cost about RM25/sqft and will take 4-5 days including rendering and painting for an Average wall say 10ft high x 15ft long.

b) Partition wall can be constructed many ways, the common and best for domestic situation is whats called a "Stud Wall" which uses timber (2"x4") or Metal C-Profile to create the frame work and then the frame is covered on both sides by either Plaster board or Cement Board. Insulation can be placed in the cavity created by the frame work to improve Thermal and Noise insulation.
Not sure ont h e costs of Partition walls in Malaysia but they should be about 1/2 the price of Brick wall, also a 10ft High x 15 ft Long shoul only take 2 days to compete including painting (1/2 to 3/4 day for framing then 1/2-3/4 day for paneling and 1/2 day for painting).


BTW with regard to the Cement Board there is one version called "compressed Cement Board" (but not sure on availability in Malaysia) which is about 2-3 times thicker than than normal cement board and about twice the density (so each sheet is about 3-4 times heavier than normal cement board), and almost no one can tell that it isn't rendered brick wall. You can tap it with you hand or whack it with a hammer and it sounds and feels like a brick wall.

Also a major advantage of Partition wall construction is that it is very easy to add power points, run power cables, aircon piping etc inside the wall at any time.

Cheers

Also another alternative well worth considering is "Aerated Concrete Blocks". Its sort of the Styrofoam version of concrete, its very light (about 4-6 times lighter than brick) but still very strong.

http://www.henner.com.my/

http://leichtbric-malaysia.com/

http://energyadvisory.com.my/concrete-blocks.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmL-Xz-p5fY

cheers

Those are great inputs! Thanks very much. Now as my renovation has begun, this wall thing may delayed the entire renovation. I'm just thinking that no one in the management wants to take responsibility IF anything goes wrong. And they also said the weight of the wall is being shifted and is not supported by the beam downstairs.

My house is concrete panel wall because I can only knock out certain walls, there is a huge wall dividing my living room with my bedrooms and my kitchen which I can't knock down.

Nonetheless, your suggestions are very much appreciated. I hope that my contractor is able to source the alternative and has the skill to install them.

Well of course they don't want any responsibility, why would they, all risk and no reward for them. But it shouldn't be about them taking responsibility they should just be following the Condo Rules, regulations on reno, ask to see the rules in B&W.

But if its a Panel construction, there wouldn't be any beam below supporting any of the walls. All the walls and floors are supported by the Panel walls bellow.





If you go for the Aerated Concrete I suggest you ask the supplier from those website for there recommended installers, Those Aerated Concrete need precision installation (all gaps should be 3mm) which is not the usual habbit of normal Malaysian Contractor or Brick Layer.

Cheers

I am thinking of creating a partition rather than building a wall to divide one bedroom into two. My service apartment has 2 bedrooms, I wanna transform it into 3 bedrooms.

However, my concern is the bedroom window is from one side of the wall to another like office style.

Therefore is it feasible to create a partition when the end of it is at a window, rather than a wall? Will it be safe enough?