Full Version: Temporary walls
From: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#1]
23 Jan 2007
To: ALL
Does anyone here use "temporary walls" in your shop?
We're looking at a new location, and it's just a white finished box (or something like that). It's about 1400 sq ft, with no separated rooms (except for the restroom). Naturally, we'll want to put some sort of wall system in place to divide the workroom / showroom / office spaces. We would prefer something that doesn't require attachment to structural walls, but we don't know what kind of system would work.
Thoughts?
From: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#2]
23 Jan 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#1] 23 Jan 2007
From: Dave Jones (DAVERJ) [#3]
23 Jan 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#1] 23 Jan 2007
I've helped to build temporary walls in museums for exhibitions that lasted a few months. They were basically built like normal walls using 2x4 framing with drywall or MDF surfaces (museums use MDF since it's easier to remove and use again). The framing was wedged tightly between walls and ceiling to hold them in place, and several walls were joined at right angles to hold each other stable.
How high is the ceiling, and is the ceiling solid and flat?
It takes a bit of designing to get it right, and make it secure. A local carpenter may have experience in doing this.
I haven't looked, but I would guess there are web sites about doing this too.
From: gt350ed [#4]
23 Jan 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#1] 23 Jan 2007
In any event, the wall is 2x4 framed and drywalled. Then the center angled portion is carpeted, with the "wings" covered with maple slatwall panelling. The wall is free-standing and is NOT going anywhere.
From: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#5]
23 Jan 2007
To: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#2] 23 Jan 2007
We are looking at this as one option, but this is not necessarily what we'll end up doing. It will all depend on what looks best, and ultimately, what is most cost-efficient.
There's nothing definite that says we're even moving yet. This is a matter of prayer, but it does look promising (to me, at least).
The ceiling is a "common" panel ceiling with fluorescent lights / diffusers.
The floor is bare concrete. I'm not sure what direction I want to take the floor, but I really like the look of stained concrete. It's not very cheap to do it, but it's very low maintenance. We have a stained floor in the youth room at our church, and it looks awesome. I'm just not sure how that look would go for an awards shop....that's really more of my wife's department.
There are still some things that will have to be worked out, especially on the financial side. However, it's all in God's hands, and I have to keep reminding myself that if God is in it, it will be successful.
The landlord is a like-minded Christian, and has been praying for close to a year for the "right" tenants to fill his vacancies. The building is almost a year old, and has never been occupied. Location and accessibility are awesome (much better than where we are now), and the rent is very reasonable for the location ($1,000 for about 1,300 square feet)....and the owner has offered to lower the rent for several months to help us get established.
PLUS, the location is on the single busiest street in town. It's in a prime spot (to me) for a company like ours.
It's worth noting that only about 10-15% of my current business is from walk-in customers......the rest is from email and phone traffic. The walk-ins that we have now tend to be very profitable, since we have three other awards shops in our little town (14,000 people). Folks tend to go to the "typical" shops for the lower-end plaques and trophies, and come to us for the unusual (read higher profits) stuff. In fact, two of our competitors routinely send their customers to me for the high-end products.
....but I digress....
To me, this is the best location we can ask for at this stage in our development. We pay NO rent or utilities at our current location (other than phone/internet), so we'll start seeing a much higher overhead when/if we move. I'll have to run the numbers, but I suspect that we'll have to raise the price of our services to around $90 to $100 per hour. Again, that's an estimate for now...pending real calculations. The really good part is that my laser is paid for, and I'm only leasing my Xenetech and a couple of computers.
....and I continue to ramble....
Exciting times await!
From: Mike (MIKEN) [#6]
23 Jan 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#5] 23 Jan 2007
From: UncleSteve [#7]
23 Jan 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#5] 23 Jan 2007
As for the walls, if you are looking for something to define areas rather than a floor to ceiling, the office cubical walls come in 6' and 8' heights and are often available used but in excellent condition. Look for a used office furniture outlet. This will give you the flexibility to change as needed or desired.
You didn't say WHY you wanted the walls or how many..... to define areas, block the line of sight of the customers, secure an area, etc.
Six footers will do most except for the "securing" where you will need to add doors.
If it is just to separate a showroom from the work/inventory area, you only need two walls. Each wall about 1/2 the width plus 3-4 feet. Set the walls about 3' apart... one behind the other.
Good luck with the new location.
From: Cindy (CINDYM) [#8]
24 Jan 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#1] 24 Jan 2007
Our last showroom was like you described and we needed to divide it up so we could separate showroom from work area & storage.
We happened to have these two 14' long x 5' tall shelfing units and simply placed them in an L formation, using the front windows as the third "wall" and one side wall to complete the showroom 'box'. We then screwed 2 x 2's vertically where one edge of a 4 x 8 would be, and then screwed the pressboard 4' x 8' sheets to the backs of the 2 x 2's with the 8' part vertical. We painted the pressboard with the magnetic paint, then regular paint and there were our showroom walls (at that time we had all our products attach to the walls by magnet).
If I did it over, I would use 3/4" plywood sheets instead of the pressboard. And I would still use the magnetic paint on the boards - I miss that aspect of our current showroom. You need to put on about 6-7 coats of the magnetic paint before putting your regular paint color over it, but then it is so each to attach your product to the walls. Or you could cover the plywood with carpeting - two fold benefit - sound dampening and also just attach velcro to your product and it will stick on the carpeting.
If you go with the carpeting/velcro route, you'll have less of a visible line between boards than if you use the magnetic paint process.
Good luck!
Cindy M
EDITED: 24 Jan 2007 by CINDYM
From: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#9]
24 Jan 2007
To: Cindy (CINDYM) [#8] 24 Jan 2007
Cindy,
Good info!
We have a plaque display in our current shop that is a piece of carpeted plywood. Our plaques all have velcro on the back, so removing & replacing them is a snap (except for the ones with a LOT of velco...almost need a crowbar to get them off >.< ).
My wife just looked at the building for the first time this afternoon. She already has a good mental image of what the finished shop will look like. From her description, it's going to be absolutely top-notch!! I'm more excited about it now than I was when we first started talking about it.
Cody
From: Cindy (CINDYM) [#10]
24 Jan 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#9] 24 Jan 2007
Moving in to your first retail shop is scary, but exciting too. Feels like you've made it to the big time! It's a big commitment to sign a lease - especially a long term one. Sounds like you might have a good landlord though.
I miss my magnetic walls. We were in such a rush to get in our new place (lease was up, end of month, needed to be out because new tenants were moving in) and someone else (my daughter) took care of all the painting in the showroom. I completely forgot to think about the magnetic part! We would not have had the time then, but I may start with one wall and slowly paint and cover until they are all magnetic. You have to put so many coats of the magnetic paint on it is a long process before you get to your final coat color. The color we used (a metallic dove silver) is $40 a gallon from Ralph Lauren's collection. Worth the finished look, but I hate to cover it up now that I've paid for it!
Cindy M
From: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#11]
24 Jan 2007
To: Cindy (CINDYM) [#10] 25 Jan 2007
From: UncleSteve [#12]
25 Jan 2007
To: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#11] 25 Jan 2007
Good idea! Many HVAC contractors bend their own ducts from flat rolls of the duct material.
From: Cindy (CINDYM) [#13]
25 Jan 2007
To: ALL
Wow - that's a great idea I didn't think of. The magnetic paint is about $30 for a 1/3rd of a gallon and it takes about 6-7 coats to get the strength to hold heavy plaques and other heavy items. I use the magnetic sheeting on the back of the items. That steel sheeting would be worth a shot. I'm going to try it and report back. One of my clients is a sheet metal company, so they would help me out I'm sure.
Cindy M
From: Joe (SMITTY61) [#14]
25 Jan 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#1] 25 Jan 2007
From: Ed (EBERTRAND) [#15]
25 Jan 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#5] 25 Jan 2007
Cody,
I think you had better run the numbers before you go any further.
Maybe look at buying one of the other shops. A fourth shop in the area
would really scare me unless you can draw a lot of traffic from outside
the area.
We moved from a mall location that we had for 20 years to a free standing
building. We carpeted the entire 4000 sq feet and its been 14 years and we
are just now thinking about replacing the carpet in the show room about
1000 sq feet. It is not bad but the carpet cleaning people have pointed
out a couple of thin spots in front of our counter so we put a runner down
maybe we can get by for a couple more years.
Are you thinking about putting you sand carving equipment in the shop?
special lighting for film, vent to the outside to keep the dust down
maybe isolate the blast room.
Think about the hours you are going to have to put in unless you plan
to hire some help a one man shop can really be a nightmare.
I'm not trying to discourage you in anyway we are also in a town
with about 14,000 people and although we have had competitors
most have gone by the way side. We are not he least expensive
shop in the area and we never will be. But we have made a good
living for the last 34 years.
Good luck on which ever way you go.
If I can help feel free to call me.
Ed
From: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#16]
25 Jan 2007
To: Ed (EBERTRAND) [#15] 25 Jan 2007
Thanks for the encouragement, Ed.
We've been running "numbers" for the last 3 years now, as well as looking at non-economic factors. Moving is not really an option....it's a moral imperative (I'm not going to expound here, so just take my word for it).
While there are 3 other shops in town, one of them is about to close very very soon. This guy is leasing his building, so it's of no real use to us.
In terms of location....this is quite possibly the BEST location in town. I can't help but believe that God is leading us here. There's only one piece of the equation left to "solve", and we're in.
The property owner has agreed to let us pay 1/2 rent for the first two months, AND $200 per month under his asking price for the rest of this year. As long as the interior doesn't cost us a fortune, we're virtually sure to make this move.
To answer your sandcarving question: No. That equipment is now in my garage, and will stay there. We use it so infrequently that it would simply waste valuable space at the shop.
Employees: I hired a lady today to work part-time. She works for my parents' florist (where our shop is now) two days per week, and knows my product lines almost as well as I do. She's awesome with customers, and knows EVERYONE in town. She'll be great at this... B-)
With regard to being the least expensive in town...we're definitely not. When most of our locals need a simple plaque, and just any ol' plaque will do, they go to one of my competitors. However, when they need a higher-end look (see the "Fun Challenge" thread), they come to us.
We do some of the more traditional plaques for some of our customers, but they are willing to pay a slightly higher price for them. These folks know that they are getting an award that's as flawless as humanly possible, and they know that it will be done on time. We try to hold ourselves to a standard of quality and integrity that our competition simply can't match.
This sounds like a boast, but it honestly isn't meant that way. We simply know that we're the absolute best at what we do. It all stems from having quality equipment, quality training (still in process), and quality suppliers. Throw a healthy dose of personal integrity and hard work into the mix, and you have a winning combination.
I'll dismount my high-horse now. :-)
Cody
From: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#17]
25 Jan 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#16] 26 Jan 2007
Stay on it. From your post you have earned that position.
From: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#18]
26 Jan 2007
To: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#2] 26 Jan 2007
Dave,
After discussing the matter with my new (hopefully) landlord and contractor, we will attach everything to the existing walls and slab.....nothing "temporary".
I'll have my contractor put a hole in the back wall for the laser exhaust. You don't get much more permanent than a 4" hole through sheetrock, steel, and brick.
This is one of those projects that makes taking pictures very necessary. We'll try to journal the progress.
Cody
From: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#19]
26 Jan 2007
To: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#18] 26 Jan 2007
Cody,
If you do decide on constructed walls, incorporate wing walls to add more display area to your shop. It also helps to break up the tunnel effect that many strip stalls present.
From: Cody (BOBTNAILER) [#20]
26 Jan 2007
To: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#19] 27 Jan 2007
What a great idea!! That would be so perfect for this!!
What's a "wing wall"? :-$