A partition on our own doorstep
We are based in Mapperley, on the narrow ridge along Woodborough Road that makes this the highest part of Nottingham. For a stud wall anywhere from Mapperley Plains down to the edge of Mapperley Park there is no long drive involved, and coming round to look at the room before you decide anything is easy to arrange.
The houses change a good deal from one street to the next. East of Woodborough Road, Blyth Street and Querneby Road were started around 1900, and new streets spread out towards Porchester Road over the following twenty years. The Mapperley estate was released for building in 1903, and about 163 houses were given consent in Mapperley Park between 1906 and 1914. Generous Victorian and Edwardian rooms like these are often the ones people want to divide.
Dividing a big period room
A wide front bedroom can usually become two smaller rooms, or a bedroom with an en-suite or dressing room behind it. Putting up the frame is the simple part. The thinking goes into how the new wall meets an old house:
- The ceiling. Period ceilings are often lath and plaster. The head plate has to be fixed into the joists rather than the plaster, and if the wall runs parallel to them, extra timbers may be needed above, which can mean working from the loft or lifting a floorboard.
- Cornices and picture rails. A new wall either cuts through a decorative cornice or stops neatly beneath it. Decide which before any timber goes up.
- Light and heat. Each half of the room needs a window, a radiator and a light switch by its door. New sockets and switches are wired by a qualified electrician while the frame is still open.
Once the frame and door lining are in, both faces are boarded and skimmed so the wall looks as if it has always been there.
Permissions in Mapperley Park and beyond
Mapperley Park and Alexandra Park form a conservation area, but that status is mainly about the outside of buildings, so an internal stud wall is not normally affected by it. A listed building is a different matter: internal alterations need listed building consent, so check whether yours is listed before planning anything.
Building regulations can apply wherever you live. A new bedroom that can only be reached through another room, a wall that leaves part of a room without a window, or a layout that changes your way out in a fire are all worth checking first. Mapperley is split between Nottingham City Council and Gedling Borough Council, so which building control team you speak to depends on your side of the boundary.
Talk it through with us
Tell us roughly where the wall would go, whether it needs a door and what each room will be used for. Call 07877 353120 or send the details through the enquiry form. We work seven days a week, 7am to 5pm.
