Guides
Changing partitions inside an apartment
A light partition can create a study or open up a room. The building, the AC and the daylight decide whether the result works.
Many apartment walls are lightweight partitions rather than structure, which makes them tempting to move. Adding one can create a study or a nursery out of a large living room; removing one can join a small bedroom to the living space. The building usually needs to approve either, and some partitions are fire-rated walls that cannot be altered.
Element pages explain one part of a larger renovation in detail: what is being chosen, what the installation involves, and where the cost and time usually sit.
The new room also has to work. It needs daylight or good artificial light, cooling from an AC outlet, an air path back to the return, power, and enough sound insulation that it is actually private. A partition that cuts a window in half or leaves the new room with no AC grille is a common disappointment.
What matters most on this page
Approval first
Buildings usually review partition changes, and fire-rated walls cannot simply move.
Each room needs air and light
Supply and return air, a window or adequate lighting, and power.
Insulate for privacy
Acoustic insulation inside the partition makes a study or bedroom genuinely quiet.
Adding or removing a partition
Adding a room
A framed partition with insulation, a door, an AC outlet and return path, and new switches and sockets.
Removing a partition
Making good the floor, ceiling and walls where it stood, and rerouting anything that ran inside it.
Glazed partitions
Borrow daylight into an inner room while separating it, often with obscured glass for privacy.
Before changing a partition
Ask the building for its process
Drawings, approvals and any restrictions on which walls can change.
Check the AC layout
Where supply grilles and returns sit relative to the new wall.
Check the windows
A partition should not split a window or block access to its opening.
Questions we are often asked
Can I turn a two-bedroom apartment into three?
Sometimes physically, but the building’s approval and the new room’s light and ventilation decide whether it is permitted and comfortable.
Is a partition soundproof?
With insulation and well-sealed edges it is much quieter. Doors and gaps at the ceiling are where sound usually leaks.
Can a partition be removed later?
Lightweight partitions can, with making good. That flexibility is one reason they are used.
Related guides
- Apartment lighting upgradeThe next component to decide in the same room.
- Studio apartment renovationThe next component to decide in the same room.
- Apartment renovation costHow this element sits in the overall budget.
- Apartment renovation timelineThe next question people ask about the same work.
Start from apartment renovation, browse the guides, or see all renovation and fit-out services. We work on homes and commercial premises across Dubai.
Tell us about the property
Tell us which room, which element and what is being replaced. We will confirm the measurements and the sequence that follows.
Phone
+971 58 846 4007Good for talking a job through and arranging a visit.
WhatsApp
Send a messageUseful for photographs, floor plans and measurements.
Next step
Check before you move a wall
Send a floor plan with the wall you want to add or remove. We will check the AC, light and building requirements first.