DIY Garage Shop Room Divider Curtain
My shop is in the garage in a small space in front of the cars. It gets pretty cold (actually very cold!!) during the winters in Minnesota. So it's not very comfortable working in the shop when the temperature drops. The garage is insulated and I have an electric and kerosene heater, but I really don't want to heat the whole garage if I'm just working in that small space.
The other issue we had was dust. The miter saw, table saw, sanders, and other tools can generate a lot of dust. I only have basic dust collection equipment consisting of a wet/dry vacuum with a dust separator. So dust ends up getting all over the vehicles. It doesn't bother me that much, but the wife is not so understanding....
So I took an afternoon and put up a simple garage room divider curtain to separate the cars from the shop area. Here's how I did it including a video below.
Material
1/8" x 30 ft. vinyl coated wire rope kit (includes wire rope, 2 thimbles, 6 clamps)
1 - Hook to Eye Turnbuckle
2 - Lag Screw Eyes
2 - Threaded Quick Links
Metal Shower Curtain Clips
4 mil Plastic Sheeting
First I installed the wire rope (cable) from one side of the garage to the other side. I pre-drilled and installed the screw eyes into studs. I put a threaded quick link on each screw eye to have a quick and easy way to pull the cable down later if necessary. I installed the thimble and 3 clamps on one end of the cable and put that end in a quick link at one side of the garage.
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I put the turnbuckle in the quick link on the other side of the garage. After a few sets of trial and error to measure the distance of the cable and tighten the clamps, I put it in the other end of the turnbuckle. It will need to be taut across to support the weight of the curtain, so I tighten up the turnbuckle to take out the slack.
Preparing the plastic sheeting was a bit tedious and time consuming. It's important to make sure you have it oriented correctly and find the edge that will be the top of the curtain. I folded it over once with about 5 inch overlap. Then I installed grommets every 12" along the top of the curtain. I put them about 2.5" from the top, but that will depend on the curtain clips you use. I hadn't put my own grommets in anything before, but it was easy to do. Just hammer the cutter on the plastic over a wood board, push the larger grommet through, put the small grommet on the other side of the plastic, and use the tools and a hammer to form them together.
All that was left was to put the curtain clips in and hang it on the cable. I also needed to trim some length from the bottom of the plastic with a scissor. Now I can move the curtain out when I'm working or push it to the side the rest of the time. Pretty simple project that should come in handy to keep the cars clean and be more comfortable working in the winter!
