Finally had a chance to check. I'm using 8.1.0.153. Yeah, I know that's not even close to the latest 8.1, but like I said, if it ain't broke don't fix it. I wasn't having any issues so I left it.

Anyway, I tested a few of Jack's sets that I had and they all worked just fine. No problem making walls invisible and bringing them back again.

I know this isn't a perfect work around, but you could jump over to the modeling room and delete the faces that you want to be invisible. I don't know how much trouble that would be in the scenes you have, but it's a thought. (If you haven't thought of it already)