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How To Install Suspended Ceilings
Suspended ceilings, using a metal lattice or grid and acoustical ceiling tiles
are one of the easiest ceilings to install. Yet, home handymen seem to run into
numerous problems that result in a poorly crafted overall project.
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Section 1
Section 2
Section
3
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Make a plan of the room by sketching the area and
then adding precise measurements for width and length. Take special
note of any alcoves and bays.
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Transfer
those exact dimensions to graph paper (Figure 1) maintaining the scale, or bring the
room sketch to your local home improvement center and ask an associate to
assist you in quantifying the materials you'll need for your project.
Additional detail
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Figure 1 - Graph Paper |
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Ceiling tiles are available in either 2' x 2' or a
2' x 4'. The size you choose will determine the material requirements
for your ceiling.
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For the 2' x4' pattern, decide whether you want to
install the ceiling tiles in a standard or reverse pattern. The choice
of pattern determines the appearance, as shown in Figures 2, 3a, and 3b.
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Figure 2 - 2 x 2 & 2 x 4 Suspended Ceiling Patterns |
Figure 3a - Standard
positioning for suspended ceiling panels
Figure 3b - Reversed positioning for suspended ceiling
panels |
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Once you have made the layout decisions, you can
transfer the sketch of the layout, for the planned ceiling, onto the graph
paper. You can use the layout in the first image, or purchase graph paper in
from any office supply retailer. Regardless of which pattern you select, the
main tees will be 4' apart. Position the tees so that the border
patterns at the room edges are equal on both sides and as large as possible.
It may take a few tries in order to produce a layout that suits you and one
that you wish to install.
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To make the ceiling tiles equal on the ends and on the sides, you have to
determine the size of the ceiling tiles that you are planning on using.
Ceiling tiles come as 2 x 2 and 2 x 4. If you are using 2x 4 you must
determine whether you want the 4 dimension running the length or width of
the room. Using the 4 dimension length wise, will make the room look
longer and narrower, using the 4 dimension width wise will make the room
look shorter and wider.
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It really doesnt matter which direction you choose, the method of
calculation is the same. However, the resultant will be different. For
explanation let us assume that we have a room that is 11 x 10 and we are
going to use 2 x 4 tiles and run the 4 dimension of the tile against the
11 dimension of the room. You will require 3 tiles, which was determined
by dividing the 11 room dimension by the 4 tile dimension. However, in
this example you will see that you really need two full tiles and 1 tile
that is 3/4 of the length of a full tile, in this case 3.
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You can of
course start putting in the grid by measuring 4 from the wall
and having two 4 tiles and one 3 tile. This however will
not give a professionally installed appearance. You want
balance - hence you divide the non 4 tile in half and make two
pieces 1.5 long. The result is a ceiling that has an
initial tile of 1.5, followed by two tiles 4 long, and
finished with another 1.5 tile. Additional detail
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The same scenario should be applied to the width. In this case, in order to
maintain a balanced appearance you would require five tiles, as the width of
the tile is 2 and the width of the room is 10. Had the width of the room
been 9 you still would have needed five tiles in total four at their full
2 width and two at 0.5 or 6 width.
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If the ceiling will use recessed and/or built-in
lighting, decide where to locate the panels for the lights and clearly
identify them on the drawing.
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The drawing will help you accurately estimate the total cost
of the materials you'll need.
Continued......
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