Should i drywall basement ceiling

Sort by: Oldest. Newest Oldest. Like Save. Related Discussions What to do with the ceiling of the basement? I definitely wouldn't recommend painting the ceilings black as it will make the ceilings look even lower. Seems like painting it white would be the best solution as that will open up the space a bit more, but I'd love to get a professional's input.

I would remove recessed. Leave drop ceiling pendants are fine but hang from flexible track lighting and hang it to follow line of drop ceiling. Have a couple pendants and some mini spotlight like halogens.

I would also paint the drop ceiling a different color. Can't tell for sure what ur walls are but maybe a cafe brown color. With the flex lighting if u get bored u can easily change fixtures. I don't know if you can get a click together floor in this space. There could be a floor drain somewhere. You have pips driving into the concrete which could indicate problems with a click together or planked style floor.

Finished concrete or texture epoxy would be a great idea. If you need to save some cash on this one, you can use sheet vinyl or sheet lino to get this to work. Ceiling should be covered with appropriate drywall. Leaving it exposed is pretty nasty. The open door indicates you do NOT have much head room in this space. Epoxy is thinner than vinyl. Just a little FYI.

I think I might just spray paint it all a neutral color like a mushroom brown and not close it up at all. Annie Deighnaugh 8 years ago. Drywall all the way. I would never choose a lifetime of UGLY just so that a repair is easier. Related Stories. Learn about the different sizes and types of this construction material for walls, plus which kinds work best for which rooms.

Take the plunge into a new kind of practicality with an interior design feature that has a rich history. High ceilings and other custom-tailored features in this new-build Wisconsin basement put the tall homeowners in a good headspace. Lower-level design reaches new heights with rearranged ductwork, lighting, a new ceiling and modern styling.

Low ceiling got you down? Stand up to it with these relatively easy-to-implement design moves. Great drop ceiling look! But very expensive. Let's say you wanted a really cool tin or paneled ceiling look.

Newer drop ceiling panel styles offer a lot more variety than the old white square blocks we grew up with. But… could you just as easily buy that same finished panel without a drop-ceiling?

You don't need the drop ceiling and it's drawbacks to get the same look. Here's a great Pinterest page dedicated to ceilings - great ideas! You need a lot of noise suppression for a movie room or recording studio. OK, now we're talking a real reason.

Drop ceilings do help a lot with dampening noise. It's something to consider. You're not installing drywall on the walls but you still want a ceiling. If this is you, email me, I want to know under what circumstance this style decision is occurring. Your Grandpa had a drop ceiling and he'd feel more at home if you had one. Grandpas are awesome! Alright, I give. And for more than the 4 reasons above. If you're thinking it may be the right choice for you click here to read Adam's article on why he loves his suspended ceiling.

And another bonus - he wrote all about how to install a drop ceiling, click through to read that. My recommendation is to drywall your ceiling. I don't recommend installing a drop-ceiling. Primarily because of the look. It just doesn't look as good because it doesn't match the rest of your house. If you insist AND you promise to go with a newer design If you go with the old outdated white panels I can no longer associate with you.

You are dead to me. If you want a bunch more information just like this article plus my entire basement story, basement design files and more - check out the ebook over 1, people already have. Great discussion on pricing if you do go with a drop ceiling. Signing you up Free Basement Cost Estimator.

Here's the deal, if you'll give me your email address your good one, not that fakey one you have for male enhancement pills I'll send you some great basement content about once a week. Know what? You're about to get a new friend, me! Click the Button Below to Sign Up. Click the Button Below. Drop ceilings are absolutely horrible, as they quickly wear and become dingy looking. Worst of all, you lose a precious 4"-6" of ceiling height.

One home I saw they were lazy and instead of boxing vents, they just chose the lowest point for the entire ceiling! The more you can do to make the basement feel as part of the living space the better it is. At some point you can completely blur the line between basement and main living space. It is not true that he couldn't have help you had you had a finished ceiling.

Taking down drywall to expose pipes that need to be repaired is done all the time. Drywall repair is not that expenses or difficult - and as the author of this article said - how often will you need to do it? I'll take the finished ceiling and deal with repairs to it is necessary because drop ceilings are an abomination and a crime against humanity or at least good design. And how many holes would he have to cut out to find the problem?

What if you have a textured ceiling? Ever try to match texture? It hardly ever works without being able to see it. I,m a kitchen remodeler, I love it when I can get at the ceiling under the new kitchen. Electrical, plumbing, duct work. I wouldn't do a cheap dropped ceiling, but something upscale that looks nice. Anyone thinks that i ya practical to use drywall in a basement is in for an awaking. First the one who said ceiling tile will sag with moisture, what do you think drywall will do?

If you have that much moisture you have a whole bunch of other issues that could result in a toxic environment. Next look to the future. You now want the office, or hamming room. Now y ya oh gave to run additional wiring , of lighting , much less of a hassle with a suspended tile ceiling.. Additionally most drywall is s a poor insulator compared to suspended tile. Both for noise and temperature.

Beware to that if you are on septic, many insurance companies do not pay for articles back-up damage unless to have a special wavier on your policy. Hey, we have a year-old house, and the rumor is that the original owners finished it out, which is why there are so many weird, poorly done things.

In regards to our basement, it has a drop ceiling that looks to me to have been poorly installed, and most of the tiles are in bad shape. The few fluorescent lights it has, well, it turns out that they are not hard wired. We have long extension cords running above the ceiling tiles. So we know we have some work to do. My initial reaction was to say, "Take down the drop ceiling and lights, and drywall with recessed lights. However, this is not my house, but my grandmother's.

And since she is footing the bill, my dad says it would be cheaper to just hard-wire the existing fluorescents, add more fluorescents or some cans, and replace all the tiles. He also makes the claim about needing access to pipes, and considering that we just developed a leak that has ruined one of the tiles, he does seem to have evidence to support that point. Hello Laura - Thanks for your comment, interesting issues indeed.

It will be cheaper to fix the existing tiles and lighting in your grandmothers basement. You'll get your money back and then some, even if it's ten years from now. It's really an investment. As for accessing the pipes and leaks - Fix the leaks you have and fix them correctly. If you do that you shouldn't need to access to them down the road. Another Issue to think about if you are going to Drywall your ceiling. You Have to have access to plumbing valves and electrical junction boxes by code, at least in most states.

I have installed a drop ceiling in a basement '50's house much tighter than the " inches" buddy is referring to. To meet the electrical code, I would have had to install access panels for all the electrical boxes, shut off valves and ducting damper controls. As the main floor sagged, parts of the ceiling grid was at 2" and other parts as tight as the thickness of a tile. If you know what your doing, it can be done.

I'm a techo-nerd that does both computers and ham radio frequently; I actually do quite often run new cables and wires from room to room, and even occasionally have been known to change the way some of my filtered water is run.

For this reason I will be putting in a drop ceiling in many parts of my basement. I definitely don't think it'll be cheaper or easier, but the fact that it'll let me run new power, ethernet, etc later on is an almost instant sell for me.

I also don't know why I'd ever need to move out of this house, so I'm here for a long haul. It's a really good option I know this is an old post but l had to comment. After you run these pvc pipes from one side of the basement to the other and to the most used rooms How do you access the pipe?

You are still going to have to cut the ceiling, patch and refinish. What If the pipe you installed is at the opposite end of the room where you want to run the wire? Got a quick question for you. My husband and I have an unfinished basement that we are planning to finish soon.

We want to buy pre-made cabinets for storing lots of outdoor gear for one of the basement rooms. Do you think we will be able to carpet the floor and drywall the ceiling and still fit the cabinets in? Hey Liz - Yes. That should be plenty of space. Drywall for the basement ceiling,. Carpet and padding maybe. Otherwise there are no framing elements on the ceiling or the floor. Unless you want install a framed sub-floor, but that's not the normal case for most finished basements.

Thanks so much, Jason! Crazy as it may sound, we're getting them from Ikea. They're called PAX Tonnes system. This is how you adjust the to make the ceiling level. To address your wondering about that. We have original stone walls in our basement that are nice and don't want to cover them, if we did it would be with more stone after some good insulation and not dry-wall, so a dry-wall ceiling would: 1.

Noise dampening and access to the main wires and pipes are a part of the argument too yeah other floors have them, but the ones in the basement are where they actually join together to the service panels and other useful stuff , but mostly it's that drywall has been worse for moisture problems -in my experience- and doesn't actually go with the basement. I'm sure you'll find that some people like their basements to have stone walls, it doesn't have to look bad or uncomfortable, or even "basement-y".

Some home designs with stone walls look quite inviting, and there are plenty of reasons to be okay with stone walls in a basement besides that, not all people are obsessed with dressing up their basement as something that it's not, but rather making it look inviting and functional in it's own right. Drop ceilings can also be replaced one panel at a time, if one gets damaged, without having to cut out and replace whole segments of ceiling. The air-space created by a drop ceiling is also helpful for insulating against the lower temperature of the basement and not just noise cancellation.

We also have a decently high ceiling down there, and 4 or so inches doesn't matter so much. So certainly there are instances where people wouldn't be putting dry-wall on the walls, and certainly there are some instances where a drop-ceiling is more practical. I'm really struggling with this for our basement. We're leaning toward a drop ceiling because we worry that we need better access to pipes, etc.

And the contractors who have quoted the project have told us a drop ceiling would be significantly--thousands--cheaper because of all the wiring work they wouldn't have to do. It's a 45 year old house, and the wiring in the ceiling is an archaic mess. They would have to basically rewire the entire space to put in a drop ceiling.

So I feel like we're a bit stuck. I unquestionably would prefer a drywall ceiling. It would look great. But I don't feel like we have thousands extra to spend. I struggle with it, though. Eric - I hear ya. If the wiring is all done under the joists which is common in some older homes instead of through the middle then yes, you'll have to rewire everything and drop ceiling would be better.

I see two possible options. Extend the joists by adding some "Extensions" for lack of a better term. Then you could drywall to those new, lower joists which would presumable now be below your wiring. Buy a nicer drop-ceiling. There are some really good looking tiles and frames out there versus years ago. I have had several varieties of workers have to access the plumbing, or wiring through this dropped ceiling. Then the tiles are broken and left looking awful.

Oh and none of the ceiling lights work. Plus, we have had leaks and there are multiple stains. What about just taking it all down and leaving it exposed? That would make it so much easier. Is that really a problem. It is a basement, right? I am trying to convince myself. Terri - That's actually not a bad option at all. I think painted ceilings look really good. You can see a couple of examples on my Pinterest board.

In the process of remodeling my 25 year old home, and have been wrestling with this issue for some time. Because I have wiring, rigid copper pipes, and iron gas pipes running below and perpendicular to the floor joists 2"X2" board will need to be used as spacers before putting up the drywall, bringing it to about 1. I averaged quotes of for sq ft drop ceiling.

I would shop around to a lot of other contractors. Yeah your realtor is right Good luck. As I sat here trying to convince my husband we should drywall our basement ceiling, I found this article! Thank you!!

I will admit, as we have been slowly renovating our basement over the last year or so, we've had several experts electrician and plumbers advise us to use a drop ceiling instead of drywall.

We heard the cautionary tales about leaks and access needed for whatever utilitarian need by well-meaning friends and family, but Still, the thought of one of those fake ceilings bugged me to no end. Yet, I had decided to go ahead with it at my husband's urging. I was on here just now looking at more decorative, more stylish options in the drop ceiling world when I came across your article.

Understanding the risk of leaks and any other possible future needs that may require us to yank out loads of drywall only to replace it again once the issue is repaired, we have decided to go ahead with the drywall anyway. I feel it just looks better. We'll hire a drywall contractor and have them do it. Thanks for the other voice of reason!! It certainly can be a difficult decision and it's specific to each families circumstances and needs. Glad the article could you help you make your decision.

I think you'll be very happy Maggie. Your husband seems like very wise, compromising and good looking man. I have been told that in my town if you frame out a wall and drywall the ceiling, the room will increase the property tax of the home. If you use drop ceiling, your taxes will not go up. Sethro - Cool name btw; that is straight up crazy. I've never heard of ceiling type determining tax status.

I'm not saying the that "person" who told you this is a straight up liar Great discussion! I'm on the fence. Our basement needs to re-finished. It was nicely done, probably 40 years ago with knotty pine everywhere and 1x1 ceiling tiles that all sagging in various places. I am leaning towards a "modern" drop ceiling for several reasons.

The house was built in , steam heat. The basement is not heated, but the exposed steam pipes and boiler room in the middle do a great job of keeping it warm and dry. The existing drop ceiling is at 7 feet 5 inches. So I think we have plenty of room overhead and there are a lot of pipes and things that we would need to drywall around anyway.

The purpose of the basement is to reclaim our living room and put the TV and kids down there. I like the idea of some noise insulation to keep noise in the basement from coming up.

No issue with first floor noise going down. I found interesting articles on soundproofing I want the noise below to stay below. And I want to be able to watch Sons of Anarchy without my kids hearing it all from upstairs. We have some mold issues to resolve first I am a little concerned that a drywall ceiling would not allow the basement to "breathe" as well. It's a walk out basement but still, in the Boston summer, 3 walls are against earth, so you can get humidity down there and no boiler running to dry it out.

I think the drop ceiling, coupled with running a dehumidifier might be a better plan to avoid condensation. There's also a radon remediation system sucking air from under the concrete.

We are going to be adding insulation and air sealing to other parts of the house, but inside, I am thinking the suspended approach might be better. I'm in the process of doing the basement now and after thinking about it longer and listening to the contractor, we are going to scrap the drop ceiling idea. The thing that had me on the fence was the acoustic advantage and "breathability," but I 've concluded those are not really good reasons.

The sound is going to come up from the basement because the stairway is open no door at top and we plan to run a dehumidifier all summer anyway. Jason, Take a look a Ceiling Link, it's a PVC based "drop ceiling" system that only costs you about 1" of space, only twice the space of drywall. Andrew - That's pretty cool. IF I liked drop-ceilings I would probably go for that, looks easy that the traditional install method. If anyone tries that out, come back and leave a comment with how well it worked.

My husband installed a traditional drop ceiling many years ago and then did a drop like this in a small room last year. He did not like this any better than traditional, he had problems with getting everything lined up right and said when you try to readjust you have to adjust several pieces, it basically all comes down.

He is very careful and takes his time but in an older home that wasn't perfectly squared it was a hassle. We are working on finishing the basement in our new home and he was pro traditional drop vs drywall for reasons of access. After my insistence and then the help of this article he is agreeing to drywall.

The house is only a few years old and we want to boost the value. I believe a drop ceiling would definitely hurt that. I'm with ya Amy. I understand the desire to not commit team drop ceiling team but it's time to get on board.

Built that basement right and you'll be super happy with traditional drywall ceiling. Actually thinner is not better when spanning across framing. Just like Andrew, I have looked at the "ceiling link" system, and like the look of it, and the ease of installation.

Looks to me to be easier than drywall. It will account for varaiances in your joists, and with it being plastic, it should last forever. I have debated this as well and see your argument that we don't have drop ceilings everywhere , but have two outdoor taps between joists in the basement to turn on each spring, and shut off each fall, and need access to those areas. Not sure what "access doors" look like to those who have spoken of these?

Could you post a picture? I have a pipe 'clean out' that I'm going to be closing in covering with drywall I'm thinking, as it is against one of the walls , and would still like to have access to it. Although I agree the 'look' of a drop ceiling is 'different', if I go with this option, I will be sure to by great looking tiles my wife also does not like the traditional white tiles we all see in dentists offices and office buildings and send you some pics If you impress me with the "access door" option, maybe I'll be 'converted' to a drywall ceiling guy Soooo - these laminate wood planks will be our answer to the "to drop or not to drop" ceiling question.

I'm happy with it, at lease in theory. Wanting to hang drywall in my basement on the ceiling. What would be the best way to deal with floor joists that are uneven? Some come down almost 9. They are pretty random and no set spacing anywhere. Yo Travis - I would install some furring strips to drop the ceiling to the lowest point. It's a pain in the ass but you'll want to get this right, ceiling needs to be level or it's going to look bad.

Great article. Thanks for the help. The Drywall or Sheetrock Ceiling for Basements There are many advantages to using drywall or sheetrock when you are installing and finishing your basement ceiling. Drywall uses less space so it is a good choice when you have low ceilings and need to take advantage of all the headroom possible. Drywall will not sag. Another advantage of drywall ceilings in a basement is that the look and feel of your basement will better match the whole home and create a natural design flow.

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