The Ancient Basement–The Ceiling

We were SO optimistic when my husband took a couple of weeks off in March that we’d get the ceiling up in the basement during that time, but I only got some of the Hardie board painted (the wrong color as it turns out).

This past weekend was Memorial Day weekend and the weather was cool, rainy, and breezy, so absolutely no fun to be outside. We took it as a sign that we should work inside. (I finally got caught up on housecleaning last week after being WAY behind, so we could work on a project instead of chores.) We had all the material to do the ceiling, so we started on it on Saturday. I repainted the sheets that were the wrong color the correct color (Damask Silk). And we had to bring everything inside when it looked like it might start raining again. We had it stacked all over. We had to keep them separate because the paint hadn’t cured, and we didn’t want to mess up the paint by having them stick together.

This is what the ceiling looked like before we started. You can see the wiring we hired out in March so that we could install all the can lights (they are the super thin LED versions as you’ll see later.)

My husband bought a panel lifter to maneuver the sheets in place, and hold them in place while he fastened them to the ceiling. It’s a little janky, but it is a HUGE help because these sheets weigh a TON. I highly recommend one of these if you’re putting up drywall, or any sheet goods on the ceiling.

Part of the challenge is that we are tucking the short ends between the tops of the beams and the floor joists, and this stuff doesn’t really bend much. When we started on the first section, my husband was standing on a step ladder, while I manned the panel lifter and the adjustable poles that held things in place while they were being maneuvered and secured. Then we got smart and pulled out the rolling scaffold, which, again, I highly recommend if you’re doing a bunch of renovation work–painting a ceiling, putting up moldings, working on the ceiling, etc.

In retrospect, we shouldn’t have done the mudroom wall prior to putting up the ceiling, because it did end up getting kind of scraped up in the process. I will sand lightly and repaint. I will give the shelf a second coat of paint too while I am at it since it only has a single coat which isn’t really enough.

At the end of the day on Sunday, we only had a couple of panels up and we added the other two in the first section before lunch time on Monday. By the way, my husband was also doing the final wiring on the LED can lights during the process, which slowed us down at first, but he has gotten significantly faster. In the photo below, you can see the bracing (in the foreground by the LAM beam) that my husband added to the undersides of the floor joists that we are using the secure the ceiling panels to.

We got two more panels installed on Monday afternoon, along with wiring the lights.

Having a light colored ceiling that is somewhat reflective REALLY brightens the space–it’s obvious in this photo because the lights are off and it was a dreary day.

Here are things that we have learned so far:

–Rolling scaffold, Panel lifter, and adjustable poles are absolute necessities for doing this project.

–Pre-painting the panels isn’t really a time saver because I have had to do a bunch of touch-up so far and I am going to have to repaint some of the panels because the sheen difference is GLARING.

–You MUST have carbide or diamond tipped cutting tools for cement board–it absolutely destroys everything else. Milwaukee makes a carbide hole saw for installing can lights, but it’s special order only, so we are making due with a jig saw.

–We are putting up crown molding, so we really don’t need to have things fit tightly. Opening up the tolerances has really improved our speed, because it isn’t so much of a battle to get things in place.

–We hoped that we would not have to caulk the joints between panels, but we will. I won’t do any more painting until we have the first half of the room caulked, and the screw holes cleaned up.

Overall, we’re happy with how it’s looking, but, wow, this is a BIG job. I am definitely feeling the work, and my age.

I’ll post more when the entire ceiling is up.