Homeowners should measure carefully before plotting their ceiling tile layout.
Ceiling tiles are used to cover up older ceilings or finish off a room that may not have support for a normal ceiling. There are several different types of ceiling tile, including porous and acoustical, but they all tend to be made from lightweight material. When installing ceiling tile, the tiles are either glued or nailed down, depending on the design and frame. Homeowners can usually install and care for ceiling tile themselves.
Plan Out Borders
When homeowners first begin planning for , they should carefully measure both the tile they want to use and the room. It can be tempting to line tile up so that a tile edge runs down both the center lines of the room, but this can cause alignment problems at the edges where the tile might narrow down to only a strip. To keep the tile at the edges whole or as broad as possible, homeowners should plot out the tile design ahead of time.
Level or Fur the Ceiling
In order to successfully install the tile, the ceiling above it must be perfectly clean and level. This means that homeowners must clean it and use filler compounds to fill in cracks or gaps, along with grinders to grind down lumps and hills. If the ceiling is too complicated to level, the homeowner can use furring strips instead, stapling the furring strips in rows where the tiles will be attached.
Be Prepared to Cut
Most rooms will require at least one row of tiles to be cut in order to fit. Homeowners will also need to cut tile to fit in light fixtures and other components, so cutting tile is usually unavoidable. Fortunately, wall tile is easy to cut and can usually be done with a razor blade device, like a box cutter.
Use Bleach and Paint for Cleaning
Cleaning can be difficult, mostly because the tiles are hard to reach. If a homeowner has only small stains on the tile, they can be cleaned using a small brush with a bleach and warm water mixture. Over wide areas, this mixture might stain the tile itself, so it is better to replace or repaint the tiles. Nonporous tiles can be repainted, although it will minimize the effects of acoustical tiles.
Tags: ceiling tile, tile they, ceiling tile, furring strips