Dropped ceilings offer a quick, easy way to give an unfinished basement a finished ceiling. Drop ceiling tiles come in 2-by-2 foot squares or 2-by-4-foot rectangles. While tile size determines the grid's configuration, installation remains the same. Before you begin this project, complete any necessary drywall installation and finish all electrical work in the ceiling joists.
Instructions
1. Measure 4 inches down a wall from the bottom of a ceiling joist and make a mark. Set up a laser level in the center of the room. Line up the laser with the mark you made.
2. Measure the length of one wall. Transfer this measurement to a piece of perimeter molding. Cut the molding to the appropriate length, using tin snips. Line up the perimeter molding's bottom edge with the laser line. Hammer 6d nails through the perimeter molding and into the wall studs. Their locations should be visible above the edge of the drywall; if not, find them with a stud finder. Work your way around all four walls. Overlap the perimeter moldings' edges at inside corners and cut the ends at 45-degree angles at outside corners.
3. Measure the basement's length perpendicular to the ceiling joists. Divide this measurement by the panel length -- either 2 or 4 feet. This tells you how many full panels will fit across the basement. Divide any leftover space in half to make two rows of partial tiles -- one at either end of the basement.
4. Snap a chalk line across the ceiling joists to indicate the location of each main runner, using the configuration you determined in step 3. Screw small eyebolts into every third ceiling joist that intersects the chalk line.
5. Count the number of eyebolts you used. Cut a 10-inch-long piece of 16-gauge hanger wire for each eyebolt. Insert a wire about three3 inches through each eyebolt. Bend the wires down and wrap them around themselves three times.
6. Set up the laser level underneath the first chalk line. Set the first main runner into the grid, with the ends resting on the perimeter molding. Lower it until its bottom edge hits the laser line. Bend the wires where the main runner intersects them into an L-shape. Insert each wire into the nearest hole in the main runner. Bend the wires up and wrap them around themselves three times. Repeat this step underneath the remaining chalk lines.
7. Push cross tee tabs into the main runners' slots. The cross tees will be spaced 2 feet apart, no matter if you're using square or rectangular .
8. Measure the space from the main tee to the wall along each of the four walls. Cut cross tees with tin snips to fit this space. Insert the cross tee tabs into the main runner and rest the cut end on the .
9. Tilt a full-size ceiling panel to fit through one of the grid openings near the center of the grid. Straighten it out and lower it onto the grid. Repeat with all the full-size panels.
10. Measure the grid opening's along the basement's perimeter. Cut ceiling tiles to fit these openings, using a sharp utility knife. Always cut with the tile laying faceup on a flat surface. Use a metal yardstick as a straightedge as you make the cuts. Fit the cut tiles into the grid the same way you fit the full-size tiles.
Tags: main runner, perimeter molding, , ceiling joists, ceiling tiles, chalk line