The process of creating a drop ceiling with paneling remains much the same as creating one with ready-made ceiling tiles. You'll need to hang a grid to provide a support system for the panels. After that, it's just a matter of choosing the panels desired, and then cutting them to fit before dropping them into the grids. The extra cutting will add to the installation time, but the results will give you precisely the look you want, without the ready-made tile limits.
Instructions
1. Mark the desired height of your ceiling onto the walls by attaching a chalkline onto the wall, checking that it's level using a carpenter's level, and then pulling the line away from the wall slightly and releasing it to snap against the wall leaving its mark. Make certain the mark is at the same level around the perimeter of the room. Leave space for the panel installation by placing the ceiling grid no closer than 6 inches from the ceiling joists.
2. Locate the wall studs along your ceiling line and mark the location of each with a piece of chalk. Run a stud finder over the wall along the ceiling line; and watch for an indicator light, or listen for a tone, which notes the location of a stud, depending on the model of finder used. Attach perimeter molding for your grid onto the walls with 6d nails driven through the molding and into the wall studs with a hammer. Cut the molding when necessary with tin snips.
3. Attach 16-gauge hanger wires from the ceiling joists, spacing the wires every 4 feet to support the long known as runners that make up the primary structure of your ceiling's gridwork. Use hanger wire screws to attach the wires from the joists and use wire cutters to cut the wires long enough to descend past the ceiling height from the joists plus an additional 3 inches.
4. Measure the room's length, and then cut the runner grid rails to fit using the tin snips. Attach the grid rails to the hanger wires, using pliers to bend the wires through the rail loops at the ceiling height. The runners should run parallel to one another, 4 feet apart down the length of the room after placement.
5. Place the cross tee bars between the runner bars, sliding them into the prepared slots in the bars to make 4-foot grid squares. Cut the cross tees to fit the partial spaces at the edges of the grid and connect them to the molding nailed to the wall to complete the grid creation.
6. Cut the panels into 4-foot squares using a table saw in order to fit the full-sized grid squares. Tilt the panels at an angle to push them through the bottom of the grid, and then straighten and lower them into the grid square from above to create a ceiling from them. Measure the partial squares along the edges of the grid and use the measurements to cut panels to fit with the table saw. Mount them into the grid in the same way.
Tags: them into, grid rails, , ceiling height, ceiling joists