Installing a wooden ceiling over your old plaster or drywall ceiling will dramatically transform any room. With the materials and tools available today, it's something a competent do-it-yourselfer can do in a weekend. Ceiling planking comes with tongue-and-groove milling, like floor planks, and is hung with a standard trim nailer. Planks must be attached directly to the ceiling joists (the wood beams within the ceiling).
Instructions
1. Search for the ceiling joists, using your electronic stud finder. Draw lines across the ceiling with your pencil and level, marking out each joist.
2. Measure the ceiling along the starting wall, perpendicular to the joists. Mark the measurement on a ceiling plank. Cut the plank to size on your miter saw.
3. Hold the cut board to the ceiling, with the grooved side facing the wall. Leave 1/2 inch from the edge of the plank to the wall. This will give the wood room to expand with environmental changes. Shoot nails through the face of the board at each point where it intersects with a joist.
4. Measure and cut the next board. Set it against the edge of the first board, locking it into place with the tongue-and-groove milling on the sides of the boards. Shoot nails at an angle through side of the board at each intersection with a joist to attach the piece.
5. Hang the remaining boards in the same manner. Cut the final piece lengthwise on a table saw to fit against the far wall, leaving a 1/2-inch gap.
6. Hang trim molding around the edges of the ceiling, cutting it on your miter saw and attaching it with your trim nailer, covering the gap.
Tags: board each, ceiling joists, ceiling with, joist Measure, Shoot nails, tongue-and-groove milling