Galvanized skirting is a sheet-metal product with a shiny silver finish that has often been stamped to look like stone blocks. It is commonly sold in sheets 5 feet long and 28 inches wide for about $12 each, at the time of publication. Although its intended use is to cover the open area below a manufactured home or porch, its decorative surface makes it a creative, low-cost alternative to smaller tin ceiling panels, which can be double the cost.
Instructions
1. Measure your ceiling with a measuring tape. Divide the length of the room by 27 inches to determine how many panels you need to fit across the room and the width by 58 inches to see how many panels you need widthwise.
2. Cut enough pieces of 1-by-1 lumber so you have enough to go around the perimeter of the room and at 27-inch intervals across the length of the room. These are the furring strips, which provide a nailing surface for the galvanized panels.
3. Find the ceiling joists under a finished ceiling with a stud finder as they run lengthwise across the room. Mark each one.
4. Nail the furring strips to the ceiling joists around the perimeter of the room, using 2-inch finish nails. Find the center of the ceiling and snap a chalk line in each direction so they intersect at the center of the ceiling. Working out from the lines, snap chalk lines every 27 inches perpendicular to the joists.
5. Lay a furring strip along each line and nail it to the ceiling on each joist.
6. Put the first panel in the center of the room so it is lined up with its long edges over the furring strips, one on each side. Nail the panel into the strip with 1/2-inch nails every 6 inches along each strip.
7. Butt the narrow end of the next panel up against the first panel, lining up the design on the panel and nail into place along the furring strips as in Step 6. Continue across the width of the room, trimming the last panel to size with tin snips. For instance, a 12 1/2-foot wide room requires 2 1/2 panels.
8. Start the next row with the cut panel, or cut a panel down to one-third or in half. This ensures the seams between the panels are staggered. Put the cut-end of the panel toward the wall and overlap the 1-inch ridge along the long edge of the panel with the ridge nailed to the last furring strip. Nail the panel to the furring strips every 6 inches, making sure not to nail in the same spot as the other panels where the two overlap.
9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 until the entire ceiling is covered, cutting out around light fixtures with tin snips, as necessary.
10. Cut crown molding or quarter-round molding to fit around the perimeter of the room to cover the edges of the galvanized skirting panels. Cut the corners to 90-degree angles with a miter box and saw for a finished look. Nail into place with finish nails.
Tags: furring strips, , around perimeter room, every inches, perimeter room, across room