Homeowners dress up flat, plain drywall or old plaster ceilings with knotty pine paneling boards or planks to add a decorative touch to a home. Knotty pine plank paneling, so named for the visible wood knots scattered about the surface, offers a visually pleasing ceiling covering. Installers fit the tongue side of the planks into the groove side to create a one-piece effect, without gaps or wide, visible seams.
Instructions
1. Climb a stepladder or scaffolding to access the ceiling. Find the ceiling joists with a stud finder and make marks with a pencil at each end of the room indicating the joist location. Extend a chalk line between the marks and snap it to create a long, straight line designating the ceiling joist. Repeat for each stud. Typically, the joists are every 16-inches on-center throughout the ceiling.
2. Put a tube of construction adhesive into a caulking gun, slice off the tip of the adhesive with a utility knife and puncture the inner skin with a nail.
3. Turn the plank over and run wavy lines of adhesive over the back of the plank.
4. Place the first plank on the ceiling, running perpendicular to the ceiling joists, beginning in a corner with the groove edge of the plank facing the wall. Place a 1/4-inch wood shim between the wall and the knotty pine panel. Run your hand over the knotty pine while pressing it against the ceiling.
5. Drive 4d finishing nails through the tongue into the ceiling joist with a hammer at every stud.
6. Place a nail set on top of the nails and hit it with a hammer to set the nails slightly below the tongue's surface.
7. Equip a power drill with a bit slightly smaller than the diameter of the finishing nails. Drill through the plank, 1 inch from the wall, into the ceiling joist. Drive 4d finishing nails through the pilot holes into the joist. Place a nail set on top of the head of the finishing nail and hit it with a hammer to set the nail just below the surface of the knotty pine. Continue down the length of the wall, gluing, shimming, drilling and nailing the knotty pine to the ceiling. Make cuts to the pine prior to installation, as necessary, with a circular saw equipped with a wood-cutting blade.
8. Apply construction adhesive to the back of a knotty pine panel. Slip a panel groove into the tongue on the second row, staggering the seams between the two rows. Drive 4d finishing nails through the tongue into the joist. Tap the finishing nails below the surface of the tongue with a nail set and hammer.
9. Continue gluing, fitting tongues into grooves and nailing the knotty pine against the ceiling until the panels cover the surface.
Tags: finishing nails, knotty pine, ceiling joist, Drive finishing, Drive finishing nails