If you're tired of that plain plaster or drywall ceiling in your living room or study, and you want something that can be a showcase, consider a wood ceiling. It installs in the same way as wood flooring, with tongue-and-groove milling holding the boards together, and can go right over the existing ceiling. Let the wood planks sit in the room for a week beforehand to acclimate to the environment.
Instructions
1. Use an electronic studfinder to find and mark each ceiling joist within the ceiling (if the joists aren't exposed). Use your level and a pencil to mark the lines across the ceiling showing where the joists are.
2. Measure the length of the ceiling at the edge where you want to start, which has to be perpendicular to the joists.
3. Cut the first piece of wood ceiling board to that length on a miter saw.
4. Hold the board to the ceiling, at the edge of it, with the grooved side of the board facing the wall and sitting half an inch out from it. Secure the board by shooting nails straight up through the board face at each point it crosses a joist. Use two nails per joist.
5. Cut the next wood board to size and set it in place alongside the first board. Lock the tongue and groove sides tightly together, pressing them in as far as they will go. Secure the second board by shooting a nail through the edge, at an inward angle, at each joist.
6. Repeat for each board, building across the ceiling. Cut the final board along its length to fit against the far wall with a ½ inch gap there. Ceiling trim will cover the gaps.
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