What type of ceiling should I use? - DIY Chatroom

dzimmer88 · 09-24-2007, 08:37 AM

Hello. I own a house that was built around 1890 and we are remodeling a mud/laundry room that is our main entrance to our house. This specific room looks like it was an addition that was built on afterwards but not sure when. There are 3 rooms in this addition (the other is the dining room and our kids playroom). We are only interested in remodeling the first. We took down all the paneling and will drywall again. The problem is the ceiling. It was really bad so we took down the 1ft interlock squares that were then stapled to beams. The ceiling is so uneven that they used shimmies all over the place. When we took it down we then realized that there is another ceiling above it with the same material however these were nailed right to the ceiling beams and there is vermiculite on top of it (yes we used respirators we pulling down the 1st layer). We were thinking about putting up something called CeilingMax because the ceiling is so uneven but maybe we should use drywall. The problem is we aren't sure if we should pull off the last layer of ceiling which will expose the A frame (there aren't any rooms above this). If we were to do drywall, it would not be even. We are at a complete standstill with the rest of the room until we can decide. I have my friend who is a contractor coming over in a few days to take a look but I thought I'd send out a posting for any other advice. My initial thought is to hire someone to do this because my husband and I are not that handy (but we are learning!), and this job might be too big for us. Any advice???

Ron6519 · 09-24-2007, 09:24 PM

If you want it to look like a commercial store, use the max. If you want it to look like a house, install sheetrock. If you have to even out the ceiling, even it out.
Ron

scorrpio · 09-25-2007, 05:18 PM

Clean it out to bare joists, If joists in the ceiling are uneven relative to each other or have a bow to them, you got some serious problems with your framing, and should get a structural engineer. If joists ARE straight and even, install R30 fiberglass, vapor barrier side down, and put up drywall.