New, easy-to-install features include light panels and acoustical tile

The easiest, quickest, niftiest ceiling that you can construct to cover the muddled overhead of your remodeled attic or basement is an acoustical tile job. You'll find this material at the lumberyard under such names as Armstrong Cushiontone, Celotex and a batch of other familiar titles. By any name this material is a carefully formed 12-in. square of rather soft fiber-board. There are about a zillion little holes punched in the sur­face to absorb the sound. The edges of each square have been cut into interlocking flanges to help you make a neat, even ceiling.

A straight, handsome job, however, depends on careful prep­aration. The foundation of the ceiling is the furring strips that you apply to the underside of the floor joists. Use standard 2 in. furring strips but don't just nail them to the underside of the joists willy-nilly. For one thing, the under surface of the beams is likely to be uneven, and this will give an unhappy wavy look to the finished surface.

Span several joists with a long straightedge and repeat this process as you shift from one part of the room to another until you have located the lowest joist. You can get the same results by standing on a chair and sighting

Gypsum board makes inexpensive, "quick" ceiling. Use T-props to hold sheets in place while nailing.

across the bottom of the joists. Although you'll probably be able to nail directly to the under­side of the lowest timber, all the other joists will have to be shimmed slightly. Your best bet here is to use a couple of thin wood wedges at each point. You might buy a handful of wood shingles and split them for this purpose. Just insert the wedges from opposite sides between the strip and the joist. Before we get too deep into this, remember that the furring strips are fastened up so that they run at right angles to the joists.

Space the furring 12 in. apart on centers (assuming that you're going to use 12 in. tiles—the most common size). After you have the first strip nailed to the joists all the way across the length of the room, measure out 12 in. from the center of this strip. Snap chalk lines across the joists as guides for lining up the rest of the fur­ring. Each strip is nailed to each joist with an 8-penny common nail. You should keep checking with a level and shim out each junction as you go. Insert two wedges from opposite sides and, as neces­sary, tap first one wedge and then the other. When the bubble of the level is on center, nail through all thicknesses of wood to hold the whole works in position. Each furring strip must be level along its entire run and level with regard to all the other furring strips. This operation sounds much more Complicated than it really is.

		Furring strips for a tile ceiling must be level to insure a good job. Shim with wood wedges as above if necessary.
		Check level of furring strips at each junction. Insert two wedges irom opposite sides of strip and adjust; then nail.

Putting Up the Tiles

When you have the furring-strip job under your belt you can start fastening up the actual ceiling tiles. Take the time to do a bit of planning first, however. Lay out the design that you're going to follow. Here's why: Unless you're riding on a crest of incredible luck your ceiling will probably not take a course of full-size tiles all the way across the room from one wall to the other. This means that the border tiles must be cut. Since you want the cen­ter lines to be exact, the border tiles must be of equal width.

To get the calculations under way, locate the center line of the ceiling by measuring the two end walls and then connecting the center points with a chalk line snapped across the furring strips. Measure the mid­point of this line and mark a center line at right angles to it. As a final result of this maneuver you'll have a plus sign chalked in the exact center of your ceiling. Measure from this line to the end walls and the side walls of the room. Divide the total by 12 (12 in. for the size of the tile). In most cases you'll wind up with a remainder of less than 12 in. Measure this distance out from the wall and snap a chalk line across, parallel to the 'wall. Repeat the procedure all the way around the room.

Lay out ceiling so border tiles will all be the same (see text). Cut them to this size, tack up.

Courtesy Celotex Corp Staple tiles in place through projecting llange. Do border tiles first, lining up on guide line.

This final set of chalk lines is a guide so you can line up the flanges of the border tiles and keep them uniformly straight.

Here are a couple of tips that will help you get a professional looking job. Remove the tiles from the cartons several hours in advance so that they can adjust to room temperature. When you actually start in­stalling tiles, work from several different piles so that any slight color variation among the tiles will blend.

Begin by installing the border tiles (the ones that must be cut because they are less than 12 in.). The job of cutting isn't hard. Just use a fine-tooth saw or a sharp fiberboard knife. In either case, be sure to have the finished surface of the tile facing up when you start slicing.

Border tiles should be installed starting in one corner of the room. Check to make sure the flange side of the tiles face the opposite walls. The square cut ends of the tiles you trimmed with a saw are nailed to the first furring strip. Once the first row of border tiles is installed the job speeds up considerably. If you have suffi­cient stamina you can work at a maniac pace.

The easiest way to attach the tiles is with a staple gun. The unit shown in the photos is a Bostitch T-58 unit and you'll find sim­ilar products (Swingline is another) under different brand names. Each time you squeeze the handle on this device a pow­erful spring drives a double pointed staple through the projecting flange of a tile into the furring strip. All you do is fit together the interlocking edges of the tile and then staple the projecting tongue in place.

Use four staples on each tile. Drive three of them through the flange parallel to the furring and then one more through the opposite corner. Don't get too heavy-handed in assembling the tiles, just use moderate pressure without driving them tightly together.

The final part of the job is to install wood trim all the way around the edge of your new ceiling. See the Trim chapter for information on this.

Gypsum Board Ceilings

The same gypsum board that's intended for covering walls can also be used on the ceiling. The advantage here is that the material is inexpensive and the large size sheets cover a huge area at one clip. How­ever, there are drawbacks to the idea. Be­cause the sections are so huge you'll have a bit of a hassle wrestling them into posi­tion overhead. Here again, a few tricks can make the job easier.

Use the largest size sheet of gypsum board that you can attach in a straight run. It's no harder to cut and apply a strip that's a foot or two longer. With this maneuver you'll wind up with a smoother ceiling and have fewer seams to tape and fill.

You don't need an elaborate overhead grid of furring strips to put up gypsum board. But, because the material is heavier, you must put up 2x4s as a nailing surface. If the span of unsupported ceil­ing is quite long, it may be necessary to shift over to 2x6 lumber or to nail up a few braces at mid-point (connecting with the existing joists) to prevent the whole structure from sagging. Stick to standard construction techniques and space the supports either 16 or 24 in. on the centers.

Cut the sheets one at a time to exact size. You'll probably have to hoist them into position and check the job a couple of times before you can start nailing. Notch or cut out for pipes, posts and other ob­structions.

The Interlocking tiles go up quickly and easily. Fit the tiles together with moderate pressure.

Harntl M. Mho,I Cllfminl Cut to fit around ceiling lights. A fiberboard knife or fine tooth saw is the tool for this job.

To put up suspended ceiling, attach hanger angles to existing ceiling or up into the joists.

Cut perforated strips to length (depending on hang of ceiling) and attach with nuts and bolts.

To handle the sheets overhead you'll need to build some simple supports and enlist the help of a friend. The sup­ports are nothing more than T-shaped affairs made of 1x2 or 1x3 lumber. Up­right, they should be a jam fit between the floor and the underside of the sheet when it's in position. You'll need at least a couple of T-props.

To fasten up a sheet, don't try to lift the entire span upward at one time. Instead, hoist up one end and jam a T-prop under it. Shift over to the other end, raise it and brace in position. You'll probably need one more prop, in the center so the sheet is perfectly flat against the wood supports. Despite the tension of the props, you'll be able to shift the sheet slightly until it is in exact position.

From here on the job is standard. Nail the gypsum board in position, tape the seams and fill the nail holes following the same procedure given for walls. Except for having to work in an awkward posi­tion, the task is easy.

A Suspended Ceiling

There's been a brand-new development in ceilings. T'hjs system, designed by Fiberglas and Alcoa, uses a suspended aluminum grid that holds any combina­tion of acoustical panels and polarizing light panels. You may be familiar with this type of suspended ceiling because it has been used quite widely in commercial buildings for a number of years. Until re­cently, however, it hasn't been available for the do-it-yourselfer involved in a re­modeling project.

With this method you get a finished ceil­ing in double-quick time. The lightweight prefabricated components go up quickly and easily using only a few hand tools plus a special locking device that's included right with the kit.

Starling at one end of the room, fasten the main "tees" to the metal strips. Bolt them into position.

Photos Courtesy Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. Complete grid by installing cross supports. These have tabs that are fitted into the precut slots.

You can tailor the ceiling to your specific needs. If noise control is your big head­ache, for example, you may want nothing but acoustical panels in the setup. Just specify this when you buy the kit. If, on the other hand, you want the sleek modern effect of an entirely luminous ceiling, just use the Fiberglas Polarizing panels. In addition to local outlets, these units are available by mail from Wards. Along with the metal members that make up the grid, you get the Fiberglas Sonocore acoustical boards and light panels in whatever com­bination you desire.

Both types of panels are highly efficient. The light panels provide tremendous light diffusion and eliminate all shadows and glare. The sound absorbing panels are faced with a white textured plastic film that never has to be painted and can be quickly and easily cleaned.

Here's how to install a suspended ceiling:

1. Attach hanger angles to the ex­isting ceiling. Space them 4 ft. apart or less.



2. Cut perforated strips to the length you want (depending on how far the grid is to hang down) and fasten them to the ceiling hangers with nuts and bolts. See photographs opposite page.



3. Starting at one end of the room fasten the main "tees" to the metal strips. The tees come with a row of punched holes so you can adjust them to make the grid level.

Completed grid for modem suspended ceiling looks like this. Select panels and install them.	Any combination of acous­tical and light panels can be lilted to grid. Choose panels to meet your needs.

4. Assemble the rest of the aluminum supports. Cross-rails have pro­jecting tabs that fit into slots cut in the side pieces. To lock the tabs in place, just twist them slightly with the wrench that comes in the kit.



5. Install the acoustical panels first. Tip them at an angle so they'll fit through the openings of the grid. In­ stall full size panels first and then, if necessary, cut the squares to size for the row next to the wall.



6. Position the polarizing light panels so the shiny surface faces down into the room. If you have to cut these plastic squares, score them several times with a sharp knife and then snap the material along this line. It's like cutting glass.

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