Affixing OSB to Ceiling Joists with (brad?) Nails

[William.Deans]

Greetings,

In rental properties I often have problems in which I need to pull down the ceiling. Drywall ceilings are destroyed in this process and drop-in-tile ceilings are considered "low class" by some tenants. They also lower the ceiling height. I have torn down a drywall ceiling which was water damaged... for the THIRD time in the same property. I have the notion that I would like to replace it with a

1/2" OSB or Plywood ceiling held up by brad nails. After popcorn texture is applied it would look no different from a regular drywall ceiling but I could hire a $10/hr guy pull it down if need be and reattach / paint it. OSB and Plywood are also much more water resistant than drywall. I believe that screws would make this process much harder if not impossible. What is the minimum spacing of 2" 18 AWG brad nails (16 AWG?) that I would need to hold up this 1/2" board with 16" joist spacing? (too many will make the boards harder to pull off). If for some reason it is not possible with brad nails then what is the minimum finish nail requirement or some other fastener which I can pull out instead of having to unscrew after the heads are filled?

Thank you for your time, William

PS: The last question I posted received some very helpful answers but also a lot of off topic responses and responses which were not addressing the question which I asked. No, you WILL NOT be able to tell after I lightly texture coat with a single coat drywall mud mixed with paint then popcorn. I'm not going to fix the water problem. Period. If you want to talk about "source of water", "stopping water", "addressing water" or how stupid I am you are welcome to among yourselves, but I might not be able to find the time to respond to you. This is a question about safely (if possible) affixing OSB to the ceiling with (brad) nails.

Thanks!

[Bob]

I can't answer your question, but I can make a suggestion --- Using 1/4 inch wood instead of 1/2 inch will reduce the weight and therefore result in less concern about brads supporting it.

Bob-tx

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Brads will work if you have enough, but four screws will be all the safety you need I'd consider thinner board also.

I don't know if there are any code issues with OSB versus drywall.

[marson]

Are you using a nail gun? If so, then brad the bejeezus out of it--- every 6" or so? If you are hand nailing it, every foot or so should be sufficient. Now I know you aren't looking for advice, but I have to say that I don't see how OSB is going to hold up to water or survive being pulled down and put back up, etc.

[John Grabowski]

Does the OSB have the same fire rating as the drywall?

[HeyBub]

Who cares? It's a rental.

[Mikepier]

What is causing the ceiling damage? If this is a recurring thing, try to get it resolved. Another option is to put an access door where the problem is.

[William.Deans]

In this particular property the third floor is a an attic with a standard stairwell so people commonly use it as a bedroom. Since it is hot in the attic people tend to leave the windows open. The first good multi-day rain or torrential downpour with a cross breeze and enough water can blow in to ruin the ceiling below. Once there was a cup on the windowsill and it collected well over an inch of water during such a session (maybe 2). The floor is made out of 1" oak T&G floor boards and the water just drips straight through. If I wanted to fix the problem I could nail down plywood and then glue down linoleum so that the water didn't pass through the floor... but then I would be replacing linoleum instead of ceilings. In other properties people overflow the toilet, don't pay for more fuel oil and let the pipes burst, or stop up the tub with paper towels and turn it on full blast before they leave the house after being evicted and then claim vandals must have broken in and done it after they vacated. Sometimes there's a roof leak but normally it's a man-made disaster.

[William.Deans]

Greetings,

I know that you don't have to have boards of any sort over the ceiling joists at all if you are not exposing any electrical. I have seen a few with the ceilings down and the joists painted flat black (esp high ceilings) but in my case there is normally Romex or other reasons why it wouldn't work. If there is a code reason why nothing is OK but yet OSB is not OK then please let me know.

I worry about thinner boards not being stiff enough to span the 16" without eventually developing dips.

Thanks, William

[Wayne Whitney]

Two comments:

(1) In some places gypsum board is required as a fire barrier. One obvious example is the ceiling of a garage with living space above. So you'll need to determine what the requirements are.

(2) The ceiling fasteners are loaded in withdrawal, so they really should be screws. I wouldn't trust anything held up only by brad nails or finish nails. Particularly if you are worred about water damage--the water could accumulate and increase the load on the fasteners.

Cheers, Wayne

[mkirsch1]

One thing right off: OSB isn't going to be any more resistant to water than drywall. Soaks it up like a sponge in my experience.

IMHO those little wire brads are not going to cut it, no matter how many you put up there. They're just going to pull right out the first time your degenerate tenants leave the windows open in the attic. When the board falls, it'll probably hit someone in the head, and you'll end up with a lawsuit on your hands.

Plywood, 1/2" or thicker so they can't throw stuff through it, and drywall screws are the only way to go here. You can get the screws out and let the board down without damaging it when you need to. If you nail it up, then you have to force a pry bar under a seam, half- destroy the board in prying it down, and then you'll have hundreds of little nails to bend over or pound out.

1/4" plywood will be easier to put up, but then they can throw stuff through it. Sounds like your typical tenants are that type of people...

[William.Deans]

I care. I am the property owner therefore everything is my fault.

See reply to Edwin Pawlowski above.

PS: If in a PCP-induced satanic ritual the tenants built a bonfire in the middle of the floor and threw their babies on top the property owner would still be the one sued ... they are the only one capable of paying out money therefore the lawyers must find a way to make it their fault. Sound far fetched? Vegas odds (people betting actual money) on a 2008 pro Slave Reperation president were above 20% recently. That means whatever mutual fund your 401K is in will be devalued by the amount appropriate to make up for your evil doings in the slave trade. Yes YOU!

[William.Deans]

Sounds like I might really be forced to go with screws here.

[jJim McLaughlin]

I have a better notion. FIND and FIX the leak.

I have the notion that I would like to replace it with a

[** Frank **]

5/8" mold resistance sheetrock, cover the top with 6mil of plastic, use screws, not brads. Your sheetrock will not rot but your joists will.

[Chris Lewis]

According to [e-mail] :

Yeah, I have serious doubts about making 18ga brad nails weight-bearing. For all intents and purposes, they don't have heads, and with OSB they'd tend to pull right thru. Better with plywood, but still...

Both OSB and plywood suck as a ceiling material.

Picking on another comment, it _might_ be possible to minimize damage by plastic sheet over top of drywall. If there's a slope in the ceiling, or you can channel things, perhaps you could "focus" water runoff to one spot, where repairing it is less trouble.

That said, drywall is cheap, and if you have someone you can call who can do a reasonable/economical job, it'll probably be cheaper in the long run.

[John Grabowski]

I've seen these large oversized canvas window canopies that I think are designed to prevent rain from entering. Maybe that will work for your situation.

[samurai]

OSB will absorb water and you'll be repeating this again. Use 1/2' cement board, the kind used for tiles, not the green or blue aqua board used in bathrooms. Expensive and heavy, but durable.

How about susended ceiling? Easy to fix if there is a leak/repair needed.

I would not use brads, maybe 1-9/16 staples though. Maybe even construction adhesive.

samurai.

[** Frank **]

Is cement board fire rated? Cutouts for downlights or ceiling speakers could be a bitch if there are many. I've ruined an expensive bi-metal hole saw just doing one cutout. The screws for cement boards are way over priced. I have to agree this stuff is the next best thing to a pour concrete floor/ceiling.

[Mike Dobony]

Get an expert to fix it and use drywall. Plywood is a fire hazard.