Basement Ceiling Drywall, Is Finishing Required ????

[batesrt]

looking to put up a basement ceiling on the cheap! drywall is about

10 times cheaper than a drop ceiling as far as i can tell. thought about just putting up drywall on the ceiling, BUT, i still want access to the wires/ducts if i ever need to (ie the benefit of a drop ceiling).

can i just put up the drywall per normal, using screws, but not finish/ tape/mud the joints? that way if needed i figured i could just unscrew one panel, access whatever i need, then screw it back in. talked to a Lowe's guy who didn't think it should be done, thinking that the drywall ceiling might crumble apart if it's not finished????

[Noozer]

Should be fine, but don't reuse the same holes when putting the sheets back up.

Personally, if I were doing something like this I'd probably use something light, like cheap panelling, painted to look decent and mounted with washered screws.

[RickH]

Removeable "fake beams" might work well for this application to hide the seems, or make your own fake beams from lumber, then you could paint.

[dpb]

As long as it's not disturbed it'll be fine. After wrestling even 3/8" overhead and hanging it, though (and I'm not really recommending using less than 1/2 for a ceiling unless you don't care if it sags), I'd be willing to bet you would choose to simply cut where you needed for access rather than pull down a full sheet. :)

And that doesn't address the issue that once it's up, taking it down will leave a set of mounting holes that will be weak points for the breaking that the Borg guy was probably thinking of. Not to mention that after a period of time, the chances of drywall screws snapping off when you try to back them out is pretty good once the floor joists cure good and a little bit of moisture has corroded the screws, etc., ...

The other responder w/ the idea for a much lighter paneling or other solution sounds far more practical for that intent to me. Or sheetrock the area w/o any plumbing/drains/etc. and use something else for areas likely to need access.

imo, $0.02, etc., etc., ...

[The Reverend Natural Light]

It depends on what you eventually plan to do with the room. Finished living area needs the drywall joints taped and mudded to meet code (what the inspector told me). If you plan on finishing it eventually then you'll probably want 3/4" drywall on the ceiling so it won't sag. Removing 1/2" drywall intact sounds difficult but removing 3/4" has to be much worse.

Anyways, leaving it unfinished certainly won't hurt the drywall, but it sounds like a bad idea.

[bigjim]

[willshak]

on 8/13/2007 7:04 PM [e-mail] said the following:

Right. My basement is divided into 3 rooms. There are no doors, moldings, or even jambs on the door openings, the floor is bare concrete, the stairwell is unpainted and unfinished with the original rough hand sawn staircase, and there is no permanent lighting. It has been that way for 15 years.

[willshak]

on 8/13/2007 2:46 PM [e-mail] said the following:

A drop ceiling would be more utile. What if you had to run wires, or cable, or pipes across the basement? You couldn't under a sheetrocked ceiling.,

[WalkingMan]

I used something called celotex(sort of an accoustical material) came in 4 X 8 sheets, weighed very little, tacked it up, then made a grid of 1 by 3 boards in 4 foot squares. In 25 plus years have not had to access the wires or ducts, and for some reason the gridwork makes the LOW ceiling seem higher, at least tht is what the wife says, there are hardly any wires in the ceiling area, 3 ducts, and when I opened the ceiling to install, I found that one of the ducts was a return air duct, connected to nothing, so it was vacuuming the ceiling area all winter!! Filters lasted a lot longer after I disconnected it! M

[jeffc]

Yes, drywall alone should be fine. Only thing is the taking down and putting back up part. Drywall gets its strength in kind of an odd way. Gypsum is very strong in one sense, and very weak in another. Paper is very weak in one sense, and very strong in another. It's an odd combination but they complement each other. Point being, if you screw in drywall, you have to be careful not to let the screw rip through the paper. If you put the drywall back up, the old screw hole you used probably won't be as strong, since some of the gypsum will probably be crumbling around it at that point.