My basement ceiling is covered with plywood and dark carpet on top of the plywood (music/band room). The band thing is over after 10 years. I want to pull the carpet off and replace it with something "bright" to lighten up the room.
I really don't want a drop ceiling because of overhead space so what would be a good and easy to install as a covering?
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Normally you would put thin wallboard up over something like this. I suppose you could popcorn directly on the plywood and paint it but I'm not sure how well that would hide the seams.
Small ceiling tiles could be stapled and glued, you might even get better sound deadining that you have become accustomed to, drywall will sound louder
Drywall, pressed tin tiles, composite acoustic tiles, spray texture and paint...
"Normally you would put thin wallboard up over something like this. I suppose you could popcorn directly on the plywood and paint it but I'm not sure how well that would hide the seams.
Why bother wtih the wall board? You still would have to tape the edges. (But, as mentioned below, the wall board would give your some fire protection.)
Get the thinnest 2" wide "lath" you can find and use it to cover the edges.
You might consider a few extra pieces to create 4'x4' square on the ceiling.
Depending upon the look you want, you can paint everything white or make the lath strips a darker tone.
If you like the "wood look" you can stain & varnish or just varnish.
The main problem, in my mind, also existed in the original installation: you have a very flamable ceiling. Any fire starting in the basement would involve the first floor very quickly.
That's why you might want to tear out the wood and replace it with drywall.
John Gilmer wrote: (snip)
As opposed to the bazillion basements with open joist ceilings? Including in the furnace room, where the likely ignition points are? Not something I lose a lot of sleep over. Even in commercial settings, they don't always bother with a fire-stop ceiling under a wood roof any more. The replaced half the roof on one wing at work a couple years ago, when snow load made it sag. (Oops- that wall they tore out in a remodel was doing something after all...) I was surprised to see them NOT put up the layer of drywall like all the other roofs had above the drop ceiling, so I asked the building fire marshal about it. He said code no longer required it, since the dead spaces and tunnels were more of a fire propagation hazard than the slightly faster burn-through time.
Standard disclaimer- I am not an engineer or fire protection specialist.
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