I will soon begin finishing my basement and have begun to look at all the things I need to move relocate to maximize ceiling height. For the most part it is just a few water supply lines and some wiring to bury in the joists. My Main Furnace Supply Trunk runs rught down the middle of the basement. I plan to finish walls & ceiling with sheetrock. Each of the ducts running from the trunk has a damper. Is it ok to cover up these dampers so as long as I am happy with the way the house is being heated/cooled? I am talking about ~ 10 individual dampers here so I don't want to install ceiling accesss panels for each. And I am not really thrilled with installing a track ceiling. Is there another alternative?
If you're happy with the damper settings, go ahead and seal them under sheetrock. If you ever need to get to them, you can always cut a hole in the rock. Personally, I am very happy that I installed a tracked ceiling in my basement. Let's see.... Since I installed the tracked ceiling, I have had two outside electric circuits installed at different times and I snaked the wiring above the ceiling panels by just sliding the panels out of the way along the route of the wiring. I tacked the wiring to the joists along the route. I had a water softener installed and had to snake the plastic drain hose across the basement above the ceiling panels to the waste water pipe. I installed an office in my basement and and to snake telephone wire and cat5 cable across the basement. You guessed it, above the panels. I decided that I needed more light, so I removed two panels and replaced them with panel light fixtures tapped off another light with wires above the ceiling.. One of my frost proof sillcocks decided to rot away at the joint causing a leak that dripped down on my ceiling panel. I replaced the sillcock by removing the panels, soldering the new one in place and then replaced the wet panels with new ones. I had a small leak from a dishwasher that stained 2 panels pieces. I replaced the two panels pieces. I am secure in the knowledge that if I ever need to get above the ceiling to add or replace something in the future, I won't have to cut sheetrock and then have to replace, spackle, and paint anything.
By track ceiling, do you mean a suspended tile ceiling?
Just one alternative I have seen is this:
formatting link
I have never used it and don't know what it costs, but it looks pretty neat. I saw it used on a TV show once and it seem to be a good compromise between drywall and hanging a suspended ceiling.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.