Outdoor porch ceiling material

[dadiOH]

My wife wound up with a house that her ex-stepfather built (he acted as general). He knew squat about most everything so we now need to install a ceiling on two outside porches as a precursor to selling the house. Each porch is 10' x 42'. Possible materials...

1. Beadboard (ply, not planks)
2. T1-11
3. Drywall
4. Plain old plywood.
5. Hardie board?

Considerations are cost, durability and appearance. Depending on material,

5/8 would be preferred, 1/2" minimum. A sheet size that would minimize seams would be nice.

Beadboard would be the preferred material but - at least locally - the thickest available seems to be 3/8". Seems skimpy to me. Plus, it is pretty dear. T1-11 is getting rather pricey too.

Given the above, drywall seems to be the best bet. I don't particularly like it for that application but we have it on our porches and it has been fine for 15 years.

I'd welcome suggestions for other materials and any comments about your experiences with any.

[RicodJour]

Operative phrase being "selling the house", I'd go with a 2" beadboard- look vinyl soffit material. Cheap, fast, available in limited colors, no painting, weatherproof. I'm not big on vinyl siding of any kind, but when I was faced with a similar situation I opted for the vinyl and it turned out just fine.

R

[aemeijers]

Drywall on a porch ceiling? Unless (maybe) the porches are weather-tight

3-season rooms, sounds like a real bad idea to me. I'm not even fond of it in garages, if it is anywhere near splash points when the big door is left open.

[Tony Hwang]

Yup, Vinyl or Aluminum soffit.

[Jim Elbrecht]

If it is being done "as a precursor to selling the house" - then durability should be low on the list-- and Appearance #1- and #2, and #3. [unless it is already sold, in which case I'd ask the buyers what they want.]

-snip-

I'd go with bead board because it looks best.

Really? Maybe we're not calling the same thing a porch-- but if I noticed drywall on a porch, I'd pass on the house.

Jim

[Art Todesco]

We built a new house 2 years ago and both front and rear (now screened in) porches have bead board. It's basically 1x6 white pine boards. Each board has a bead in the middle and a half a bead on the edges. It was finished with polyurethane. It doesn't get wet, but as the pics below show, it is outside. It looks really nice. After seeing what my builder did, I would never do it any other way.

[gfretwell]

You can get many years out of moisture resistant drywall if it is painted with a good exterior grade paint. If you are worried about it, use Durashield but that is pretty "dear" too. Either are better than a wood product like T1-11 or beaded plywood if they get wet. The real trick is sealing it with paint so it doesn't get wet.

Aluminum or vinyl just scream "home depot" job.

[RicodJour]

It would raise all sorts of questions for me as well. Like where else did they use an inappropriate material or product - maybe in places I wouldn't discover until it became a problem.

R

[dadiOH]

What's the problem? It can't get wet unless water goes up and even in a hurricane with up to 150 MPH wind that didn't happen. And if it did get water on it, so what? Ceiling/wall edges are caulked and painted. The environment in a bathroom is a lot damper than the porches.

[dadiOH]

Very nice. If money were no object that is what I would do.

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

That all may be true. And if local code allows it, I'd have a copy of the code to show someone you see looking askance at it.

I'm just saying what *I'd* do if I was looking to buy the property. I doubt I'm the only prospective buyer you'd chase off by saving a few bucks.

Jim

[Art Todesco]

My old church, outside of Chicago, has a covered drive up to the doors. The original underside construction was drywall ... don't know if it was green or purple drywall as it has always been painted white. It was built in 1984 and has held up pretty good considering the freeze/thaw cycles of the area. There have been some repairs here and there over the years, the last, as I remember, being caused by a too high truck attempting to pass under. Oops .... it also took out one of the lights.