Walls and Ceilings - Ceiling Job

Hi all. Thanks in advance for any help anyone may be able to provide. I have an older home that has tiled ceilings and I would like to remove them and drywall the entire ceiling. First, does this make sense or should I patch (if possible) the existing drywall? I have never done this before but welcome the challenge. Is it worth it to even try?

How you proceed greatly depends upon the original installation.

If the acoustic tile was installed to cover stains and cracking from a lath and plaster ceiling and furring strips were used, then you can remove the tile and install the drywall in place. CAUTION; Removing the furring strips can and often will result in dislodging the lath and plaster.

If it was installed with mastic directly to the plaster or drywall, you will then have to remove large dollops of mastic and then begins a whole nuther process which may not result in the need to install drywall, at all.

Please forgive my ignorance. I am not sure I understood everything you said (but certainly appreciate the reponse). But there appears to be drywall/sheetrock, then wood strips (are these furring strips?) to which the tiles (12''X12" i think) are stapled. I was wondering if I could take the tiles down and drywall over the wood strips. Would this just create a mess?

Sorry...forgot to add that the tiles were installed for asthetic reasons (in the 70s). There was no problem with the ceiling prior.

Just remove the tile and furring strips, then patch and finish the ceiling.

Cool. Thanks for your help. It is much appreciated. Great site.