Suspended ceiling or drywall

[champ98]

I'm finishing the basement in our 4 year old house. I would like to drywall my ceilings instead of putting in a suspended one with tiles. I am getting mixed reviews on this idea and would some input on the pros and cons of either one. I know for suspened ceilings it's easier to access electrical and plumbing lines in case of repair or update, but the drywall route would look cleaner to me and more "stylish".

[majakdragon]

I know what you are thinking of and I have to agree about the looks. The one thing I would recommend would be to take the time to measure and draw a layout of all your piping. Connections, junction boxes and such. Then, if you ever have a problem, you will have an idea of where to start cutting and not end up a foot or so from where you want to be. It takes a little time but would pay off in the long run. I would also think about installing access panels where drainlines are located. Good luck with your project.

[markiz37]

money... A suspended ceiling will cost a lot more than sheetrock, but you will get better soundproofing with suspended acoustic tiles, if it matters to you. Your call.

[champ98]

Either way I go, I still plan on insulating the ceiling for soundproofing.

Majakdragon,

I have thought of the same thing you were talking about; that way I will know where everything is and I won't be ripping up the entire ceiling to find what I need.

Thanks for the input.

[123456]

Check the building codes in your area. In some places (maybe all?) you have to leave access panels to any electrical junction boxes (also things like the jaccuzi tub plug, which for us is accessed through the basement) if you are going to drywall the ceiling. We put in several junction boxes in our basement to have power available for future use, so if we drywalled the ceiling we would have many access panels. So for us that lower clearance (ceiling Max or similar) drop ceiling is the best.

[akebanli]

I have the same dilemma. I am leaning towards a dry wall ceiling. I think it looks better/more formal.
Majakdragon: Any tips on the construction of access panels that would be aesthetically fitting to the overall look.
Thanks
:)

[lockpicker]

access panels come in a variety of shapes and sizes as far as the store bought panels are concerned..

However I have made them by using drywall so that they fit flush with the existing ceiling with just a 1/8 gap around the perimeter of the panel by using commercial grade corner bead so that everything is nice and true with straight lines

[John Nelson]

When I finished my basement five years ago, I drywalled the ceiling because that's the look I wanted and I wanted to make the ceiling as high as I could. I took pictures of the entire ceiling (multiple pictures in a grid that I spliced together). A few years later I had a pipe freeze. From my pictures, I knew exactly where it was. I just cut an 8" by 8" hole in the drywall, repaired the pipe, and snapped in one of those access panels you can buy at any home center. I don't consider the drywall to be an access problem.

[champ98]

Thanks for the tips everybody! I think I will go the drywall route as most of my water lines run down the middle of the house anyway. I will keep everyone updated and hopefully post some pics before and after the project.

[Ed Imeduc]

I guess call me an out cast here. Im for a drop down ceiling all the time in the basement I dont know how many times I have been back into it. Speaker wires ,TV, phone now PC you name it. Then as the kids grow up move the lights around in it. Set the ceiling up for a time with a 4'X8'
light in the ceiling for a pool table. Had Xmass lights up in there. For party time turn the white lights off and let the Xmass light take over.

ED :thinker:

[mjdonovan]

I recently completed a Basement and had the same debate. I am glad I chose the Drywall route. It looks great. I did leave a few access points for getting to shutoffs. I just trimmed out around these.

[mike-the-diy'er]

I agree with Ed. I am now planning my second basement finish. The first I did as a drop ceiling & am glad I did. I was up there several times after I finished the basement, once for a burst frozen pipe myself. I solved my "looks" issue by using better & more expensive tile. Went w/ 2x2 tiles & a beveled edge. Not only did it look very good, but the better tiles have 2 or 3x the sound & insulation value. I had numerous complements on how good the basement & specifically the ceiling looked. For that 1st basement I also struggled w/ the choice between tile or drywall.

For this basement, no question at all, tile. This time around I may even spend more $$ on the tile, depends on whatever deal I can get from a drywall & tile supply house. The 'big box' store selection is terrible. After carpet & bathroom items, my tile (entire ceiling) will be the next largest single cost item. Comparatively, drywall & lumber are cheap. For this one I have 9' basement walls & I plan not to box in the HVAC & other utility areas. I will hang tile below them. However I am not hanging the entire basement at the lower 8' level. In the main part of the basement where I have no obstructions I plan to step-up the height to around 8.5' or a little higher. Instead of using the standard metal edge trim, I plan on using crown molding (at least in the raised section) and I am positive it will look great. It will give it an architechural feature not found in other basement finishes.

If done well a tile ceiling can add to the look of a room, rather than detract from it. If you go the drywall ceiling route, please take the time to make the seams blend very well & spend the extra $ or two (per sheet) more for thicker drywall panels. Nothing looks worse than a wavy ceiling & visible joint seams. Think about it, as you walk down the stairs, your eyes come almost laser level with the ceiling and automatically perform a critique of it.

It is a personal choice, but let us know what you plan to do. If you do a search of old posts you will find 100's of comments on this issue, including several by me a couple years ago.

[akebanli]

:thinker: Mike, good info and excellent comparison which got me thinking over drywall/suspended ceiling choice again. I was basing my comparison on what I've seen at big orange. I think, I will go to an exclusive store for some education and more choices. Would you post pictures as you progress as my basement height and layout seems similar to what you have.
Thx

[mike-the-diy'er]

I will not be done with this basement for a while. I am just now finishing my plans & submitting to the city for approval. This time I am going to get approval & permits. Last house I did not do that & worried about it the entire time, especially when I sold it. I will still worry about that liability for a while. I do not want to lecture anyone here, but please get permits if your city or area requires them. I got them on my first house which was 80 years old & a true fix-er-upper. The city inspectors helped me with numerous issues & had excellent suggestions when I ran into problems. For my last house (especially the basement) I figured I knew enough & all my friends said don't bother with the permit. While I know I followed code entirely (I even obtained a copy of the codes to be sure) and I did not cut a single corner, like I said above I am still worried. Sorry I got off subject.

The area on my new house that will have a raised (6 -8") ceiling area will be around 10' x 23'. The entire perimeter will be a lowered soffitt right at 2' wide (width of 1 tile size) that will also be a hung ceiling. Like my last house, the basement lighting will be on at least 2 seperate light switches, one for floresent (sp) lights to provide bright light when the kids are down there playing and when we might be doing some craft project, the second will be soft perimeter lighting for watching a movie, working on the computer or other quieter times. It worked great in the other house, thus I will do it again here. A couple of other things I learned on the old basement, wire a set of 3-way switches for all lights at the top of the stairs so that you do not have to go down stairs to turn off when they get left on. And they will get left on. I also hung wall scones in the finished area that were wired to the lights in my shop/ storage area, thus I could tell when that light was left on.

To get a finished look, you (I) need to build down a small wall hung from the floor joists above. Think of it as a sort of retaining wall hung from above. The easiest way is to take a 2x2, screw to the joists above, then sandwich it with thin plywood 3/8" to 1/2" (go cheap here it is going to be covered w/ drywall) then another 2x2 runing along the bottom, then cover all three sides w/ drywall. If you want, use whatever scraps you have at the seams. Mud & tape it. Thus your ceiling wall is between 3' to 4' wide.

The lower tiled area will come to within 1/2" of the bottom of that retaining wall, while the higher side will be up several inches. As I said earlier, I plan to use crown molding on the higher area and my drop ceiling will sit / hang right off it. If you like color, paint that wall a seperate or highlighting color from your main wall color. It will look very good.

Sorry I cannot post pictures, my goal is to be done a year from now. My last basement took 9 months, but this one is bigger & has a full bath. Also the kids are a little older & we now have more activities going on. Sorry for the long post.

[akebanli]

Thanks Mike.
Good Luck and God Speed. :)

[thehusker]

For what it's worth, I finished my basement last winter and went with drywall. I had never hung a ceiling but decided to give it a shot. Half-way through, I decided to rent a drywall jack due to lack of help :). To make a long story short, if I ever do it again, I won't think twice about renting the jack.

[jeffluke]

A friend of my father-in-law told me about his son's basement where they hung vinyl soffit. He said it looks great! I am going to look at it Saturday and will let you know if you are intested. There were a lot of good reasons to doing it this way; Easy to access if you need to get in the ceiling, comes in various colors, different, not a flat ceiling...I will post photos when I get them.