Walls and Ceilings - Drop / Suspended Ceiling Layout Tool

I've been working to figure out the layout for a suspended ceiling in my basement, and before I knock myself out any more I thought I would ask the question. Is there any sort of online tool that allows you to input the measurements for your room and have the suggested layout be displayed? It seems like with a basic graphing program this should be possible.

The whole process wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have several jogs in the main space of the room. So tell me, helpful group, does anything like this exist?

Thanks for any suggestions.

I can sympathize with your problem

Here's a link that may provide what you need.

http://www.armstrong.com/resclgam/na/ceilings/en/us/material_estimator.asp

Basically, there are only four ways to go; either 4' or 2' cross tees, and running the main runners the length of the room or the width of the room. If you're using 2' square tiles, then you only have two options.

Laying it out on graph paper will tell you what you need to know and yes, it is tedious:wall:

Regardless of the size of the tile and the orientation of the runners, two items are fixed: the square footage of tiles and the number of feet of wall molding.

Might be simpler just to sheetrock the ceiling instead.

Might be simpler just to sheetrock the ceiling instead.

Yeah, drywall might be easier, but there are a few shutoffs, electrical junction boxes, etc. that need to be accessible, so drywall is not really an option. Plus I need to drop the ceiling in this part to get under ducts, so drop ceiling makes the most sense.

Even on the other side of the basement where I do not need to drop the ceiling, I am still using ceiling tiles with the ceilingmax product, so that I can access things above the ceiling.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I can sympathize with your problem

Here's a link that may provide what you need.

http://www.armstrong.com/resclgam/na/ceilings/en/us/material_estimator.asp

Basically, there are only four ways to go; either 4' or 2' cross tees, and running the main runners the length of the room or the width of the room. If you're using 2' square tiles, then you only have two options.

Laying it out on graph paper will tell you what you need to know and yes, it is tedious:wall:

Regardless of the size of the tile and the orientation of the runners, two items are fixed: the square footage of tiles and the number of feet of wall molding.

This might work. I just clicked over there to give it a look and I am at the part where you can "draw" out the room. Let's see how that works; otherwise I am back to good old graph paper. I spent several hours yesterday working on just a small (square) room, so I'm not looking forward to my larger, more complex space.