How To Finish A Basement
Basement Ceiling – Tips, Ideas and Options
When it’s time to finish a basement ceiling it is important to understand the finishing options that are available to be sure the correct materials are used for your home. In this section we will look at the options for finishing a ceiling, insulation options, and some ceiling ideas to customize your space.
Options
The primary options for finishing the ceiling of a basement is to use either drywall or ceiling tiles. With drywall, the result is a ceiling that has the same appearance as the upstairs, providing a uniform look to the house. Benefits of a drywall ceiling include the fact that it may be textured to match the rest of the house and it may be painted any color you like. Another benefit is that drywall is installed to the floor joists, or just below them on spacers, which means there is very little headroom lost. This leaves you with the maximum amount of height in the finished room. One disadvantage of a drywall ceiling is that drywall is very heavy and difficult to install. In addition, there is added time and cost of finishing, adding texture, and painting the ceiling before the job is done. The primary disadvantage of a drywall ceiling is that there is no access to the utilities in the floor joists overhead. That means a small problem like a leak in the bathroom upstairs will result in a time consuming and expensive repair. Ceiling tiles are used by first installing a track that hangs just below the floor joists.
This track is installed with the proper spacing so that the ceiling tiles may be simply dropped into the grid. There are some great benefits when using ceiling tiles. The first is that tiles provide easy access …