The Ceiling - Part One

The first area we decided to tackle is the ceiling. There were acoustic tiles on the ceiling in the dining room, living room, and front bedroom. We figured that the ceilings were in pretty rough shape under the tiles. Frankly, the tiles were ugly no matter what the state of the ceiling underneath them. That didn't mean that we expected to revert back to the original plaster, though.

Here you can see what is directly underneath the acoustic tiles. There are 1"x4" furring strips running perpendicular to the ceiling joists. They're 12" on center, originating from the center of the room. The acoustic tiles were nailed to the furring strips.

This is a closer view of the furring strips and the cracked ceiling. The plaster ceiling was sagging between the ceiling joists. The cracks run parallel to the joists and the sagging enough to actually push the furring strips from the ceiling. The nails were not doing a good job holding anything together.

This is part of the problem with the sagging ceiling. In the attic, there are 2x4's on the back corners of the dormer. These 2x4's are directing a bulk of the dormer's weight into a very small area of the floor. Directly under this 2x4 is the center of the front bedroom. This may help to explain some of the sag in the ceiling below, no?

To remedy our saggy situation, we jacked the ceiling up tight to the joists and screwed the furring strips into the ceiling joists with some beefy 4.5" screws. Everything held tight after we lowered the jacks. Next we screwed the 1/2" drywall up on a 12"x16" grid with 4" drywall screws (the ceiling joists run 16" on center, the furring strips 12" on center). We wanted to make sure that the drywall was not going to be hanging exclusively from the furring strips or the lathe.

In the living and dining rooms, we decided to not remove all of the tiles since we understood what was going on. In those rooms, we just screwed the drywall to the joists with 4.5" screws.

This is our drywall lift. My dad got it at an auction somewhere. If you have to hang any drywall on a ceiling, I recommend renting or borrowing one. It'll save your back and shoulders.

With this much done on the ceilings, it's time to move on to the floors before we leave on our honeymoon. We'll come back and do our mudding later.