Project bathroom - ceiling

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussion' started by clueless1, Dec 10, 2017.

  1. clueless1

    clueless1 member... yep, that's what I am:)

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    Hi all.

    Our bathroom ceiling is unnecessarily high. It's also awful. A previous owner was a great fan of awful lumpy artex and 80s style sort of skirting but at the ceiling. It's horrid.

    So a thought occurs to me. From the top of the tiles, there's about 3 inches of horridness to prepare the eye for the abomination that is the textured ceiling.

    I thought if I put in a sort of false ceiling, I could have a nice smooth surface aligned to the top of the tiles. This would give me an opportunity to modernise the lighting, add more insulation thus improving energy efficiency, and make the whole bathroom easier to clean.

    My research tells me I can attach light wooden beams to the ceiling if I find the real beams to screw into. I'm not worried about electrics. I just need to possibly extend cables if necessary to allow for the lower ceiling. Then I can trap rock wool insulation between the current ceiling and the new one.

    What I'm less sure about, is what can I use for the new ceiling? All my research tells me plasterboard then skimmed. But I wonder if I could use ply, painted with a good coat of condensation proof paint of some kind. That would be easier for me I reckon. And would open up a range of opportunities for custom lighting options. I'm thinking a grid of pin point LEDs perhaps.

    Is ply a stupid idea for this role? What else could I use? I'd like to do it myself without need for expensive trades people to finish any of it. But I'd also like it to look good in the long term, and be safe and compliant with the latest fire/safety regs and recommendations.
     
  2. JWK

    JWK Gardener Staff Member

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    Don't use ply - it will absorb water in a steamy bathroom environment and shrink/expand/warp over time. Also I'm unsure that ply would comply with fire regs (but your old ceiling above I suppose is doing that fire break job) Use plasterboard and skim, it's much easier to skim than you think, There's plenty of YouTube videos showing you how, it's down to timing really. If you really don't want to skim yourself, you could get away with carefully fitting plasterboard and fill the gaps with a high quality filler. You can't sand it much as plasterboard has a paper finish so you need to use a non-water based filler.
     
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    • clueless1

      clueless1 member... yep, that's what I am:)

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      I've just come across pvc ceiling cladding. Any thoughts? It's designed to clad the existing ceiling, whereas I want to lower mine. Any thoughts on the cladding option?

      Cladding would certainly make the plasterboard route more appealing, as then I wouldn't need to worry about getting a perfect finish to the new ceiling, as the cladding would hide a lot of my DIY incompetence.
       
    • ricky101

      ricky101 Total Gardener

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      Hi,

      Just to add on to what @JWK has said, you can just fit the plasterboard and after filling the screw holes and joints, then paper it with thick lining paper for a very smooth finish or an embossed vinyl type etc for a nice effect etc, if thats you kind of finish.
      Use Tapered Edge board to get the smoothest effect after joint filling with scrim tape

      Can you get into the loft over the bathroom ? if so use a fine drill and make a hole either side of the joists so you can see their location from within the bathroom.

      Depending on the thickness / peaks of the Artex ? you might find fitting battens a bit difficult to produce a level surface.
      A couple of ways around that, making a hole in the Artex and fitting spacers direct to the joist or just try a blade under the Artexx, sometimes the whole lot will come away quiet easily.
      Do wear protective clothing and a face mask as its nasty stuff to breath in.

      The battens do not have to be that light, the wider they are the easier it is to fit your plaster board.
      Unless there are two + of you, then get some lengths of timber, ceiling height to make up one or two props to hold up the other end of the plaster board.
       
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      • ricky101

        ricky101 Total Gardener

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        Not used that cladding, but as you can see, it can be applied direct to battens, so you can still get the depth you needs and no need for a plasterboard surface.

        Depends if that look will go with the rest of your decor ?

        You can also see that if your bathroom is not too big you can easily fit level batten/mini joists by fitting wall plate timbers, as this vid shows, so saving any work on the existing ceiling.

         
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        • Scrungee

          Scrungee Well known for it

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          Use a vapour barrrier behind the plasterboard (or sheets with an integral barrier) to reduce the risk of condensation in the new void you'll be creating.

          I've seen Artexed ceilings overboarded without using any new timber supports, by using countersunk galvanised wood screws to fix through the existing plasterboard into the existing timber ceiling joists and noggings above, using 12.7mm thick boards and tightening the screws to adjust the level of the new ceiling finish and get abutting edges flush. Cut a channel out of the existing wall plaster around the perimeter to accept edges of the new boarding and work in from the perimeter towards a middle joist.
           
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            Last edited: Dec 11, 2017
          • shiney

            shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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            Or, if you want to go down a totally different route:-

            You could make a suspended ceiling with ordinary tiles or translucent tiles. Translucent would allow you to play with the lighting above them.

            All you would need is some aluminium angle strips to fix around the wall at the height you want. Fix the cross strips and then drop the translucent tiles in place. If you want to clean them at any time (or get to the lighting above) they just lift out. If you find that the span is too big to give full support and the thing dips near the middle then it's easily fixed without too much hassle. Just drill a few holes in the vertical part of the angle strips, run some wire through and run the wire through screw eyes in the ceiling. Many years ago I did exactly that at work and the ceiling was 54ft x 15ft. It was still as good as new 30 years later when I retired. The only alteration in that time was changing the style of lighting behind it.
             
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            • Scrungee

              Scrungee Well known for it

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              The minimum plenum depth would probably exceed 3". It all depends on the chosen design, but whilst a suspended ceiling fixer may manage 4", a DIYer may require 6".
               
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