| Ah, a finished basement. What a worthwhile | | | | want to look like any floor in the house? If the latter |
| remodeling project. Immediately provides additional, | | | | you will likely want a drywall ceiling. So part of this is |
| usable living space in the home. And, of course with | | | | personal preference, ascetics. |
| insulating the exterior walls reduces heat escape and | | | | However, after going through our renovations, I will |
| thus conserves energy. It can be thought of as a | | | | never install a drywall ceiling in any basement that we |
| great home renovation project in the winter when | | | | may have in our futures that does not have a ceiling |
| folks tend to cocoon more (i.e. stay at home more) | | | | already. |
| because of the inclement weather. | | | | Why? When you are doing renovations involving |
| But, what about the ceiling? Should one install drywall | | | | wiring and / or plumbing, you will spend countless |
| on the ceiling with drywall screws attached the | | | | hours not just running wires and pipe underneath the |
| ceiling's support beams, to which drywall mesh & | | | | main floor (which is your basement ceiling), but you |
| 'mud' (technical jargon of home builders / renovators | | | | will also need to follow along the path of the wires |
| for what is a white paste) is applied to where the | | | | and pipes to figure out what wire goes where and |
| drywall boards meet, followed by sanding (drywall | | | | what pipe is used for what. You can't do that |
| dust, yuk!) followed by priming and painting with | | | | efficiently (and time is the enemy of home |
| ceiling paint? | | | | renovation projects!) if the ceiling is drywalled unless |
| Or, should one install a 'drop' ceiling with metal rods | | | | you break the drywall and then patch it all up again. |
| hung with wires attached to the ceiling's support | | | | Also, with new plumbing you need to have access to |
| beams criss-crossing the basement upon which | | | | the pipes up on the basement ceiling. At least in our |
| fire-retardant ceiling tiles are placed? In our basement | | | | house we did. Take for example the plumbing for the |
| we have both, but the majority of the basement | | | | existing en suite in our home which we renovated for |
| area uses a hung ceiling. | | | | use by a physically challenged family member. It was |
| There is more labour required with a drywall ceiling | | | | completely redone and the bathtub placed in a totally |
| from start to finish, in my opinion. Hard labour. How | | | | different part of the room. |
| do they get the 8 feet by 4 feet drywall sheets | | | | Our contractors approach is to put shut off valves |
| attached to the ceiling anyway? Yes with screws, | | | | for each hot / cold line; a very nice approach. If you |
| but think about the physical effort. Those drywall | | | | have a drywall ceiling, you know what that means; |
| sheets are heavy. | | | | yes, you have to break the drywall. If, however, you |
| And then, think about the physical process of | | | | have a drop ceiling, all you need to do is to remove |
| applying the mud, and then sanding the mud up on | | | | the ceiling tile, do your plumbing thing and then |
| the ceiling. Wow! Painting a ceiling is hard enough. | | | | re-install the ceiling tile (which takes all of 20 seconds). |
| One could say it depends on the look. Do you want | | | | So, from a renovation / remodeling perspective, my |
| your basement to look like a basement? Or, do you | | | | money is on drop ceilings. |