This is a fairly fast, economical way to dress up your ceiling. And with the vast number of styles these days, you can easily match or enhance your home’s decor.
To give you an idea of what’s involved, here are the basics to attaching tiles in a non-suspended ceiling.
First, if your ceiling’s in really rough shape, with problems such as falling plaster or drywall, take it all down. If it’s showing water stains, find the cause and repair it now. No sense doing all the work only to have it ruined within months.
For a neat look, it’s nice to end up with tiles of the same width at opposite walls (border tiles). However, it’s tough to work with little strips of tile, so if you end up with less than half a tile at the border, it’s better to adjust and install a non-symmetrical pattern.
Here’s how to figure this out.
First find the center of the room, or if the room is not perfectly rectangular, select the largest rectangular section. Find the mid-point of each wall, and then snap a chalkline from side to side, marking the ceiling in rectangular quarters. Make sure there’s a perfect right angle at the intersection — which marks the center of the room.
Most tiles come in standard widths, say 1 foot or 2 feet. They also have tongues, so the actual dimensions will be slightly larger than the finished appearance dimensions. Using the finished dimensions, measure from the centerpoint along a chalkline to the wall. If you end up with less than half a tile at the border, move the chalkline you measured from until you get a half or larger tile on opposite walls.
Repeat this for the chalkline on the other axis.
We’ll finish off next time.