cheap and easy idea for basement studio ceiling

Elinor A
by Elinor A
due to extensive house rewiring, the ceiling in my basement studio is gone. all that remains is lots of strapping. i would like to do it myself but could not handle drywall. my thought is what about the pink or blue foam insulation panels.they are light and cheap and i could easily handle them. is there anything wrong with this idea?
tia
  17 answers
  • Z Z on Sep 06, 2012
    I think you'd have to glue them up and even though they are light weight anything over your head is not easy to do. Especially by yourself. Will you have any help at all?
  • The only concern I would have is fire. You do not want any foam materials being left exposed. If by chance a fire started. The fumes given off by the foam boards will kill you in short order. Use ceiling tiles, or paint everything black, then place lattice panels over the entire ceiling. Use white or another bright color so to block out the wires above. Simple, Light and easy to cut. And not to expensive also.
  • Z Z on Sep 07, 2012
    Good point about the fire hazard WE. That's the first thing I thought, but forgot to mention it. I was going to use foam to build a cornice for a client, but once I read the precautions on the foam I vetoed that idea.
  • Elinor A Elinor A on Sep 11, 2012
    it appears that people believe the foam is unsafe. so can anyone think of anything else that is lightweight and cheap to staple or nail to the many pieces of wood lining on the ceiling. there is definitely no room for a suspended ceiling:(
  • Z Z on Sep 11, 2012
    Why not just paint it all one color. If you rent a sprayer and where protective gear so you don't wind up painting yourself it ought to look pretty nice. Here's a Google Image search to show what I mean.... https://www.google.com/search?q=painted+basement+ceilings&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=BPI&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnsfd&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=EuZPUPaxFInnqgG1-4HgBQ&ved=0CCAQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=870&sei=vuZPUNLJF47sqAHw_4GoDw
  • Elinor A Elinor A on Sep 11, 2012
    can't paint as there is no ceiling just a bunch of wooden strips and they too are i horrible condition. my only solution is to put a new ceiling
  • Z Z on Sep 11, 2012
    Did you check the link? That's what I was talking about painting. Unless you are wanting this to be a completely finished basement there isn't too many ideas that are cheap and easy. Can you share a picture of the ceiling please?
  • Elinor A Elinor A on Sep 12, 2012
    becky i have not made myself clear . there is NO ceiling just a haphazard arrangement of old strapping that existed to hold up the original ceiling which was torn off. i can't paint tose bits and pieces and have holes to the underside of the living room. painting is no option. i must get some sort of lightweight paneling to staple or nail to those pieces of wood and the exposed joists.
  • Z Z on Sep 12, 2012
    I know there's no "ceiling". I'm talking about painting the joists, bottom of sub flooring and anything else (duct work and such) as shown in the photos I linked to earlier. When everything is painted the same color it doesn't look too bad at all. Obviously you don't understand that concept or don't want to do that so I suggest you head to HoDe or L's and ask someone there what they have available. Some of their older clerks have worked as contractors and can be very helpful. If you truly have "holes to the underside of the living room" you have a bigger problem than your basement ceiling to deal with and may need to hire a contractor. Though I'd like to help more, at this point the above suggestions are all I have.
  • What about simply purchasing some large rolls of burlap, Dye or paint color of choice then tacking it up? Will hide all sorts of things and is cheep. just be sure all your electrical wires are properly capped and splices are covered in boxes. And be sure that no light bulbs can come into contact or near the cloth. A staple gun is all that is really needed to install.
  • Darla Darla on Jul 24, 2014
    I like the previous idea (burlap). You could also use canvas drop cloths. I've heard of people using outdoor wooden lattice nailed to the joists. You could even use those cheap bamboo roll-up blinds.
  • I am currently doing a celling for a client that has a suspended grid. We removed the old tiles as they were stained, had lots of mouse droppings on them from when the house was vacant before they purchased and the basement has moisture issues that currently they cannot afford to fix. They still wanted to keep the ceiling intact, but did not want to spend any more money then they had to, to fix the issue. The solution that we decided to do was to use a product called Cloroplast. These are the same panels you see used on road signs. They come in all sorts of colors and thicknesses. We also use them to line exterior block and cement walls during water proofing projects as this prevents moisture from entering into the home. You can purchase these from many home centers, but they are expensive. So the work around is to deal directly with a supplier. We use www.corrugatedplastics.net Go to their site and check out all the different sizes and shapes that can be purchased. We buy the 4 x 8 panels and using a safety razor with a hook blade for roofing shingles we cut these really easy and fast. For ceilings we choose to use 4 mm thickness.
  • Darla Darla on Jul 25, 2014
    Would Cloroplast give off toxic fumes if there was a fire?
  • Any plastics will. Not something to worry about anyway. Most of the products sold these days furniture, clothing, flooring etc will give off fumes. In the case of a fire, you need to get out quickly anyway. The real dangers are foam. Furniture or spray. This stuff creates fumes really quickly. Solid surfaces will also do that, but not nearly as fast as the foam products do. When we spray foam on attics and basements, we use a fire rated product for that very reason. No real worry about the plastic ceiling.
  • Jianxin Jianxin on Nov 19, 2018

    Fireproof coroplast sheets can be used, which produce very little smoke when burned, available from coroplast manufacturers. https://corrugatedplasticsheet.net/manufacturers/corrugated-plastic-sheets/

  • Deb K Deb K on Dec 30, 2020

    Hi Elinor, you can paint it all a solid color, pipes and all, it's kind of trendy right now, go light or dark, it's your call!


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJrpvUvkBW4,

  • Johnavallance82 Johnavallance82 on Dec 16, 2021

    Whatever you use, just check it has a fire safe rating.