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Decorating Or Concealing A Low
Basement Ceiling
I'm currently finishing an unfinished
basement. In a section of the basement that is located by the furnace, I
have a lot of ducts and pipes that run beneath the 1st floor joists. I
have boxed some of these in by way of soffit, however, a lot of the
ductwork curves and it seems impractical, if not nearly impossible to
cover these.
Since these are located in a remote section of the basement that won't be
seen much, I'm wondering if ceiling tiles can be directly attached to
these. A suspended ceiling system won't work, because the floor-to-ceiling
height is only 7'.
I guess my question is can I glue or nail ceiling tiles directly to
ductwork and the ceiling joists between them without using a grid system?
Or does that usually look pretty cheesy? Also, I may need to possibly
access h2o pipes in that area as well sometime in the future...so the
accessibility is a factor... Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Personally
I would not attempt to fasten, even glue, any coverings to ductwork.
But if you look up when you are shopping, you'll notice that it
is very common in commercial construction to spray paint EVERYTHING in
the ceiling... trusses, joists, ductwork, conduit, pipes, etc.
Now what I don't know is what type of paint these guys use, and what
equipment they use. I suppose you could just try some spray cans. You
may need to start with primer, and then use regular spray paint. And
some paint may not stick to the galvanized sheet metal that the ducts
are made from. The wood will have to be primed because it is so porous
the spray paint will soak in. And overspray is a big issue, too, because
it gets everywhere.
It might be simpler to just brush paint the whole area, or use a
combination of brush and spray painting.
But my approach would be to paint things in a light color (white may
show dirt too well, maybe almond or a faint gray would be better). I've
seen high ceilings done in dark colors, with lots of light fixtures, and
it looks neat. It might have a cave-like appearance with such low
ceilings, though.
Go shopping and look around. My local Circuit City has a high all-black
ceiling with a lower suspended track ceiling beneath it... and almost no
ceiling tiles. It looks sort of cool.
Bruce W. Maki, Editor.
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