Hanging Tongue and Groove on Ceiling

[Ken Alcott]

I need your help. The wife wants me to hang tongue and groove planks on a ceiling similar to a wainscoting look.:(

How would I fasten them since the joists are spaced out? Would I create a grid first? I know I just can't glue or fasten into the sheetrock ceiling.

Any help to tackle this project is appreciated.

Thanks.

[John Miliunas]

Ken, if you're going perpendicular to the joists, find out what spacing between joists was used (16 or 20" O/C) and just be sure your shortest pieces are multiples of either dimension. If, OTOH, you're going parallel with the joists, then yes, you will need to put up some sleepers to toenail to. 1x2"s should be plenty for something like that.:) :cool:

[Wes Bischel]

Ken,
John has given you some good advice.
To add to it:
Are you going with full 5/8", or the 3/8"? The 5/8' is typically available at your local lumber yard - not the Borgs. It can be purchased clear or with knots in pine, sometimes red oak. The 3/8" product is prepackaged, knotty pine, and can be found at the Borgs typically by Georgia Pacific etc. There are some MDF beaded plank available at some Borgs as well (regionally). For a ceiling, the 3/8" will perform well and be easier to handle possibly cheaper as well. I put up some 3/8" in my kitchen about 10 years ago. I used the furring strips that were already installed 12"oc (took down an old tile ceiling).
Also, if you have access to a brad nailer and compressor it makes the job go much faster - think "hand nailing overhead" and you'll get the picture.
Typically the waste on a plank product is minimal since the piece cut off on one side of the room can be the starter piece on the other side. Naturally there will always be some pieces that are too short, but keep in mind the finished ceiling looks better when the butt seams are random.
If you are going to paint it / finish it, do the prime/first coat/staining on the ground - much easier on the body and cleaner. Plus if using real wood, masks the inevitable expansion gaps that will show up. After it is installed you can touch-up or put the finish coat on.
Consider the perimeters now - you'll neet to put a cove or crown molding up to finish off the cuts. I've seen a few installations where people have tried to scribe the ceiling in, but it always looks ragged.

In a previous life, I worked at Armstrong (17 years :rolleyes: ), and they have a number of plank products available for residential use. One called Woodhaven (not one of my products) is pretty easy to install and is prefinished - nice if you don't like finishing work. :D

http://www.armstrong.com/resclgam/na/ceilings/en/us/

Take all this with a grain of salt - there is always more than one way to do a project like this.
Good luck!

Wes

[Dennis McDonaugh]

Ken, I put the lightweight t&g on a ceiling. It was a lot cheaper than the thicker stuff and it worked okay, but there were a couple of problems. First, it was too thin to nail into the tongue like your normally do. I just face nailed it to the ceiling joists through the sheet rock and filled in the holes with some light weight spackling. The second problem was I didn't prime the back and I didn't paint it until it was up. I got some wood movement and a few of the seams opened up a little exposing unpainted wood. A little work with a small brush and all is well again. If I did it over again I'd paint all the planks before cutting or installing them and I'd definitely prime both sides to minimize wood movement.

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

I put 3/8" knotty pine TIG on the ceiling in several areas of my house, and will eventually put it up everywhere but the bathrooms. I never had any intention of finishing it with anything...we wanted the rustic look. I cut a 45 at the ends, butt jointed them, and used finish nails, left exposed, into whatever framing was there. The 3/8" is light enough that the TIG will hold it together, so it's not necessary to nail into the tongue. Obviously, I staggered the 'runs' so the 45s weren't all together through out the whole room. if I was doing it again, I might make up some fake beams to hide the butt joints.

KC