Basement shop ceiling choices

[Wes Billups]

I have a question about how I should handle finishing the ceiling. Here is what I have to work with.

Floor to joist height is 7'6", I'm 6'-4" so I want to maximize this space.

Joists are actually floor trusses that are spaced 24" OC, 11" deep and 3-1/2" wide.

There will be 3-4" of polyisocyanurate insulation sprayed on the bottom of the floor for noise reduction so I need to put drywall or ceiling panels in to protect the foam from fire.

I'm thinking about recessing fluorescent fixtures between the joists a couple of inches to increase the clearance and help protect them. I realize I don't want to recess them too much causing shadows.

Anybody have ideas on how I can handle finishing the ceiling without loosing 3 inches for drywall and lighting?

Thanks,
Wes Billups

Edit: I should have added that I want to be able to get into the ceiling to change wiring or plumbing if needed in the future. If I go drywall it will not be mudded (sp?) just screwed up and painted a semi-gloss white.

[Chris Padilla]

Wes,

Is it too crazy to simply box in and around each and every joist? It seems like an ungodly amount of work and I dunno if it it would be worth it. Maybe some select "bays" could be done and the rest put up as normal?

I don't see why you couldn't fully recess the fluororescents assuming they are designed to be recessed. Just paint everything in site a nice semi-gloss white exterior grade paint and put in lots of light and you should be okay.

[Art Mulder]

I have a basement shop. I have no insulation at all in the ceiling, and I don't really find it an issue.

[Aaron Beaver]

I have a basement shop. I have no insulation at all in the ceiling, and I don't really find it an issue.

Mine is an unfinished basement and don't have a ceiling besides the subfloor. The basement is beneath the kitchen and living room and the noise isn't that bad. I tested the noise level out after I got my machines down there and running or I might of done something, but until it becomes an issue I will just leave it, makes it very handy to run duct work for the DC.

[Wes Billups]

What do those of you without a ceiling do about lighting?

[Aaron Beaver]

I have some of those 4' shop lights, I used j hooks and screwed them into the joist then hung the lights from those with the chain that came with them to the height I wanted.

My only downside (not that its a big deal) is I have to turn each one on individually because I just have them plugged into outlets. The up side to that is I don't have to turn all of them on if I an not working with that tool or that area.

[JayStPeter]

I insulated and used resilient channel to eliminate noise. But, my light fixtures do hang from the ceiling drywall. My basement ceilings are 9' though, so losing the 4" wasn't a dealbreaker.

For one of my soffit buildouts (down to 8'), I wanted to be able to get in to do plumbing/electrical stuff. I screwed 1/2" MDF on the bottom. I cut holes and put recessed lighting cans in. While MDF is not perfect, I thought it would be better than drywall for removable panels. I needed to get in once and it worked fine. Maybe use drywall for most of it and something else where there are actually pipes and wire runs you want to get to.
There are flourescent fixtures made for drop ceilings. You may be able to rig something to hang them between joists instead. It was my original plan, but soundproofing changed that plan.

Jay

[Jeff Horton]

If you don't cover the joists you have lost some of the fireproofing that sheetrock offers. Otherwise you could put some blocking on each joist and recessed the rock between the joists but man is that going to be a lot of work!

[Matt Meiser]

What about doing a dropped ceiling? They are easy to install and you could do so with just loosing maybe 2" of height. Advantages would be easy access to above, built in ability to recess lighting fixtures. Drawbacks would be that the loss of height and the fact that the panels would get dinged. Then again, the panels would be easy to replace when they did get dinged vs. drywall.

My dad had a shop built in 1979 with ceiling joists 24" on center. He installed strapping 24" on center and just screwed up drywall to the strapping. Today it is in really bad shape--sags everywhere the edges of the sheets are kind of crumbling. The walls he taped and they are in much better shape. None of it was ever painted.

[Bob Huddleston]

My basement ceiling/ overhead joists are those manufactured I-beams. At the bottom of the I is an overhang. I can cut drywall to size and float it up there, angling it to get it in properly, leaving the access for plumbing and electrical very easy. I paint the drywall before placing it up there (it's a ongoing project) and do not use screws. Has work well for me. Mind you, I have a 9-1/2' basement (thank God!) and so have much more to work with. Good luck!

[Bob Stegemann]

A recent woodworking magazine had a suggestion from a reader where he put 1" x 1" strips inside the joists and then laid in wallboard. I'm in the process of doing mine now. Since then someone wrote in modifying the original suggestion by just nailing a 1/4" strip to the bottom of the joist and then using wallboard. You lose a little height but only 1/4". It's easy to do, looks decent and is inexpensive.
Bob

[Randal Stevenson]

Instead of wallboard and sprayed insulation, you might look at Homesote (or Homasote), I found it under both spellings.

[Norman Hitt]

You could probably use the L shaped angle that is used around the walls on dropped ceilings and nail it along each edge of the joists so that it was flush with the bottom of the joists and then trim 24" ceiling tiles to fit in between the joists. This would allow you to mount light fixtures that are made for this in the tiles. This would give you a finished ceiling with lighting that wouldn't lose any ceiling height, because it would all be flush with the bottom of the joists. The bottom of the joists could be painted with a (I'll call it semi fireproof) paint that I've read about to protect the joists and match the color of the tiles if you felt it necessary.

[Al Willits]

Either Home Depot or Menards has a Grid system that takes up about an Inch of space, looks like a suspended ceiling but the panels are held in place with strips that snaps in place, gonna use this in the basement when we remodel down there.

I'm thinking Home Depot has it.
Also I think any 1" ceiling tile will fit, so you can use the sound absorbing acoustic tiles.

Al

[Joe Pelonio]

You can still get 1/4" drywall, probably not at the borgs but at specialty builder's supplies. Screw it on and you lose only 1/4" of head room. I used it to cover over some messed up walls in a 1/2 bath. It's mainly used these days for bending on arches.

[Wes Bischel]

Wes
In your initial post, your mention protecting the insulation from fire – I will assume (I know, dangerous:rolleyes: ) that you are not talking about a time designed system/construction, but a more common cover to enclose the insulation – such as ½” drywall. If this is the case, the comments about installing drywall or ceiling panels higher up between the floor trusses could work nicely as long as the trusses are not open. If they are open, the gaps would need to be closed to enclose the insulation which could be labor intensive.

Most likely the easiest installation would be to use drywall installed in the normal fashion – period.

Both Bob and Norman's suggestions will allow access to the plenum and would be simple enough if the bottom chord on your trusses has a large enough perch for the panels. I would still add 1x's across the back of the drywall if 1/2" is used - to prevent the inevitable sag. 5/8" would span without sagging, but it's a bear to handle. For ceiling panels, 2x4 fissured would be the most economical and still serve the purpose (fiberglass won't provide the fire protection you are looking for.) Just make sure to use cross tees to support the ends - sag thing again.:rolleyes: I think lighting would be easy enough to install with either system. Surface mount and chain mount can use the bottom of the trusses for mounting - but you will loose headroom. Another method would be to install the light into (flush with the finished ceiling height) one of your "panels" and screw the panel assembly to the perch - this allows removal if necessary.

CeilingMax is the system I think Al is referencing. If you need to protect the insulation from flame, this suspension system would not be a good choice in this instance – it is extruded PVC and will drop the panels relatively soon after the ignition of flames – exposing the insulation to the fire.

If you really want to get fancy, I know of ways to make downward access panels, but I figure that would be a bit fussy for a shop installation.

FWIW,
The other Wes;)

[Jeffrey Makiel]

I have a basement shop with only a 7 foot ceiling height. The overhead floor joists are exposed with no insulation. Noise is not that big of an issue, but I'm not sure if it's because the sound is not that bad, or the other people in my household are very tolerant. Either way, I don't do any late night machining.

The good news about having exposed joists is that I can quickly reroute power, dust collection duct, and other things in between the joists. I can also use standard fluorescent shop lights between the joists. The bad news is that an exposed ceiling harbors more dust, and is not a good reflector of light.

-Jeff

[Al Willits]

Also may depend on what you have up in the ceiling, gas lines, electrical and plumbing lines may someday need to be gotten to, make sure you have axcess to them if they are there.

fwiw, I work for a gas ultility and when our techs are on a gas leak, if its in a finished ceiling, they just shut the gas off and leave, usually seems to happen when the wife is home and hubby is gone...not nice when its cold out..

Al

[Chris Padilla]

Well, houses built on slabs and lines run in the walls have the same problems. I guess this make a drop ceiling a nice alternative....

[Scott Coffelt]

I've just used a drop ceiling it dampens noise pretty good. You could just use the ceiling grid stuff that screws right to the bottom of the joist and then drop in the tile. When you need to access the space above, remove and replace.

[Jim Andrew]

The panels used for suspended ceilings are treated with a fire retardant.
I used a suspended ceiling I got free from a bank remodeling in my shop, and tried to
burn the broken ones I had left over, threw them on top of some brush and scrap, and the things were black but still intact somewhat after the
fire cooled. They would make great sound proofing and fire retardant. Jim

[Dan Oelke]

The "Other Wes",

If you really want to get fancy, I know of ways to make downward access panels, but I figure that would be a bit fussy for a shop installation

It might not be part of the original question - but I for one would be interested in hearing about what you mean by downward access panels.

Ceiling height is such an issue in most basements, and for non-shop areas, (like my basement) having access and a nice finish is something I want - but I really don't like normal suspended ceiling look.