Ceiling Ideas for Basement Shop

[Deb Malloy]

Deb, I think you were responding to me. I'm an old neanderthal and don't know how to post pictures. I used an 18 gauge stapler with 1 1/4 inch staples, the joists are on 16 inch centers, so a 48 inch panel fits perfectly, staple on the 2 foot long ages and on the edges where the panel grosses the "middle" joists. It's been up for about a year now and no problems yet. I also painted them to give it a little "slicker" surface to minimize dust clinging to it. I'll see if I can figure out how to post pictures.

Thanks for responding. I got it now. I thought you had put the panels between the joists.
Totally mis-read the original post. I'm looking to go between the joists.

[Ted Derryberry]

How high are the joists? In my basement shop the bottom of the 2x10 joists (1970 house) are only 7'-8" or so above the floor. I'm 6'3" so I can easily reach 8'. Everything is exposed and I have all kinds of stuff stored between the joists and quick grip clamps on the joists themselves. Its also much easier to add receptacles where I need them if I change the tool layout.

Code smode, I don't really care, its my house and I'll use it how I want to.

[Tom Bender]

Not wanting to give up even an inch of my 98" of headroom I did this;

Resawed Aspen 1 x 3 (a little expensive but really nice to work with) to 2 1/2" x 5/16" and rounded over two of the edges. (rounded before resawing)

Painted this white then screwed it to the bottom of all the floor joists. Bought plastic faced fiberglass ceiling tiles. These are cheap, you wouldn't use them in you living space, but they can be bent in half and just spring back.

Cut these into 14" wide x 24" long panels and popped them in.

This left exposed joints,,, it's a shop.

Easy access to the ducts and wires above. Only gave up 5/16" plus some screw heads.

This made the shop a much nicer place to spend time and allows better dust management.

[Eric Brabender]

Are your lights just regular fluorescent lights for drop ceilings? Was hoping to find and LED option

[sean meltvedt]

Are your lights just regular fluorescent lights for drop ceilings? Was hoping to find and LED option

Erik - the bulk are dual ballast fluorescent fixtures. I have a few led fixtures that are on motion switches for visibility when just traveling through or looking for something. With the price and output now, I would probably do all led’s