MF Ceiling advice

[sammybrush]

Morning.

Just been looking at installing a MF ceiling in order to level out a ceiling as it is as bent as an arabs dagger.
The room that I am looking to install the ceiling is a bedroom approximately 4m x 5m (see attached picture) and I am only looking to drop it a maximum of 150mm.

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• sammybrush
• 30 Apr 2012
• 1

I'm looking at using 1800x900x9.5mm boards and then getting it skimmed, just using smaller boards as they are easier to handle.

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• sammybrush
• 30 Apr 2012
• 1

A couple questions really

1. Fixing the edge channel to the wall, should i just use rawl plugs washers and screws, or is there any special fixings that i need?

2. Which way should the primary channel run? My thinking is to run the channel along the longest length (5m) in this case, as this is where the support is needed. Is that the correct method?

3. The Rigid hangers and soffit cleats are to be put at 1200mm centres along the length of the primary channel as shown in the diagram. I am assuming that this need to be attached to the original roof beams/joists. If they do, is there a clever way of finding the location of the joists, other than either drilling an inspection hole (as the old ceiling is getting covered) or going up into the attic and measuring?

4. The connecting clips seem to be pricey at the local builders merchant £77 for a pack of 200 ( i think ill only use half), are they a must to make the system work, or could you get away with just screw fixing the ceiling channel to the primary channel? Am i just kidding myself trying to save a few quid.

Is there any glaring errors that you have spotted in the above comments, or something else that i should be wary of?
I am going to try and get it done over the weekend if i can get the stuff ordered in the next couple of days.

I understand that I am going to have to do a little bit of re-wiring as the light fittings will be lower. Do I need to provide any extra support in the frame work for a new light fitting, or is it better just to stick with a pendant type fitting?

Many thanks

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

1. No
2. I fail to see why it would matter.
3. You should attach to the joists. You could try a joist detector although these are notoriously inaccurate. Try tapping the ceiling gently to try to identify them, it should sound different when you tap directly beneath a joist. Otherwise you can drill a series of tiny holes to find the joists. There have been numerous threads on forum/web for finding joist/stud locations. Once you've found one then finding the rest should be more straightforward as there's a good chance they'll be at 400 centres or thereabouts. If you can access the joists from above I would think that would be pretty simple though!
4. Screwing with self tappers would work I guess although the process would be more time consuming. These systems are designed to be quick to install and the clips enable that. You could always investigate the British Gypsum M/F system, a box of 200 clips is £25 on ebay. Search for 'mf ceiling'.
5. Regarding the light fitting you could just add an extra length of ceiling channel so that your fitting screwed directly to it rather than just into the board if it were a heavy fella.