Cheapest way to replace (and level) a plasterboard ceiling?

[kingofthehill]

Hi folks

Firstly, I'd like to make it clear that I'm not looking for a cheap and nasty way of fixing my ceiling. I'm happy to spend money but would like to pick the brains of folks who are more knowledgeable of alternative methods that might be available.

I am replacing a lounge ceiling in an old stone walled terraced house. The existing ceiling looks and feels sound but it slopes badly from one side of the room to other which looks terrible. The ceiling is approximately 150mm to 200mm lower on one side of the room (side to side), joists run from front to back.

I want to remove the existing plasterboard and replace with new plasterboard utilising the cheapest method possible to level the supporting structure. I am extremely cost concious (materials), extra labour is abundantly available at no cost (me!).

I've done some basic research on metal furling ceilings etc. as these are supposed to be cheaper than timber but this seems to be based on the drastically reduced labour required to install them. I'd like to keep as much ceiling height as possible so have considered fixing the supporting structure to the sides of the existing joists with no overlap on the lowest joist and largest overlap on the highest joist. The thickness of the new supports will obviously need to be thick enough to allow for abutting two plasterboards together with enough width to take the associated screws. The only way I can think of achieving the required thickness is to buy the cheapest 8'x4' timber sheets available, rip them down to 200mm strips, fix to sides of joists, then rip thinner strips off the sheets and fix to the bottom of the 200mm strips to achieve the required thickness for plasterboard screws.

This sounds laborious (well, because it is, and I'm fine with that), but is it technically sensible? Could I please have some suggestions on potential dirt cheap methods of achieving this by any means? Any comments gratefully received!

ATB
kingofthehill

 

[SFK]

ATB,
Cheapest?? Perhaps consider this.
Get a rip saw and a couple of Joists that are the same thickness as your joists.
Assuming your room is 4m wide and assuming you have joists at 400mm intervals then you have 11 joists.
First joist needs 0mm increase and last joist needs 200mm increase in thickness then you need to cut shims from your new joists that have increasing thickness:
Joist1: 0mm; Joist2: 20mm; Joist2: 40mm; ..........Joist10: 160mm; Joist11: 200mm

Biggest issue is screwing wide (200mm) joists to bottom of your old joists, so migh need to use some metal plates.
sfk

 

[chappers]

Your original solution sounds fine, the alternative is to hang some legs down from the sides of the existing joists and fix some new joists to these

 

[cjard]

If you don't want to lose 8 inches of head height throughout, you could have the lowest joists poke through the ceiling and make a feature of them. Board to the underside until you reach a point where they step down, then batten the sides and attach plasterboard to the battens

This advice is given on the assumption that it's only a few joists at one side that are low.. If there's a uniform graduation across the entire room it's not worth it

Chapters advice would probably be cheapest; making a false ceiling structure out of 2x1 batten would probably be cheapest, PVA glue n screw every one and it will be secure, double up the battens either side of a leg where your boards meet

 

[Workforce 1]

Hi folks

Firstly, I'd like to make it clear that I'm not looking for a cheap and nasty way of fixing my ceiling. I'm happy to spend money but would like to pick the brains of folks who are more knowledgeable of alternative methods that might be available.

I am replacing a lounge ceiling in an old stone walled terraced house. The existing ceiling looks and feels sound but it slopes badly from one side of the room to other which looks terrible. The ceiling is approximately 150mm to 200mm lower on one side of the room (side to side), joists run from front to back.

I want to remove the existing plasterboard and replace with new plasterboard utilising the cheapest method possible to level the supporting structure. I am extremely cost concious (materials), extra labour is abundantly available at no cost (me!).

I've done some basic research on metal furling ceilings etc. as these are supposed to be cheaper than timber but this seems to be based on the drastically reduced labour required to install them. I'd like to keep as much ceiling height as possible so have considered fixing the supporting structure to the sides of the existing joists with no overlap on the lowest joist and largest overlap on the highest joist. The thickness of the new supports will obviously need to be thick enough to allow for abutting two plasterboards together with enough width to take the associated screws. The only way I can think of achieving the required thickness is to buy the cheapest 8'x4' timber sheets available, rip them down to 200mm strips, fix to sides of joists, then rip thinner strips off the sheets and fix to the bottom of the 200mm strips to achieve the required thickness for plasterboard screws.

This sounds laborious (well, because it is, and I'm fine with that), but is it technically sensible? Could I please have some suggestions on potential dirt cheap methods of achieving this by any means? Any comments gratefully received!

ATB
kingofthehill

Cross batton the joists.instead of ripping ceiling out punch holes in it to determine whete the joists run.use lowest joist as a level to pack the rest of the ceiling to.4x1 rough sawn is plenty good enough,cheap and wont be seen.200mm is some slope though,would have to be done in a couple of stages