lowering the ceiling in a small room, some questions

[crobar]

Hi All,

I have a small box room in which I wish to lower the ceiling slightly in order to put in recessed lighting.

The room is about 2.3m wide by 3m long. The two walls at either end which are 2.3m long are drywall, the others are normal walls.

I plan to fit battens around the top of the room, with joists spanning the 2.3m at intervals, and then fit 12.5mm plasterboard. However, I am nervous about attaching anything to the dry walls at either end, can I just fit a joist flush against the wall at either end instead?

Secondly, what spacing must the joists be? I plan to use three sheets of tapered edge 2.4m x 1.2m board. Afterwards I would ideally like to paint straight onto the boards as I understand you can do this, but will I have to screw into the boards halfway along their span to fix them, or just at the edges? How should the screws be hidden if this is the case? Or is this just not the way to do it? I presume the screws at the edges will be hidden by the filler.

Cheers!

 

[Terry7556]

crobar would you be better off asking this in the plastering section?
this sounds right up their street

 

[crobar]

ok, wasn't sure exactly which forum to go to on this actually.

 

[foxhole]

Why can't you install lights in current ceiling?

 

[crobar]

I live in an old flat with no access to the floor above the ceiling, also the insulation above the current roof is ash which I would have to let fall out and don't fancy messing with. I would also like to ensure there is room for thermal dissipation of the lights, although I'll be getting fire rated lights, but you can't be too careful. It will also be much easier to wire the lighting circuit this way. In fact I don't know how I'd do this otherwise.

The existing roof is also in poor condition and would need skimmed really, and finally, at one end of the room where a wall has been knocked through there is a part of the original wall sticking out above the dry wall which I find unsightly.

The room has quite high ceilings, about 3m so I don't think it will be noticible if I lower it by 10-15 cm

 

[foxhole]

This should help.
http://www.homebuilding.co.uk/feature/how-fit-plasterboard-ceiling
and save me a lot of typing.

 

[crobar]

Hi foxhole,

Thanks for the link, I've actually read this already though, and many other similar sites, and it doesn't quite answer my questions.

I still don't know whether I need a joist running down the centre of each sheet for instance, or just one at each edge. I also don't know how to hide the screws if I put them down the middle (I'm presuming filler) and if it will be ok to paint straight onto this.

Thanks though.

 

[ladylola]

Screw your timbers at 400mm centres. I'd fix them at 90* to the exsisting joists too . This spacing will give you a timber at the edges and two inbetween and you should fix to all timbers , any less fixings and there would be a danger of the board sagging.
Screw holes are filled with filler such as easi-fil as is the tapered section. I've fitted plasterboard this way before but in all honesty it'd be better to get a plasterer in to skim the boards once you've put them up.

 

[foxhole]

Hi foxhole,

Thanks for the link, I've actually read this already though, and many other similar sites, and it doesn't quite answer my questions.

I still don't know whether I need a joist running down the centre of each sheet for instance, or just one at each edge. I also don't know how to hide the screws if I put them down the middle (I'm presuming filler) and if it will be ok to paint straight onto this.

Thanks though.

The link clearly shows the boards fixed around the edges and at regular spacing across the boards. If you space at 400mm centre you don't have to support the ends of the plasterbaord but I prefer 600mm spacing with timber above all edges.[Uses less timber].

 

[geraint]

Easier option is to fit an M.F. ceiling... far easier and cheaper...

 

[foxhole]

Easier option is to fit an M.F. ceiling... far easier and cheaper...

I looked at that for a ceiling but found it to be more expensive due to offcut wastage, with timber there is only one component which is universal. Depends on size of ceiling.

 

[crobar]

Hi foxhole,

Thanks for the link, I've actually read this already though, and many other similar sites, and it doesn't quite answer my questions.

I still don't know whether I need a joist running down the centre of each sheet for instance, or just one at each edge. I also don't know how to hide the screws if I put them down the middle (I'm presuming filler) and if it will be ok to paint straight onto this.

Thanks though.

The link clearly shows the boards fixed around the edges and at regular spacing across the boards. If you space at 400mm centre you don't have to support the ends of the plasterbaord but I prefer 600mm spacing with timber above all edges.[Uses less timber].

Yes, it does show show this in the image, but it does not say what size of board this would be (for instance perhaps less wide boards might not require support in the middle or wider boards would require more etc. not totally clear for a novice).

Thanks for spelling this out for me, I think I will also go for 600mm and support on the edges.

Thanks again!