I just installed 2x2 tiles using the Ceiling Grid system. This is very similar to Ceiling Max that HD sells. I like it. I spent xtra money on the better tiles. I dont like the cheap tiles with all the holes in it. The tiles are removable so you can get to wiring or plumbing if you need to.

I brought this topic up because in my unfinished basement, I noticed in several of the duct runs, the connectors are not well.. connecting. I was loosing major air and if it was a finished basement, there's no way I can find out on why my register is not pouring out air w/o tearing out the finished ceiling.

So I'm also thinking about NOT doing any ceiling and just paint everything black above maybe 8.5' feet.

Any pics?

If you have a deep pour basement, it makes the most sense to do a suspended ceiling. It will allow access to any mechanical issue down the road. Our friends just built a house, basement ceiling is drywalled, and he can't find one of the speaker wires he ran. Additionally, he wants to run additional RG6. But, it now becomes a difficult / expensive project.

If you use the nice tiles, it will turn out great.

I think tiles are the way to go for the reasons above. It does look like a "finished basement" as opposed to looking like a regular home finishing but it still looks good IMHO. The practical aspects are just too hard to deny. It's one of the reasons some have chosen to bear the high expense of the Corning basement finishing system.

I'm actually leaning toward back to a drywalled ceiling because:

1-All of the more expensive homes I've seem are drywalled. They must hv known the higher resell value over a 2X2 ceiling.

2- while suspended ceiling seem practical - I'm wondering how big of a factor that will be considering all of my levels above are finished.

3- I believed a suspeded ceiling required 3-5 more inches more than a drywalled ceiling so one can actually pop out the tile w/o the joists getting in the way.

4- drywalled is approx. a dollar lower per square foot installed.

Of course an open ceiling is the cheapest :)

We finished our ceiling with sheetrock (blueboard actually). One suggestion is to use a thicker material - we used fire rated board to try to get better sound insulation. Looks great.

Dan

Any suggestions for finishing a basement ceiling that's low? We don't want to sheetrock it, as it would make the ceiling look even lower. We were thinking of just painting it all white (ducts and all), but we're not sure how that would look.

Only probably with painting the ceiling black & not drywalling or putting in a drop ceiling is that you won't have any noise buffer. In my parent's old house we had a bedroom in the basement & my dad painted the ceiling black. It was a very cool look, but if you tried to sleep in that bedroom you could hear every sound from the bedroom above.

Use Ceiling Max or Ceiling Link for a low ceiling basement. I tried both systems. Use loose less then 1 inch of space and you can still remove the panels to service plumbing, electrical, etc. I thought about drywall because I did not want to loose that 4-5 inches with a drop ceiling but I wanted access to my elecrical and plumbing in case of problems or changes I may make in the future.

I painted my ceiling white and trimmed the tops of the drywall walls so they look neat and clean. The painting is a PITA but much faster, easier, cheaper and in my mind practical than drywall or suspended. It's an area for the kids to hang out. If I wanted to be more creative, I might paint the HVAC, copper, pvc all a different color to try to give it more of a "fun" feel.

We have what you might consider a high end home and it has a drop ceiling in the basement. It was VERY well done and covers nearly 3,000sq ft of basement ceiling. In fact, it has saved us on about a dozen occasions since moving in only 6 months ago. Hubby ran cables to his radio room for his antennas from attic to basement, put in security system upgrades, ran ethernet into place, telephone lines, fixed two plumbing problems, had water softner pipers rerouted etc. Lift tile, fix and replace. I don't have time, inclination or talent to patch drywall, and I'm certain it would break in areas without access panels (Murphy's Law and all that).

I would not hesitate to do it again. I recently toured a $,$$$,$$$ home (new, builders model) which also showed a lovely drop ceiling. It did not look cheap.

Here's an old pic (sorry it's blurry)

dgmarie--your basement looks great! I too think that a lot more high end homes are going with drop ceilings. There are so many more options now! There is wood, metal, decorative, the possibilities are huge. I'm actually leaning towards a wood look one--just have to decide between Pearwood, Maple, and Welsh Cherry from this site: www.iscsupply.com

Anyone want to weigh in on my color choices?

Here is a link that might be useful: ISC Supply Classic 2 Pattern

dgmarie, what is the beige color in your basement called?

We dry walled two ceiling rooms in our basement. The two rooms do not have plumbing in the ceiling. The rest of the basement has suspended ceilings. My builder was adamant that we have suspended ceilings anywhere that we had plumbing.

Good thing--within a month, our master shower was leaking and we were able to get to the shower and plumbing through the tiles.

Our suspended ceiling is done with a tile that blends in with the grid system making it look a lot less like a suspended ceiling. Armstrong I think.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1382520}}

We went the KBIS Show a few weeks ago and Armstrong had a booth set up with displays of the different ceilings. Drop Ceiling have come along way and as blsdgal installed there are suspended ceilings that resemble vintage tin ceiling and even wood planks.

Here is a link that might be useful: Armstrong Ceilings

Very nice. The tin look is awsome.

I have to agree with blsdgal. We sheetrocked under a sunken living room and put a drop ceiling in the rest of the basement where plumbing and electrical lines run. We did the 2x2 tile in the main area and bathroom and 2x4 in the laundry area. The 2x2 is MUCH nicer (and more quiet) than the other tile as well. Within 2 months of our basement being finished we had a leak from an upstairs bathroom. Just had to fix the leak and replace the tile. I wish we could use it everywhere!;)

We have a mostly drop-ceiling basement with drywall soffits around the HVAC ducts. This is nice in that it allows for higher ceilings - the soffits are a little over 8 inches lower than the drop ceiling parts.

It's nice when you need to access something under the drop ceiling tiles. It's less nice when you need to access something in the soffit space.. we've had three water leaks recently. Two were on ceiling tiles, easily fixed. The third required drywall repair, which was more annoying to do.

Any more comments on painting the basement ceiling? Our unfinished area is small with much duct work. Two walls are studs and bare framework facing in, one is concrete foundation and 4th is vintage? wide-panelled bead board like in old "flats" to separate tenant storage spaces.
Considering pegboard walls and ceiling...maybe using smaller strips under the ducts. Ceiling peg board might be useful and add some continuity. Other basement rooms have dropped ceiling, but this is too low and does not have to match them Suggestions or caveats?
AnnG

aernst - I think it depends on your useage and future resale value.
If you plan on selling the home much later in the future and this is mostly a kids area by all means paint the ceiling. Seen it in a lot of restaurants, bars etc.
You can do the ceiling later if you want.
The drawback is in some places code will not allow you to include a basement without a finished ceiling as Finished square footage.

I am trying to decide on ceiling as well. I have one area where the bathroom plumbing from above is and its really loud when anyone flushes or uses water.
Do the tiles cut that down enough? I personally would prefer the tile's practicality but then again the only reason I am finishing at all is for resale. What would you do? (apologies for hijacking)
Mary

RE: my own basement....When you all say 'paint' the ceiling what exactly are you painting. The bare wood, pipes, pvc and insulation? Anyone have any pictures? Also, our pourded walls have a rough verical line every 2 feet or so....could that be sanded flat? If so I'd try painting the concrete...what do you think...

Just another vote for not dry walling the ceiling off. Just installed a basement doorbell so we could hear the upstairs bell when it rings. Those wireless gizmos didn't work. We had to find the transformer and wire up a second one, as well as run a heavier gauge wire. Thank goodness for drop ceilings!

We're going to do a combination. The main living areas will be drywalled. So far we have the 12x12 tiles that look like tin (and painted copper) in the guest bath. Our master bath will also have a 12 x 12 tile ceiling as there are a lot of pipes up there. However, the drywall is a lot less expensive at least if you diy.

We wanted the basement to look just like the upper two floors so we sheetrocked the ceiling. Screwed directly to the floor joists. If you use a suspended ceiling in the basement because of possible leaks, why wouldn't you also use a suspended ceiling for the first and second floors?

All your plumbing and wiring is located in the basement not in the attic. If there is a drain problem with your tub, you need to access it in the basement, not the attic. Same goes for wiring, if you want to add wiring for say a cieling fan in your living room, your service panel is most likely in your basement cieling. If its drywalled, you have to start cutting and patching the drywall for your wiring. If you use a suspended cieling, you just pop out the panels in the basement cieling and run your wiring.

I am thinking of a two story, so that the area above the first floor ceiling would include plumbing, wires and HVAC duct. I guess the other question is: how often does one need access to the ceiling even in a basement?

The post above yours tells you why. The drop ceiling isn't for leaks only; it's for access. Your major systems run from basement to the upper floors. We have been in the ceiling of our basement two story home two dozen times in the past year alone. Rewiring, running telephone, cable tv, stereo to other rooms, the door bell issue I posted above, accessing a duct making noise, all sorts of things, even fishing wires from the basement to the second floor for ethernet or or other jacks for the bedrooms. Having a drop ceiling on every floor would be the most practical way of fixing anything, but most people don't want that. Not because it isn't practical, but because they don't like the way it looks. It's all fine and dandy to drywall until you have to do *anything* in the ceiling of the basement, and then you have a huge mess trying to find what you need to access, and repairing the hole. We had a problems with the ejector pump from our sump and it ran through the ceiling. Imagine the problems drywall would have caused. We were able to pop up the tile and replace a loose connection in miutes with no sign of repair.

Most people I know simply don't make the changes they need in their home if it means cutting the drywall, even those who swore they'd never need to. If you have a drop done professionally, it can look really great. Besides, no one is going to be fooled that is isn't the basement! Good luck with whatever you decide to do :-)

Looking for advice on how to most efficiently remove a corner of contemporary 12" wide beadboard ceiling in the basement. I need to access the telephone terminal box to make repairs. Any ideas? :-\

To the person who blue boarded their ceiling...can you be more specific? Do you have pictures? Is this the BB you see at the lumber store? Did you paint it? Isn't it a fire hazard if not covered in drywall....Thanks!