The Basement Ceiling

My clients want their renovated basement to look like the rest of their home so they are making many similar construction choices here including a high plaster ceiling instead of a lower, dropped ceiling.  We will be putting up blueboard and plastering over it to match the finishes elsewhere in the house.  It will cost a little more than a dropped ceiling and take a little longer to install, but the feel of the new rooms will be very unbasement-like. 

In the framing, I am using studs about 107” long for the 8’ 6” foot ceiling height to save lumber and labor costs.  If we had used 10’ studs, we have had a lot more cutting to do and faced some unavoidable waste in materials. 

So, the remaining tasks before installing the ceiling will be some plumbing and the wiring for power, lighting, smoke and motion detectors, and audio/visual components.  We previously installed a new electric subpanel to handle the electrical requirements of the basement.  All the new audio/visual wiring will return to a central closet where stereo equipment will be placed at a later time. 

The client wisely spent many hours browsing magazines and the Net looking for lighting ideas, and together with her brother-in-law, an electrician, she has arrived at a well thought out lighting plan.  Another choice would have been to work with a first rate lighting company such as Yale Appliance and Lighting in Boston or A.D.Cola in Natick, MA. 

One drawback of a plaster ceiling is having no inherent access to the plumbing and wiring connections after the ceiling is installed.  To solve this problem, I utilize strategically placed plastic ceiling panels.  Not only do they provide the necessary access, but they can be painted to match the rest of the ceiling.  See more about them on the Net.

And so the crucial work on the infrastructure of the new basement continues.  Note below that in preparation for the plastering steps (both ceiling and walls), I laid down tar paper to protect the floors.



Craig Carter