Basement Project - Ceiling

Serendipity

Like many of you know, I've been building my basement HT for a few months now and I'm up to the point where I've got to drywall the ceiling. Problem is, I don't know anything about ceilings!

I'm just not sure where to start with this one...

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

MillerLiteScott

Run the drywall perpendicular to the 3/4"furring strips than are nailed to the bottom of the joists. They should be laid out to break on an 8' length of drywall.
I may suggest running a 2" screw into each furring strip where they cross under the joist. Use drywall glue and 11/4" screws to attach the drywall.

Scott

Serendipity

Is this something a kid like me can do?

MillerLiteScott

Yeah, But get some one to help lift and hold the sheets. I would also insulate your ceiling first and make sure you get IC recess light fixtures if you are putting in recessed lighting with insulation. There may be some more HT related products that you can use, my suggestions are based more on regular construction practices.

Scott

Serendipity

Thanks,

On a positive note, the old ceiling came down relatively easily. I will try to mount my 120+lb projector on the ceiling too, but that's another can of worms...

I haven't thought about lighting, since there were already fluorescent lights in the ceiling before (I didn't remove them). I only removed the ceiling.

disneyjoe7

Well first I would figure out where all your wiring will need to be, before the drywall goes up. Doing so later will just cause you a bigger headache.

Serendipity

Yeah, I realized that since the ceiling is removed, it would be a great time to run speaker wire and stuff like that.

Right now I have my speaker wire on the ground!

fumoffu

I suggest running some conduit too. Just in case you need a new cable or need to change things or something.

Serendipity

fumoffu wrote: »

I suggest running some conduit too. Just in case you need a new cable or need to change things or something.

I guess I should, in the event I upgrade to a digital projector I would need a HDMI cable (right now only have component and RGBHV).

Thanks!

WilliamM2

It will be almost impossible to pull an HDMI connector through the conduit. I would run that now, and anything else you think you may need, You can leave the extras tucked in the outlet box for now.

Serendipity

The thing is, only digital projectors use HDMI. The CRT projector that I have takes everything in RGBHV, so if you want to feed it an HDMI source you must use a video processor/scaler.

So in this case, do you still think I should run HDMI anyways? Seems like a waste to me.

In the meantime, I am planning on how to run my speaker cables through the ceiling BEFORE the drywall is up. Otherwise I will have a tough time routing the video and speaker wire later.

kcarl

Why not install a dropped ceiling? The killer with installing a drywall ceiling is the finishing work. If you do hang drywall, there are special lifts you can rent to hold to lift and hold the sheets up - not as expensive as they sound.

Good luck

adam2434

From experience, I'd say run damn near every wire type possible, or leave provisions to do so down the road. You never know what you're going to need in the future.

I know of folks using 2" PVC pipe as conduit to run future wires.

I originally ran HDMI, component, and composite to my projector. Then, a few months ago I decided that I also wanted VGA for hook-up to a PC. That really didn't even cross my mind at the time I installed the projector. Fortunately, I had way to run VGA from the unfinished side of the basement, sliding the cable along main support I-beam to where I had access to the low voltage box that all the projector wiring is sent through. Big peace of mind comes from knowing that you can run cables post construction.

Serendipity

The other thing is, my system is currently a 2-channel HT (music + projector) and I don't think I will ever go with surround sound. But everyone I run into says wire the room for surround too.

Is this overkill? I'm pretty sure that 99% I will stick with 2-channel system.

adam2434

appadv wrote: »

The other thing is, my system is currently a 2-channel HT (music + projector) and I don't think I will ever go with surround sound. But everyone I run into says wire the room for surround too.

Is this overkill? I'm pretty sure that 99% I will stick with 2-channel system.

I say run it, at least the 2 surround channels for 5.1. Buy a spool of 14/2 in-wall speaker cable from partsexpress.com or htd.com. It doesn't cost that much. Even if you don't do surround, at least the wire will be there for the next person.

disneyjoe7

You will kick yourself later if you wanted surround speakers, why 2 channel if you're watching a projector? Seems 2 steps forward in video, 3 steps back in sound IMHO

Serendipity

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

You will kick yourself later if you wanted surround speakers, why 2 channel if you're watching a projector? Seems 2 steps forward in video, 3 steps back in sound IMHO

'cause our very own Trey (Vr3MxStyler2k3) is the one that got me hooked on 2-channel HiFi.

disneyjoe7

What can I say Trey will also wake up one day also

Serendipity

So you're saying run the wire? There goes more money

BAD ASP

kcarl wrote: »

Why not install a dropped ceiling? The killer with installing a drywall ceiling is the finishing work. If you do hang drywall, there are special lifts you can rent to hold to lift and hold the sheets up - not as expensive as they sound.

Good luck

I chose to go with a dropped ceiling for a number of reasons but most notably the access to all wiring, lighting and ease of installation and maintenance. I have also read that there are some new designs that hug your joists more closely. I started off with 8'4" and dropped mine to 7'8". This gave me 8" space to insulate and run wiring. MY 2c

kingkip

My basement looked exactly the same. I put up drywall and ran every cable imagineable, (I even ran component and HDMI to the front of the room just in case I wanted a display there) you never know and you'll kick yourself for not doing it now. A drywall lift cost me $35 to rent from lowes and if you ever want to call the people who are going to help you friends again it is money well spent. As for the projector mount I ran a chunk of 2x10 from the back wall to the middle of the room, to give myself leeway for installation and for future upgrades. Screw it in to the bottom of the joists and it will easily carry the load. If you are worried about it you could also use some metal brackets.

My $.02, I hate drop ceilings. I don't like the way they look, I have had them rattle and they are no good for IB subs. The ease of cabling is appealing but not worth it to me.

Drywall isn't that hard to do, just time consuming.

Serendipity

Thanks for the advice,

I guess I am going to run every type of cable possible - to the projector HDMI, DVI, VGA, component, S-video, composite, and RGBHV.

Then for the audio I will run a 50ft. subwoofer cable, speaker cables for a 5.1 or 7.1 setup, and an additional sub cable in case I want to move the sub.

I'm still undecided as to how to do the ceiling though - some recommended a drop ceiling, but my bare unfinished ceiling is only 7ft. tall.

disneyjoe7

I like the conduit idea also... This is why I ran 1 Cat5, 1 3 line phone cable, 6 AudioQuest RG6 cables for audio feeds out, 2 RG6 for OTA plus a feed up, 2 RG6 for satellite, 2 12gauge BlueJean cables for rear surround, I thought I had every cable ran possible. Another set of holes where for Plasma on wall, but this run is 4' in wall so no biggie, 1 HDMI, 1 Power. Well 4 months later wish to add S-Video to TV also, 1 IR blaster from whole house IR repeater, and 2 RG6 for Mpeg2 DVB satellite receiver. In short you never know what you will need in the future.

Serendipity

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

I like the conduit idea also... This is why I ran 1 Cat5, 1 3 line phone cable, 6 AudioQuest RG6 cables for audio feeds out, 2 RG6 for OTA plus a feed up, 2 RG6 for satellite, 2 12gauge BlueJean cables for rear surround, I thought I had every cable ran possible. Another set of holes where for Plasma on wall, but this run is 4' in wall so no biggie, 1 HDMI, 1 Power. Well 4 months later wish to add S-Video to TV also, 1 IR blaster from whole house IR repeater, and 2 RG6 for Mpeg2 DVB satellite receiver. In short you never know what you will need in the future.

Are you using C-band satellite?

disneyjoe7

appadv wrote: »

Are you using C-band satellite?

No I now in business supporting C-Band, but I needed to move so I'm now in a HOA area which doesn't allow me to own a Big Dish. I'm adding Ku dish which will have a mover this has cause me to add 2 RG6's. The IR blaster is for the whole house audio but I'm adding video control of TiVo's throughout house.

Serendipity

Cool, that's an awesome setup!

I always liked C-band satellite

Serendipity

I think I will just go with ceiling tiles or a dropped ceiling, the learning curve for working with drywall seems steep.

unc2701

Drop ceilings vibrate something awful. You really don't want to do that.

m00npie

Lasareath wrote: »

lay down 2 by 6's on their sides on the concrete floor, maybe I should liquid nails them down as well.

Sal, take a look at the sub-floor squares that home depot sells now in the contractor section. It’s basically a 2’ x 2’ square of ¾’’ plywood with a rubber bottom. I have not personally used it so I have no idea of the cost. By using this, you’ll save an inch on the floor.

Lasareath wrote: »

I'd like to put 2 layers of sheetrock on the ceiling, so that will be around an 1" to 1.25"

If it were me, I would insulate your floor joists really well. R19 is code I believe. If your joists are 2x8, use R19. If they are 2x10, you may get away with R30 but be careful about squeezing insulation and covering it with Drywall…. It’s not a good combo. Once Insulated, I would just use a single layer of 5/8 dyrwall.

m00npie

unc2701 wrote: »

Drop ceilings vibrate something awful. You really don't want to do that.

I experienced this as well at my old house. Riveting the trouble areas helped but then the recessed lights became the noise maker. Although it‘s a pain in the **** to eliminate the noise, I still prefer it over drywall. Anything happens, or if new cable needs to be run, it’s easy to just pop the tile(s) out.

kevhed72

Not sure what your ducts on the ceiling look like, but my last house ended up with all the duct-work being dry-walled, along with the main seating area of the HT being drywalled. There were a couple smaller areas where it made more sense to install a row of drop-ceiling. I also framed in 2 odd-shaped ends of the basement (one next to furnace and one next to water heater) and left the area behind these walls unfinished. That way, if needed, I could run extra lines to areas of the basement after the fact. Point is, if may make more sense to do a combo. of both. Maybe take some pics of the entire ceiling area and post them...