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CraigT[_3_] CraigT[_3_] is offline
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Default Drop ceiling or drywall ceiling?


"aemeijers" wrote in message
...
On 4/16/2011 7:34 PM, Tony Hwang wrote:
Hi,

CraigT wrote:
I know everyone wants a drywall ceiling, but I have a walkout basement
that
if I were to put a drywall ceiling in I'd have to put in 12 access
panels
for electrical boxes, water shutoffs, vent dampers, etc. in an area 18'
X
27'. Here are couple pictures of what I've got in the way of "stuff" I
need access to and what it might look like with all the panels. Would I
just be better off going with a drop ceiling?

Hi,
I think you answered your own question. It may cost more but I always
prefered drop ceiling. There are many choices for panels. My vote is
drop ceiling on condition you have enough head room. My basement ceiling
was 9 feet high before it was finished.


IMHO, 8.5 feet between finish slab and bottom of centerline beam, should
be a code requirement. My father always encouraged owners to spring for
the extra foot of hole and course of block, as he was walking them through
the design phase. The additional cost is relatively trivial, and it makes
finishing out the basement SO much easier, without ending up with the
usual finished basement look of a 7.5' ceiling and a head-banger running
down the middle. He also encouraged putting the furnace toward the dead
corner of the basement, behind the stairwell wall (he never did floating
stairs), to maximize the easily finishable space while still leaving a
large enough mechanical room for easy service and eventual furnace/WH
replacement. (It sucks to have to demo a basement wall to change the water
heater.)

--
aem sends....

As it stands now if I put in a drop ceiling, it'll be 7' 6" and that will be
below the beam. If I wanted to go higher and box in the beam I'd also have
to box in the large square heat vent and the large square cold air return
along with two six foot long round vent runs that snake down into that space
then go back up again. I think I'll live with a dead flat 7' 6" ceiling.



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