My house has plaster walls throughout and 10 foot ceilings. I recently had
central air installed and we ran some of the duct work along the top of the
ceiling in my upstairs hallway. The plan was to then drop the ceiling there
to 8 feet by putting up a 2x4 frame and drywall.

Now I'm thinking that the walls may be at risk of cracking when the 2x4s are
nailed into them and I'm also wondering if they will be able to handle the
weight of the drywall ceiling once it is all up.

I haven't hired a contractor to do this job yet, but I'm looking to see if
you all would have any advice on this job or specific questions I should ask
the contractor if we go with the drywall option (possibly using liquid nails
for the frame, nails vs screws for the frame, tying the 2x4s to the 10 foot
ceiling with wire for additional support, etc).

Another option I'm now considering is to put a dropped ceiling (not drywall)
which I'm assuming would weigh a lot less than the drywall.

Any advice or suggestions are welcome.

Thank you

--
Ray

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If the area you're talking about is just the width of a hallway, then
I wouldn't be concerned, as the span is very short, any any additional
weight is minimal across that span. Instead of nails, you can use
screws for areas that contact the sidewalls to avoid cracking.

"Ray" wrote in message
ink.net...
My house has plaster walls throughout and 10 foot ceilings. I recently
had
central air installed and we ran some of the duct work along the top of
the
ceiling in my upstairs hallway. The plan was to then drop the ceiling
there
to 8 feet by putting up a 2x4 frame and drywall.

Now I'm thinking that the walls may be at risk of cracking when the 2x4s
are
nailed into them and I'm also wondering if they will be able to handle the
weight of the drywall ceiling once it is all up.

I haven't hired a contractor to do this job yet, but I'm looking to see if
you all would have any advice on this job or specific questions I should
ask
the contractor if we go with the drywall option (possibly using liquid
nails
for the frame, nails vs screws for the frame, tying the 2x4s to the 10
foot
ceiling with wire for additional support, etc).

Another option I'm now considering is to put a dropped ceiling (not
drywall)
which I'm assuming would weigh a lot less than the drywall.

Any advice or suggestions are welcome.

Thank you

--
Ray

I'm no expert but it seems I've heard somewhere that firefighters dislike
false ceilings because of the problems getting to a fire, there, should one
occur. I would think a suspended ceiling, perhaps with one of the tile
patterns that would fit with the age of a house having 10 ft. ceilings,
would be safer. A fire hose would probably knock them out of the way.
Tom.