"Jimw" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 7 Jan 2009 11:57:07 -0500, "RonABC" wrote:

I am having the kitchen ceiling replaced in a old house that I bought and
that I will be renting out. The old ceiling has been taken down and what
is
left is the ceiling joists. It used to be a wood lath and plaster
ceiling.
I can see where they used some strips of lath to pack out the uneven
joists
when they first installed the original ceiling.

The ceiling joists are uneven -- not by a whole lot, but maybe as much as
half and inch difference between the various joists. I want to have a new
sheetrock ceiling put in and do not want a dropped ceiling.

I was assuming that the way people usually install new sheetrock ceilings
is
to raise the sheetrock up to the joists and pack out any spaces between
the
joists that are too high and the sheetrock so the sheetrock will be flat.
Is that what contractors usually do?

The guy I have who will probably put up the new ceiling suggested buying
steel studs and sistering them along the existing joists in a way so that
the bottoms of all of the steel studs form a flat, level, and even
surface.
Then mount the sheetrock to the steel studs.

Is that what contractors sometimes or usually do in this type of
situation?
I never heard of that before, so I thought I'd check here to see what
others
think about this approach.

Thanks.


You should have left the laths in place, but since you removed them,
you will have to use laths or strips of plywood to shim the high
joists. Using steel studs seems silly and costly when you can just
re-use some of the old laths, which you have many of. It's time
consuming, but it works. Be sure to use LONG drywall screws when you
install the sheetrock so you get into the actual joists and not just
the shims. Get yourself a long level and use a string to get them all
lined up. Or maybe a laser would help too.

Look at it this way. A lath is about 3/8" scrap paneling is about
1/8" 1/4" plywood is 1/4", etc. You can do all the shimming
yourself, then get the sheet rock guy to put up the drywall, and you
will save money.

What I do is run string from one end of the room to the other across the
joists shim where needed and strap with 1X3 strapping...All ceilings should
strapped , even new construction....