Basement Ceiling Drywall, Is Finishing Required ????
 

looking to put up a basement ceiling on the cheap! drywall is about
10 times cheaper than a drop ceiling as far as i can tell. thought
about just putting up drywall on the ceiling, BUT, i still want access
to the wires/ducts if i ever need to (ie the benefit of a drop
ceiling).

can i just put up the drywall per normal, using screws, but not finish/
tape/mud the joints? that way if needed i figured i could just
unscrew one panel, access whatever i need, then screw it back in.
talked to a Lowe's guy who didn't think it should be done, thinking
that the drywall ceiling might crumble apart if it's not finished????

Basement Ceiling Drywall, Is Finishing Required ????
 

wrote in message
ups.com...
looking to put up a basement ceiling on the cheap! drywall is about
10 times cheaper than a drop ceiling as far as i can tell. thought
about just putting up drywall on the ceiling, BUT, i still want access
to the wires/ducts if i ever need to (ie the benefit of a drop
ceiling).

can i just put up the drywall per normal, using screws, but not finish/
tape/mud the joints? that way if needed i figured i could just
unscrew one panel, access whatever i need, then screw it back in.
talked to a Lowe's guy who didn't think it should be done, thinking
that the drywall ceiling might crumble apart if it's not finished????

Should be fine, but don't reuse the same holes when putting the sheets back
up.

Personally, if I were doing something like this I'd probably use something
light, like cheap panelling, painted to look decent and mounted with
washered screws.

Basement Ceiling Drywall, Is Finishing Required ????
 

On Aug 13, 1:46 pm, wrote:
looking to put up a basement ceiling on the cheap! drywall is about
10 times cheaper than a drop ceiling as far as i can tell. thought
about just putting up drywall on the ceiling, BUT, i still want access
to the wires/ducts if i ever need to (ie the benefit of a drop
ceiling).

can i just put up the drywall per normal, using screws, but not finish/
tape/mud the joints? that way if needed i figured i could just
unscrew one panel, access whatever i need, then screw it back in.
talked to a Lowe's guy who didn't think it should be done, thinking
that the drywall ceiling might crumble apart if it's not finished????

Removeable "fake beams" might work well for this application to hide
the seems, or make your own fake beams from lumber, then you could
paint.

Basement Ceiling Drywall, Is Finishing Required ????
 

Basement Ceiling Drywall, Is Finishing Required ????
 

On Aug 13, 2:46 pm, wrote:
can i just put up the drywall per normal, using screws, but not finish/
tape/mud the joints? that way if needed i figured i could just
unscrew one panel, access whatever i need, then screw it back in.

It depends on what you eventually plan to do with the room. Finished
living area needs the drywall joints taped and mudded to meet code
(what the inspector told me). If you plan on finishing it eventually
then you'll probably want 3/4" drywall on the ceiling so it won't
sag. Removing 1/2" drywall intact sounds difficult but removing 3/4"
has to be much worse.

Anyways, leaving it unfinished certainly won't hurt the drywall, but
it sounds like a bad idea.

Basement Ceiling Drywall, Is Finishing Required ????
 

If basement remains "unfinished" it's not taxed in most places.

On Aug 13, 6:46 pm, The Reverend Natural Light
wrote:
On Aug 13, 2:46 pm, wrote:

can i just put up the drywall per normal, using screws, but not finish/
tape/mud the joints? that way if needed i figured i could just
unscrew one panel, access whatever i need, then screw it back in.

It depends on what you eventually plan to do with the room. Finished
living area needs the drywall joints taped and mudded to meet code
(what the inspector told me). If you plan on finishing it eventually
then you'll probably want 3/4" drywall on the ceiling so it won't
sag. Removing 1/2" drywall intact sounds difficult but removing 3/4"
has to be much worse.

Anyways, leaving it unfinished certainly won't hurt the drywall, but
it sounds like a bad idea.

Basement Ceiling Drywall, Is Finishing Required ????
 

on 8/13/2007 7:04 PM said the following:
If basement remains "unfinished" it's not taxed in most places.


Right. My basement is divided into 3 rooms. There are no doors,
moldings, or even jambs on the door openings, the floor is bare
concrete, the stairwell is unpainted and unfinished with the original
rough hand sawn staircase, and there is no permanent lighting. It has
been that way for 15 years.
On Aug 13, 6:46 pm, The Reverend Natural Light
wrote:

On Aug 13, 2:46 pm, wrote:


can i just put up the drywall per normal, using screws, but not finish/
tape/mud the joints? that way if needed i figured i could just
unscrew one panel, access whatever i need, then screw it back in.

It depends on what you eventually plan to do with the room. Finished
living area needs the drywall joints taped and mudded to meet code
(what the inspector told me). If you plan on finishing it eventually
then you'll probably want 3/4" drywall on the ceiling so it won't
sag. Removing 1/2" drywall intact sounds difficult but removing 3/4"
has to be much worse.

Anyways, leaving it unfinished certainly won't hurt the drywall, but
it sounds like a bad idea.






--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

Basement Ceiling Drywall, Is Finishing Required ????
 

on 8/13/2007 2:46 PM said the following:
looking to put up a basement ceiling on the cheap! drywall is about
10 times cheaper than a drop ceiling as far as i can tell. thought
about just putting up drywall on the ceiling, BUT, i still want access
to the wires/ducts if i ever need to (ie the benefit of a drop
ceiling).

can i just put up the drywall per normal, using screws, but not finish/
tape/mud the joints? that way if needed i figured i could just
unscrew one panel, access whatever i need, then screw it back in.
talked to a Lowe's guy who didn't think it should be done, thinking
that the drywall ceiling might crumble apart if it's not finished????



A drop ceiling would be more utile. What if you had to run wires, or
cable, or pipes across the basement? You couldn't under a sheetrocked
ceiling.,

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

Basement Ceiling Drywall, Is Finishing Required ????
 

On Aug 13, 2:46 pm, wrote:
looking to put up a basement ceiling on the cheap! drywall is about
10 times cheaper than a drop ceiling as far as i can tell. thought
about just putting up drywall on the ceiling, BUT, i still want access
to the wires/ducts if i ever need to (ie the benefit of a drop
ceiling).

can i just put up the drywall per normal, using screws, but not finish/
tape/mud the joints? that way if needed i figured i could just
unscrew one panel, access whatever i need, then screw it back in.
talked to a Lowe's guy who didn't think it should be done, thinking
that the drywall ceiling might crumble apart if it's not finished????

I used something called celotex(sort of an accoustical material) came
in 4 X 8 sheets, weighed very little, tacked it up, then made a grid
of 1 by 3 boards in 4 foot squares. In 25 plus years have not had to
access the wires or ducts, and for some reason the gridwork makes the
LOW ceiling seem higher, at least tht is what the wife says, there
are hardly any wires in the ceiling area, 3 ducts, and when I opened
the ceiling to install, I found that one of the ducts was a return air
duct, connected to nothing, so it was vacuuming the ceiling area all
winter!! Filters lasted a lot longer after I disconnected it!
M

Basement Ceiling Drywall, Is Finishing Required ????
 

wrote in message
ups.com...
looking to put up a basement ceiling on the cheap! drywall is about
10 times cheaper than a drop ceiling as far as i can tell. thought
about just putting up drywall on the ceiling, BUT, i still want access
to the wires/ducts if i ever need to (ie the benefit of a drop
ceiling).

can i just put up the drywall per normal, using screws, but not finish/
tape/mud the joints? that way if needed i figured i could just
unscrew one panel, access whatever i need, then screw it back in.
talked to a Lowe's guy who didn't think it should be done, thinking
that the drywall ceiling might crumble apart if it's not finished????

Yes, drywall alone should be fine. Only thing is the taking down and
putting back up part. Drywall gets its strength in kind of an odd way.
Gypsum is very strong in one sense, and very weak in another. Paper is very
weak in one sense, and very strong in another. It's an odd combination but
they complement each other. Point being, if you screw in drywall, you have
to be careful not to let the screw rip through the paper. If you put the
drywall back up, the old screw hole you used probably won't be as strong,
since some of the gypsum will probably be crumbling around it at that point.