I want to finish the ceiling in my basement workshop. At the moment
the ceiling is exposed. There is insulation in the joist bays above
along with the usual assortment of plumbing matters.

I am hesitant about sheetrocking the ceiling because of the potential
need to access utilities in the ceiling. T1-11 has the same problems.
One option would be to keep the ceiling open, which would not be a huge
deal but I would like to cover the exposed insulation.

Any ideas here? I am not looking for any fancy solutions, just
something to cover the insulation and yet provide access should it be
needed.

Thanks, mh

wrote:
I want to finish the ceiling in my basement workshop. At the moment
the ceiling is exposed. There is insulation in the joist bays above
along with the usual assortment of plumbing matters.

I am hesitant about sheetrocking the ceiling because of the potential
need to access utilities in the ceiling. T1-11 has the same problems.
One option would be to keep the ceiling open, which would not be a huge
deal but I would like to cover the exposed insulation.

Any ideas here? I am not looking for any fancy solutions, just
something to cover the insulation and yet provide access should it be
needed.

Do you have room for a suspended ceiling? Tom

wrote in message
oups.com...
I want to finish the ceiling in my basement workshop. At the moment
the ceiling is exposed. There is insulation in the joist bays above
along with the usual assortment of plumbing matters.

I am hesitant about sheetrocking the ceiling because of the potential
need to access utilities in the ceiling. T1-11 has the same problems.
One option would be to keep the ceiling open, which would not be a huge
deal but I would like to cover the exposed insulation.


Here's betting that, barring a plumbing cleanout, you'll never have to.
However, it's not your house if you have insurance, so check your local
codes. You may have no choice but to put sheetrock in. Of course you can
make it in 4x4 or 2x4 for handling, and "T" molding it up in a
suspended-type imitation for access. By the time you get there, you may
appreciate the plastic-faced fiberglass type that comes 4x2 a bit more, and
pay the difference. Sheds dust pretty well, meets codes for ceilings.

I left mine open without insulation and have no heat or air in basement
in the Northeast and have steady temperature year round. I do use a
dehumidifer in summer.

wrote:
I want to finish the ceiling in my basement workshop. At the moment
the ceiling is exposed. There is insulation in the joist bays above
along with the usual assortment of plumbing matters.

I am hesitant about sheetrocking the ceiling because of the potential
need to access utilities in the ceiling. T1-11 has the same problems.
One option would be to keep the ceiling open, which would not be a huge
deal but I would like to cover the exposed insulation.

Any ideas here? I am not looking for any fancy solutions, just
something to cover the insulation and yet provide access should it be
needed.

Thanks, mh

Your choices are sheetrock, plywood, or suspended.

Sheetrock is your least expensive and best look. Painted it will help
with lighting. Plywood is expensive and a hassle. Suspended gives you
the access but is very expensive.

Do the math on sheetrock vs suspended. you could re sheetrock your
entire ceiling many times over for the cost of suspended. Do sheetrock,
put in access panels where you have shutoffs, junction boxes , etc. Run
any wires now. If you Do need to tear out a section and replace it down
the road you will still be ahead of the game.

Inviato da X-Privat.Org - Registrazione gratuita http://www.x-privat.org/join.php

In article .com,
wrote:
I want to finish the ceiling in my basement workshop. At the moment
the ceiling is exposed. There is insulation in the joist bays above
along with the usual assortment of plumbing matters.

I am hesitant about sheetrocking the ceiling because of the potential
need to access utilities in the ceiling. T1-11 has the same problems.
One option would be to keep the ceiling open, which would not be a huge
deal but I would like to cover the exposed insulation.

First, contact your local building department or inspections
organization. You may have to put in drywall, for fire protection
reasons. It might even be a good idea to do so, or maybe work on
other fire suppression techniques, such as sprinklers. On the other
hand, the problem with losing access to wires and in particular
junction boxes and valves in the ceiling is massive.

We had the same issue with our basement, and in particular the
basement shop: open floor joists, with fiberglas insulation stuffed in
it. Big problems include that the ceiling continuously spews dust;
fiberglas dust is at least very annoying, and perhaps even
carcinogenic. Also, the dark ceiling makes the room look untidy and
dark.

We finished our basement with full building permits and inspections.
We did not need to put up drywall, because the basement already has
full fire sprinklers and a full set of hard-wired smoke detectors.
The building inspector suggested drywall, but was willing to relent on
that, as long as we have something dust-tight to enclose the glas
fiber insulation.

We ended up buying Tyvek (the white paper-like foil). One option was
housewrap, but that stuff is ugly, with printed manufacturers logos.
We instead special-ordered a roll of all white Tyvek. It was stapled
to the underside of the joists. For valves, you simply cut a square
hole in it, and close the hole by laying a slightly larger piece of
Tyvek on top. As the Tyvek is not permanent (it is easy to cut holes
in it), there is no need to make all electrical boxes immediately
accessible. Instead, we just wrote down where they are, and if we
ever need to access them, we can easily cut hols in the Tyvek.

Note that Tyvek is flammable (but treated to be fire retardant), so
check with your local fire codes. In our area, it was OK, because
fire sprinklers are mandatory anyhow.

--
The address in the header is invalid for obvious reasons. Please
reconstruct the address from the information below (look for _).
Ralph Becker-Szendy

wrote in message
news:1150217225.573479@smirk...
In article .com,
wrote:
I want to finish the ceiling in my basement workshop. At the moment
the ceiling is exposed. There is insulation in the joist bays above
along with the usual assortment of plumbing matters.

I am hesitant about sheetrocking the ceiling because of the potential
need to access utilities in the ceiling. T1-11 has the same problems.
One option would be to keep the ceiling open, which would not be a huge
deal but I would like to cover the exposed insulation.

First, contact your local building department or inspections
organization. You may have to put in drywall, for fire protection
reasons. It might even be a good idea to do so, or maybe work on
other fire suppression techniques, such as sprinklers. On the other
hand, the problem with losing access to wires and in particular
junction boxes and valves in the ceiling is massive.

We had the same issue with our basement, and in particular the
basement shop: open floor joists, with fiberglas insulation stuffed in
it. Big problems include that the ceiling continuously spews dust;
fiberglas dust is at least very annoying, and perhaps even
carcinogenic. Also, the dark ceiling makes the room look untidy and
dark.

We finished our basement with full building permits and inspections.
We did not need to put up drywall, because the basement already has
full fire sprinklers and a full set of hard-wired smoke detectors.
The building inspector suggested drywall, but was willing to relent on
that, as long as we have something dust-tight to enclose the glas
fiber insulation.

We ended up buying Tyvek (the white paper-like foil). One option was
housewrap, but that stuff is ugly, with printed manufacturers logos.
We instead special-ordered a roll of all white Tyvek. It was stapled
to the underside of the joists. For valves, you simply cut a square
hole in it, and close the hole by laying a slightly larger piece of
Tyvek on top. As the Tyvek is not permanent (it is easy to cut holes
in it), there is no need to make all electrical boxes immediately
accessible. Instead, we just wrote down where they are, and if we
ever need to access them, we can easily cut hols in the Tyvek.

Note that Tyvek is flammable (but treated to be fire retardant), so
check with your local fire codes. In our area, it was OK, because
fire sprinklers are mandatory anyhow.


Good advice. A foil backed paper may also work providing local codes permit
it.

Dave

wrote:
I want to finish the ceiling in my basement workshop. At the moment
the ceiling is exposed. There is insulation in the joist bays above
along with the usual assortment of plumbing matters.

I have a basement shop with a low ceiling, so a suspended or dropped
ceiling was out of the question for me. It is about 81" from the floor
to the bottom of the floor joists above.

Five years ago, I rebuilt my house and insulated the floor over the
crawl space, however I left the full basement area with the floor above
un-insulated. I chose to not put any insulation between the first
floor joists over my shop area. Also, since the shop is unheated, I
removed the insulation on the heating pipes that pass through my shop.
It provide enough heat for me to work there in the winter, although I
add a small electric heater if I'm gluing or finishing in the very
coldest weather.

One never has enough storage space and I really like being able to
store between the joists. Many long boards, pipe clamps, etc. live
there. Some jigs and fixtures too. I also have 10 florescent light
fixtures that nestle quite nicely between the joists.

This has all worked well for me. I have one additional feature that
has enhanced this setup. Some time ago, they were replacing a lot of
ceiling tiles where I work. They are the white porous kind that, as a
kid, we always referred to as Celotex. Anyway, the workman here would
cut a 24"x48" tile to 24"x26" and throw the cutoff away. I took all
the cutoffs home. I cut them to fit between the joists and screwed
them to the subfloor above my shop. The white color helps brighten the
shop and the Celotex material helps to deaden the shop noise to the
house above. (Well, at least I like to think so.)

Having the exposed joists has also helped with the routing of my dust
collecting system and additional shop electric. I have, in fact,
installed a few 20A outlets on the joists overhead in the center of
work areas in the shop. Many times I can use hand held power tools
without the need for extension cords.

OK: bottom line. I haven't offered you any good info on what ceiling
to install in your workshop, however perhaps you may consider lthe
advantages of leaving the joists exposed.

Bill Leonhardt