Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with ceiling

pimp my ceiling (something other than drywall)

iiniisfree — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:07:01 -0800

Pimp my ceiling! The prior owner had 4 parrots and I want to ditch the fowl acoustical tile in my living room. Is there any source for pressed tin (or a reasonable fake) or wainscot that won't leave me squalking? I've tested the acoustical tile for asbestos, though I don't know yet if they're attached by adhesive or fir-strip. Due to aforementioned parrot funk, I think I should rip the acoustical tile out, and start fresh.

Below (above?) that is cement plaster- but after several years of water leaks, I think painting it will reveal a lot of cracking and flaws.

I love LOVE the look of pressed tin- but am unsure about installation, and the cost compared to drywall (2100$ for the drywall/mud/tape). The room is 16x32, rectangle with just the 4 corners. I pretty much eliminated the idea of wainscot due to this post. Also, I'm in a rural area where I pay through the nose for shipping.

Do cheaper/faux tin tiles exist, say that might go up with adhesive, or did I make that up?

This is a 1920's home, with a sightseeing pedestrian route on the street below- I'd like to look up to something more ...ethereal. Ideas?

Will my heating bills go up if I rip out my lowered ceilings?

christinetheslp — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 19:54:31 -0800

The previous owner of my house lowered the ceilings to save energy. I hate them. If I take the new ceilings down, will my energy bills go up that much? At some point the previous owners of my house stopped using the old heating vents near the ceilings and put in new vents near the floor. At that time they also put new, lower ceilings in the bedrooms and hallway with the idea that lower ceilings would keep the warm air down and lower heating bills.

I hate these ceilings. They're acoustic tile with fluorescent lights. My husband and I poked up a tile and were surprised to find the house's original ceiling, intact and in great shape, a mere eight inches or so above the new ceiling. I'd love to rip out the new ceiling and expose the old, nicer ceiling. However, I'm reluctant to do this for fear that my heating bills will go up. I don't think they would, but I'm not sure.

Could lowering the ceiling eight inches really lower your heating bills? Or will I not see a difference if I take the lower ceilings out?

Thanks!

Ceiling mount video camera

JamesMCS — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 06:29:25 -0800

Can anybody suggest an inexpensive video camera that can be mounted to the ceiling of a Jazz Club, in order to give the patrons in another room, a view of the stage via Television monitor. I've already tried a few security style cameras, but in the low light of the club, the resolution is very poor.

How do I make this ugly car a little less so?

Think_Long — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:43:03 -0800

Has anyone here had any success in reattaching the headliner (ceiling fabric) to their car? My girlfriend's headliner has totally detached itself from the board and is only held up by the lining around the edge. From what I can find online, it seems that there are no truly cheap and easy ways of fixing this; people suggest removing the whole thing and taking it to an upholstery shop, or stapling the living hell out of it.

Does anyone here have any suggestions that I would not have found yet? It doesn't have to look perfect, but the neater the better. I would consider double sided tape between the board and the fabric, but I'm pretty sure the summer humidity would render it pretty useless.

Thanks all

Where can I find 3/4" bead board for a ceiling in Minnesota for $1.50/sq.ft.?

Mesach — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:59:12 -0800

I'm finishing my house and want to install 3/4" bead board ceiling and in all the places that I look for install help and instruction(this old house, hgtv.com, oldhouseweb.com, etc) people are quoting $1-1.50/sq. foot. Does anyone know where in MN I can find quality 3/4" bead board ceiling for that price, everything i'm finding is $3-4 from specialty mills, and the stuff priced around $1/sq at the big box stores(Home Depot, Lowes and Menards) is for the thinner wall stuff, and is usually VERY poor quality with lots of knots. I just watched this video at HGTV and they put up some pretty nice looking stuff and quoted $1.50/sq I don't believe it one bit...

Ceiling sprinkler head looks like it keeps getting lower, is it going to go off?

slhpatterson — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:21:02 -0800

My apartment has a ceiling sprinkler system and one of the heads that has descended slightly from the ceiling. Should i worry that the sprinkler head will go off? I recently moved into a new building with a sprinkler system in the ceiling. One of the sprinkler heads has descended from the ceiling about an inch. I can see metal grooves but can't see the actual sprinkler head. My super says not to worry, is there a chance this one sprinkler head can go off by itself? While the sprinkler head is near the kitchen there is another sprinkler head almost above the stove that is flush with the ceiling.

Will the HOA Come For ME?

duckus — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:04:56 -0800

Can the HOA make me ultimately responsible for their drama ? I own a condo, but rent it out. Last year, the owner below me experienced leakage in her ceiling due to a design flaw. The leak originated in the outside deck of my condo.

At first, she contacted me, and we found dry rot in the door frame, which was replaced. At this point, it was also determined that the damage was centered outside, which is considered a common area and not my responsibility.

Now, she is still experiencing the leak and new damage and is going to the board demanding they resolve the issue. The board is maintaining (politely) that the original issue was resolved several years ago. I have not been directly contacted about anything, but am being cc'ed on various emails. It does seem that everyone wants to avoid litigation.

I am worried that at some point, this will come back to me. Can they come after me at all after they exhaust all of their options with each other? And if they can .. what are my options? I mean .. other than shelling out thousands of dollars I don't have.

Napalm is right out.

Netzapper — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:43:49 -0800

What do I do about the rats living in my roof? Without leaving decomposing rat corpses above my ceiling? There's a gap between the roof of my house and the joists and ceiling below it. Since we live in the Pacific NorthWet, I assume that this is to mitigate moisture/mold issues.

But, some rats have chewed through the mesh that covers the gap. And now a whole family of them lives in there, scurrying around and keeping us awake at night. They feed off of my compost heap, but even when there's no food available they still use my house as a home base.

I want them gone. But, I don't want any corpses rotting up there. This rules out poison, as I'd have no control of where they died. The space is too small to put my cats up there. I've considered building an armed robot, but I suspect that the joists will render a wheeled vehicle useless. If I just block off the hole, I'm certain to be trapping live rats inside who will either a) die of starvation and rot; or b) chew another hole elsewhere to escape.

At this point, the best plan I've come up with is to fill my paintball gun with hard rubber riot control balls and lay in wait for them to either emerge or attempt to enter. In the times when I sleep, I would block up the hole. (Mind you, I know that air rifle pellets would be more humane, but I don't want a zillion little holes in my eaves.)

I suppose non-lethal measures would be acceptable. But, my primate territorialism is demanding rat blood.

Water, Mould, and a Ceiling on the Floor!

dancinglamb — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:29:25 -0800

My bathroom ceiling fell down today, only to reveal a huge water leak and an even nastier mould farm. Help! Yes, I've already had a plumber here, and he located the big, honking leak. Bad news is, it apparently has been going on for quite a while based on the amount of water and extent of mould.

The shower located on the second floor leaked into the ceiling of the first floor half bathroom of our single family house. I had noticed a particularly funky stench for the past couple weeks in the half bath, but chalked it up to my pre-schooler getting the floor wet when washing her hands. Turns out I should've looked up, instead of down. That hint became glaringly clear as it started to rain on my head this morning just as I was about to walk out the door for the day.

The mould was not only all throughout the sheetrock, but all over the old plaster/lathe above it, and has blackened the wood rafters. (The house is about 76yo and the plaster had dropped about 2" down onto the sheetrock in a pile of mouldy mud.) The stench in there is positively unbearable.

The plumber cleaned everything out the best he could, but told me that it would be at least 10-14 days for the ceiling to dry out. He said that even then, I'm probably going to have to have the entire thing replaced (about 30% of it is currently missing), and I have no idea if the walls were affected - it's a long narrow bathroom, so there's a chance the wall could've been hit from behind. I haven't even contacted a sheetrock guy about estimates for that portion of fun.

Do I bother calling the insurance company? I tried calling the plumber's secretary to find out how much this little adventure is going to cost me, but she was already gone for the day. I can't imagine it's going to be cheap, since they need to replace four faucet handles and stems, plus their labour and parts. They also weren't able to complete the job today and will have to come back on Monday to finish.

I read the other threads about the potential for the insurance company raising our rates/canceling the policy. My only concern is that I have asthma, and three of the four family members have allergies. I'm not sure that I want to add mould to the list.

I should add that we did put a claim in back in January when a large portion of a tree fell on the house during an ice storm. I think the total claim was only about $2300 after the deductible. It's Traveler's Insurance, if that makes a difference.

Thanks!

What's the easiest way of washing a ceiling?

storybored — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:41:53 -0800

What's the easiest way to wash a ceiling? It's a flat kitchen ceiling that hasn't been washed for years (in preparation for painting). It's probably got greasy residue. How good are those Swiffer doodads? Will that work? Or am i going to have to go with a rag and cleaning solution?

Looking for a Ceiling Medallion with a large diameter hole

lyam — Sat, 03 May 2008 09:55:04 -0800

In our home we have two interesting light fixtures consisting of draped crystal pendants. They stand out a bit from the bare and somewhat boring ceiling. We'd like to add a ceiling medallion to create a little more visual balance but I can't find one with a large enough hole. Has anyone had any luck finding a medallion with a hole diameter of 12" or so?

Ceiling popcorn

Zebtron — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:53:44 -0800

Anyone have any magic for removing the "popcorn" from my bathroom ceiling?

Does your ceiling hang low, does it wobble to and fro?

gleuschk — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 08:20:27 -0800

The movers put a big gouge in my living room ceiling. This is sad and annoying, but leads to a burning question: what the hell kind of ceiling do I have? Here's the gouge. Sad, yes. But look: you can see through the gouge! What I thought was the ceiling is actually some canvas-kind of material, hanging about 8 inches below the sheetrock. You can see how it bows and hangs in this photo. The weird thing is that it was apparently designed to do this -- even at the edges, I can push the canvasy stuff up nearly an inch without hitting anything hard.

So what kind of ceiling do I have? What key words do I need to use in finding someone to repair/replace/whatever this gouge? (Recommendations for ceiling guys in Central New York most welcome.)

I know it's not anthrax, but what is it?

brina — Fri, 25 May 2007 09:12:02 -0800

What does asbestos look like? I live in a 1940s era apartment building. The management company recently posted a notice that there would be asbestos abatement in our shared basement.

A separate issue in my own apartment: The plaster on our bathroom ceiling and in a few other places around our apartment has begun to fall apart. While I've been trying to get maintenance around to fix it, I'm curious as to what the white powdery substance that keeps landing everywhere might be.

Not freaking out over here; just curious as to whether any asbestos problems in the basement might be building-wide.

How to fix a paneled ceiling

schroedinger — Tue, 15 May 2007 08:50:39 -0800

How to fix acoustic ceiling panels and their light fixtures. Our low basement ceiling (maybe 6' high) is a frequent casualty of college parties and the drunken men that attend them. Panels are knocked out and two fixtures have fallen. What to do? As said, we have a very low ceiling in our basement. Lighting is provided by flourescent lights installed in large boxes the same size as the ceiling panels. Over the course of our residence in our rowhouse two of these fixtures have fallen (and possibly broken), the struts between the panels have become bent, and some of the ceiling panels themselves are destroyed. We'd like to fix this before moving out but aren't sure how. Has anyone had any experience? Is this a job for a professional repair man or electrician?

Remodeling

converge — Fri, 04 May 2007 01:31:52 -0800

Whereabouts can I find an affordable artisanal chandelier round about Calgary?

What's above the ceiling?

portabella — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 15:54:20 -0800

So there I was, running cable through the celing, and all of a sudden this stuff starts pouring out. Think of what happens when you invert an hourglass; but instead of sand rushing out, it was this junk that looked like wooden perlite. I filled up 3 plastic shopping bags with the stuff, which certainly LOOKS like some kind of insulation. The odd thing was the small hole touching off such a large amount of debris. And my family was mildly freaked out too.

What *is* this stuff? And do we need to worry about it?

Do I have to deal with this water leak?

timory — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 09:59:45 -0800

What constitutes normal water damage/leakage in an old house? Is there a way to convince my otherwise very responsive landlord that my flooded bedroom is not, in fact, normal? Last night, my upstairs neighbor's bathroom flooded, and caused a lovely shower in my bedroom. Several buckets later, the problem has been contained and the landlord has been reached, but I can't help but feel that I'm being played for a fool, here.

My landlord is very responsive and nice, if a little flaky, and I don't really have a lot of complaints about him, nor do I want to be rude to him in any way. But when I explained to him what happened, he told me that there's really nothing he can do except to paint over the water stains on my bedroom ceiling. He told me that "water finds its own path," and that the flooding in my bedroom is just something I'm going to have to deal with if and when it happens. Yes, it's an old house, but is he right? Can't this sort of thing be caulked or fixed in SOME way? What can I reasonably demand from him?

Some of the information here helps, but I am not entirely sure that I am within legitimate rights to ask for repairs.

Acoustical tile ceiling make over

retro88 — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 15:36:32 -0800

DIY.filter: I have a converted attic with acoustical tiles attached to the ceiling. Does anyone have any thoughts on mudding over them or covering them up with something to update the look? As part of an all-around renovation of my upstairs converted attic (approx 500 sq ft) I would like to update the look of the ugly acoustical tile that is currently on the ceiling. I would like to leave it up there and just cover it up with something for several reasons, Possible asbestos hazard if I try to remove it, save on demo time, and maybe save on material costs (if i don't have to hang drywall). One thought I had was just mudding over the whole ceiling. Does anyone know if this will work? Will it hold, is there a bigger risk of cracking? What other cost-effective ideas are out there?

Has anyone seen ceiling ducks?

ORthey — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 11:24:09 -0800

Looking for those duck bottom ceiling decorations... We have a ceiling painted blue in my house, and my roommate is craving some of those ridiculous half-ducks that you can glue on to give the appearance you are underwater. Has anyone seen those? Looking online all I can find is very expensive custom models. I'm looking for something on the cheap here.

What is with the seams in my ceiling?

dios — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 08:31:50 -0800

I need some advice about house structure/frame problems. I don't know if it is foundation or what. But we are having issues with seams in our ceiling and walls. I have no Bob Villa in me at all. We live in a historic 1920's high tudor in Dallas. It's a beautiful old home with a pier and beam foundation. The area of Dallas we live in has a known problem with being on black clay which causes shifting to occur in houses and sidewalks.

Anyhow, we are having the typical problems that these old houses in this historic conservation district have, such as the diagnoal seams running up from doors and doorways. I called a foundation expert out to our house, and they came and tested it. According to the foundation guy, I have an excellent foundation with no sinking at all. He said that there will be displacement because of the black clay that is inevitable. So, I know that I will have to get it fixed every few years or so with new paint.

But here is my question. I am getting these things in the ceilings that I call seams. Obviously my attic has the big 2x4s or whatever running across it, and it looks to me like that in some rooms, those are pushing against the ceiling. So in two rooms, I have these nice two-inch wide lines going from one side of the room to the other where the ceiling is being pushed down farther. These are like every 3 feet or so. The celiing isn't cracking; there isn't anything protruding through, it just looks like a speed bumb.

If the foundation is fine, and there is no sink in the flooring, what is the deal with these things in my ceiling? I, unfortunately, have no handyman abilities. I'm the kind of guy who always pays people to come fix stuff, so I am woefully inadequate in both describing and attempting to fix the problem. My only guess it was a foundation problem, but that doesn't seem to be it. My wife was there when they came, and they tested the height of all the floors and the floors are remarkably level. So if the flooring is even, why does it look like my attic is caving in (in a couple of rooms)?

The only thing I can think of is that the previous owners had the water heater lifted up into the attic a few months before we bought the house, and I am wondering if that added weight is bowing the supports up there. I can live with the seams in my house, but I want to make sure the damn thing isn't going to collapse in on someone sleeping in my guess room.

So, I guess my questions are the following: Does anyone have experience with this kind of thing? Does anyone know why this is happening? And, as I said, I call people to come fix my problems, who do I call? The foundation companies have been useless.

Removing dead mice?

ThePants — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 21:04:27 -0800

DeadMouseFilter: I noticed a lot of dead mice in the drop ceiling in my apartment. What's the best way to get rid of them before they go zombie? Two cables enter, one cable leaves. I lifted up a ceiling tile, to find where the second cable is run to, and saw 4 dead mice before I even turned my head (three in the same glue trap, one that appears to have died of shock, right in front of them).

I imagine there are more, but didn't have the wherewithall to explore further.

---

Is a pair of rubber gloves, a breath mask, a trash bag, and a weekend afternoon a good solution?

My friends (who still keep coming back to my house, god bless 'em) keep screaming, "hantavirus." And sure, I'd rather not contract an acute respitory illness, but what's the real risk here (in Boston, MA)? What else should I be worried about?

Should I just get a professional (or get my landlord to get a professional) to do it right?

What if they rise from the dead? What's the best way to battle an army of reanimated zombie mice?

Any suggestions helpful.

I have a question about the Jaime Hernandez comic Love and Rockets.

drezdn — Tue, 16 Nov 2004 19:48:28 -0800

Love and Rockets question (the comic, not the band)...[mi] I just finished Locas, which collects most of the Hopey and Maggie stories up to 1996. Unfortunately, it seems it doesn't collect all their stories up to 96. One that's supposed to be called "Flies on the Ceiling" is supposed to be particularly important. Does anyone know what stories are missing, and what collections they're available in?