Basement ceilings…always an issue. Suspended acoustic panel ceilings are not attractive and finished drywalled ceilings are not accessible. So, how could we achieve the functionality of drop ceilings, but also maintain a higher-end look?! Enter our invention: DIY Coffered Ceilings … ones that have hidden access (more on that below).
Well, the basement needed a ceiling.
Our first thought: drywall the ceiling. We could fasten the drywall directly to the floor joints and build boxy bulkheads to close in around piping, gas lines, and electrical wires. Not a terrible solution, but Melissa has big plans to tear apart our kitchen on the main floor, rerouting gas and maybe plumbing lines in the process, so she wanted to be sure we’d have easy access to them from the basement ceiling.
Our second thought: a drop ceiling. Acoustic tile drop ceilings are popular in finished basements and office buildings. Why? Because they’re inexpensive and allow easy access to pipes/gas/electrical lines above. But I’m not a fan of their look, especially if you’re going for a more finished aesthetic.
Coffered Ceiling Inspiration
So, we decided to try something completely different. Melissa really loves the look of a coffered ceiling. Like these.
But we needed the ceiling to be accessible. So, Melissa drew out a design on her sketch pad, mocked it up in Illustrator, and handed it to me to ‘go build it’ (as she often does). Here is Melissa’s design:
3) 2×4 frame 4) Primed & painted appearance board 5) Removable painted drywall piece
Her design was a coffered-looking ceiling with ‘hidden’ access panels that were completely removable! Faux Coffered Drop Ceilings were born!
Building the DIY ‘Hidden Access’ Coffered Ceiling Frame
We created a simple frame system using 2x4s to crisscross the ceiling. The frame is 1 foot down from the ceiling rafters to accommodate for clearance of the lowest hanging pipes, which in our basement is the main drain. Most of the boards are narrow side up, but in some places, we needed to turn the 2x4s on their side to fit underneath pipes. Really, it’s just about customizing to fit your space.
We used 12 foot long 2x4s for the crossbeams. These rested either on headers (shown here) or were screwed into the sill plates around the perimeter of the house.
We also used metal strapping, which attached the 2×4 frame in the middle of the room to the floor joints above. With the weight, the 2×4 frames start to sag in the middle without extra support.
Anatomy of the DIY Coffered Ceiling
The white finish/trim/appearance boards are then screwed into the 2×4 frames we created. These holes are later spackled and painted to blend in. Drywall pieces are cut just smaller than the opening (yes, this was a lot of measuring and cutting). Then, each piece of drywall is slid up to rest on the lip created by the appearance boards.
At first glance, you don’t notice that each recessed panel is a piece of painted drywall. Heck, at second glance, you don’t even notice. In fact, most people don’t notice that they are moveable at all…which is the whole idea!
These trim boards gave us about a 2 inch lip on all sides to support the drywall pieces that rest inside each of the rectangles. Basically, each drywall piece can be moved up and slid over, exactly like an attic access panel would.
Zooming in a little closer, you can see the lip where the drywall piece sits, the insulation above, and the floor joists that are supporting the main living level of the Forest House.
Then, looking up into the void, you see the space that the suspended coffered ceiling allows for can lights and how it accommodates the existing plumbing work. With this method, we have retained access to the gas and plumbing lines in the basement ceiling.
Here’s another panel pushed aside to show you the drain line (and how we had to notch out the 2×4 structure to accommodate), more electrical wiring, and a copper water line. Remember, all of this would have been covered if we’d simply sheet-rocked the ceiling without access panels.
Here’s yet another look up into another panel of the the DIY coffered ceiling showing all the duct/pipe/electrical work that we wanted to retain access to.
Coffered Ceiling Supplies, Tools, & Techniques
This project didn’t require much in the way of specialty tools or techniques. For the DIY Coffered Ceilings with Hidden Access project, we used:
- Basic framing tools (we used our DeWalt Screwdriver and our Finish framing gun)
- 2′ x 4′ x 12′ Pine Studs (for the suspended frames) we primarily used 12ft lengths then cut a few down for shorter spots and cross pieces
- 1″ x 6″ x 12′ Pieces of Pre-primed Pine Appearance Boards (these allow for both the finished look and the lip for the painted drywall to sit on)
- 1/2″ x 4′ x 8′ Drywall (we purchased full sheets and cut to size, and we uses 1/2″ because it’s lighter and easier to work with)
- Metal Straps (attached to the joists above to help hold the weight of the 2×4 frame)
- Paint (we painted the primed the appearance boards with rollers and sprayed the ceiling drywall panels)
- Paint brushes, high-density foam rollers, and our Graco Airless Sprayer
- Framing screws
- Finish nails (for nail gun – these just hold things in place until screwed together)
One last peek at the final finished look!
And how it looks in the finished basement office!
We hope you found some inspiration in our unique solution to accessible coffered basement ceilings! Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Love this idea! We are wanting to do it in our unfinished basement. Do the basement walls need to be drywalled first before doing the ceiling?
What are your thoughts for those of us with 8′ basement ceilings, with all HVAC, plumbing and what not fully within the floor joists/mini floor trusses (which is what I have, which allows all the plumbing to pass through load bearing areas with minimal joist hole punching, cudos to the builder on that one). Anywho, what do you think about attaching the trim boards (1″x6″x12′) directly to the floor joists? Which would render each piece of drywall ~20″ wide to fit between each floor joist, if they are 24″ on center. I’m thinking average size piece of drywall would be 20″x96″ (8′) or 120″ (12′) to minimize cuts between the trim boards. This would give a ceiling drop of about 1.5″. Any flaws with this idea?
Thank you for this! We need to put in a drop ceiling in our dining room. But I think drop ceilings are ugly. I prefer a smooth look- not a bunch of squares on the ceiling. This look you have created is the best I’ve seen.
We have to do the same in our single story home. They put an addition on the back of the house that’s 2’ lower than the other part and left an opening in what used to be the old kitchen window but is now the laundry room. I didn’t want that opening in the LR anymore so we’re moving it to the living room. I had to come up with a creative idea to hide it and I also came up with coffered ceilings with panels. Then I stumbled across this post! So glad I did, the visual helps a lot!! Great minds think alike!
I know this is an older post but I’am installing this in my lower now. How did you deal with some trim not being perfectly lined up on the showing face? I have a spot where it sticks out a bit…did you sand that area to blend. Also this created a slight gap on the drywall did you have to blend the inside lip at all so the drywall sat perfectly flat. Yours looks great!!! I will share pictures of mine when it is complete.
Thank you for your idea, it’ll work perfectly for all the plans I have for my basement.
I just have a question about the framing along the borders. Can you explain this description in more detail please:
“We used 12 foot long 2x4s for the crossbeams. These rested either on headers (shown here) or were screwed into the sill plates around the perimeter of the house.”
Did your house come with the headers all around for the most part, or were there 2×4 crossbeams where you installed sill plates on both ends? Did you have to join multiple 2×4’s end-on-end or were all crossbeams 12 ft or lesser in length? If you did, how did you join the ends? Please clarify.
What ceiling tile (model no.) did you use, I am in the middle of finalizing in my basement!
I am so excited to start my first DIY on big holes dry wall repair. Good work! Thanks a lot.
Can you tell me the size of the center panels?
Love the look of this. We are thinking about doing this for or main living room, because the kids bathroom is directly above and has leaked. my question is i see that the panels are moveable, but are they removable. Trying to wrap my head around this.
Yes, picture putting the piece of drywall in. Then do that in reverse. Have to go at it at an angle.
How do you attach the 2 x 4s to the ceiling joists; they are installed with narrow side down so are they toe nailed into the ceiling joists? I don’t need all that space for my application and could use 2 x’s going with flat side up but then the trim boards would not be wide enough to use as the lip for the squares. I guess 2 x 3 or even 2 x 2; any other suggestions. Just cant figure how you attached those 2 x 4s. Thank you
Your ceiling is beautiful; thanks
I am getting ready to add this system to my basement ceiling. I like having access to all the plumbing and electrical that is in this area of my basement (shutoff for the sprinkler system, ice machine water supply, etc.) I am planning on using 1×4 pre-painted wood similar to yours. I will carve out a 3/4″ groove on what will be the top of the grid for the drywall to sit into. My question: In each of the grid squares, half of the 1×4 boards will support the drywall laying inside that grid square, and the other half will support the drywall in an adjacent grid square. When you get to the perimeter, is it better to have the same 1×4 board (knowing that only the “half” that is not against the wall is supporting the drywall while the part against the wall is not supporting anything). Or is it better to have a half-width board against the perimeter? I hope this makes sense. Thank you for your article!
I would do 1×4 through, keeps uniformity’s. You don’t want a 1×2 on the edge it will look out of place. Keep it the same
Hello did you put the panels up and then figure out the placement of the can lights? I’m interested in how you went about designing the panel layout
thanks for sharing. when contractors were telling me drop ceiling or drywall were the only options, i figured there had to be another way. enter YOU!
a few questions:
1)where the drywall sits on top of the trim board, how does that seam look up close? does it look neat/custom? or because it’s loose with caulking/painting the seams as you would baseboard or crown, does it look a bit hack/unfinished in person?
2)how has it held up over time? any sag in the drywall?
3)if/when you ever have to move a drywall panel to access the cavity above, does the paint on the panel just get trashed? automatic touch-up paint wise?
4)any other things you’d do different in hindsight?
I second this – very helpful! Thanks for the inspiration and idea
Hi, I’m planning to try a variation on this but I share the concern that others have expressed about the drywall sagging. There is some drywall marketed as ‘ceiling drywall’. It is more expensive, still 1/2 inch and it is supposed to be more sag resistant. Do you recall if you bought ceiling drywall, just regular drywall or something else?
Hello, We have hired a contractor to finish our basement in newly built 55 & over condo. They have cut cement flooring & placed all plumbing to bathroom & kitchenette area. They are moving onto to electric & drop ceiling. Problem is that all of the fiberglass that was previously installed in the walls was sweating and causing wet black walls. That has been removed, drying out and now we have to pay for foam insulation. Not only that, the sprinkler system was installed too high up in the rafters for a drop ceiling. The original company wants to charge $6500. to place 18 extension so the sprayer will come below a drop ceiling. I don’t want to pay this outrageous cost and want to find a way to place engineered planks under the fiberglass insulation between the rafters. The wood is new and the beams are attractive. Is this do able? I need to figure out how the contractors would anchor the planks in and they would have to place soffits in and around pipes as they pretty much have done so far. Thank you for your hard efforts to make things work out in an affordable way.
Donna – sounds like a big project! So, a couple of things here. In what we’ve read and the feedback we’ve received from licensed contractors in the past, fiberglass insulation against a basement wall (without a foam barrier) is just asking for trouble. It’s good that you have removing/replacing that. However, we just also want to caution that you may still need a dehumidifier in your basement. We had a mini-split a/c unit installed and it was great for heating/cooling/dehumidifying. Short of that unit though, you could use a stand-alone dehumidifier. We used a stand-alone unit for a year and dumped buckets of water it gathered. As for the sprinkler system, we don’t have much experience with this. Our basement had a system in the workshop, but not in the finished area where we used the drop ceiling. We’d love to help you reduce that quoted cost though! If we understand correctly, you’re hoping to attach the planks directly to the first-floor joists (aka the basement ceiling). That is very doable, yes. The only reason we didn’t go that route was to prevent a rattling ceiling (from upstairs walking) because we figured that with dogs and people, that was bound to occur. It also limits the space to slide the panels in and out. So, keep that in mind too. We left some air space between the first floor and the basement ceiling which helps with sound insulation and also allows easy access to slide panel in/out. Doublecheck sprinkler regulations and be sure you won’t be out of code for any finish work on the ceiling! We’d love to see your final project too – best to you!!
How did you get the short sides to connect to the ceiling?
Hi just wondering about how much space did you leave in between the joists and the grid for the drop ceiling? Wondering if this is an option for us since our ceilings aren’t very high.
Hi Lynzie, In most places it was about 18-24in. The only thing I would consider is having the space available above the fram to slide the drywall pieces in and out, if needed. We probably only “needed” around 8in to accomplish that though. Good luck to you!
We really like the looks of this basement ceiling. We originally planned on painting our basement ceilings black, but we are now considering this. We have already hung drywall on the walls and had someone finish them with mud and tape. Do you think this would still be doable since we have already finished the walls?
Derek – Absolutely! The coffered ceiling frame could be placed at whatever height you need and it wouldn’t matter if the walls were finished with drywall already. In fact, it may even look more seamless that way. I hope you share a photo if you go this route. We’d love to see the finished product!
We have been inspired by your ceiling and are currently doing this in our basement!! Thank you so much for the inspiration! Couple questions: What sheens of paint did you use on the 1x6s and on the panels? We are thinking we will do our trim color on our 1x6s, which is not super glossy, but then we need to decide what to do on the panels. Eggshell/satin or flat typical ceiling paint?? We would welcome any input you can give now that you have lived with your project for a while! Thanks!
Hi Jacki – we went satin for just about every paint finish in our home. It’s just so versatile. We used it on the trim and the walls/ceilings. You could do sem-gloss on the trim, if you preferred. We didn’t want too much light bouncing off the ceiling above the tv in the media room, so satin was a good medium. It also means I don’t have to second guess what sheen I used later if I need to do touchups. 🙂
Hi! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! I love this idea and want to use it in our basement. Similar to you, my husband has me draft something up to hand off to him to build 🙂 I have a question concerning the weight of the 2×4 framing system and drywall hanging from the main floor rafters. Would the constant added dead load hanging from the rafters sacrifice the integrity of the main floor or the rafter connections? The floor rafters in the home we just bought were constructed with engineered I-joists that look like they have an OSB web. We were advised by our home inspector to add web stiffeners at the end of joists where the joist extends about 1-ft past the floor jack support in the basement (there is a wall on the first floor above this location). There is a slight buckle of the OSB web at this location, where the inspector told us to add the stiffener. Also I’m worried the engineered I-Joist bottom flanges may get pulled off the webs if we hang the 2x4s from them! Any advice on this?
Great question Lindsay, and I sure wish I had a great answer for you! Unfortunately, we don’t have any experience with those types of joists, so it wouldn’t be wise for us to attempt to weigh in. What I CAN say is that in our experience, the weight added was not significant. The drywall was lightweight and the 2x4s weren’t exceptionally weighty either. In lieu of asking a contractor, do you have neighbors with similar homes? I ask because sometimes (especially in neighborhoods of similar builds) other homeowners have done something similar you could peek at. If not, you may at least want a pro to weigh in before you get going. We wish you well though — fingers crossed you can make it happen!
Love this idea! We are putting up ceiling, but it has to be suspended because of access to the pipes and ducts above. We have about 22″ from the bottom of the joist to where the ceiling will be, still giving us an 9′ ceiling height. We’re using 2×3 on edge to cut weight of grid, but will be Half Lapping as many of the long pieces as we can. The main area of this Walkout Basement is 14’x14’4″ with the other area being 8’x10′. Our tile sizes will be 31×32 if we do 5×5 grid or 46×47 is we do 3×3 grid. Thoughts or Suggestions?
Thank you so much for showing this!! It is Exactly what I had just discussed doing with my father that has been helping me remodel my house. I have the ceiling out in our downstairs bedroom for access to the plumbing in the upstairs baths, one of which I completely gutted and remodeled moving plumbing around. I could not stand the thought of putting up drywall again and dealing with sanding and blending it myself. And I really don’t want to put a commercial looking drop ceiling in. Your photos give me a sense of what I had in mind. My other thought was to rip luan into 6″ wide boards and glue to 2 x 8 plywood panels, allowing a 6″ board to overlap 1″ onto the next panel to hide the seam. This would give a plank ceiling look to be painted.
Sounds like your creativity is really going full steam ahead! I’m glad you found some inspiration….we’d love to see what you come up with!
I’m so excited to see this post! We are building a new house and have been going back and forth on what to do with the basement ceiling because it is living space in the house. This was exactly what I was describing to my husband but didn’t have the design ready to execute, so thank you for your help! This is AWSOME!
Thank you Michele! We sure hope you’re able to bring the vision to life in your new home! Keep us posted!
My concern is that the drywall will sag over time.
Hi Jerry – The basement was on a mini-split unit with a/c, heat, and dehumidification, so sagging wasn’t a huge issue in our minds. If the humidity levels are a concern, this may not be the best bet. Thanks for commenting!
This design is what I had in mind for my lower split level home where I have access to plumbing for the upper bathrooms. I wondered why I could not cut my own tiles from drywall. You bring up a good point if using larger tiles like this. I would think you could do the same I did to repair cracked drywall ceilings by using glued bracing on the back of the panels? If you have the room, maybe glue some boards along the long length to act as a “rib” and it would stiffen the panel up. If say a 2 x 4 panel, put 2 “ribs” 4′ long at 8″ in from the sides?
Are all of the panels the same size? It looks like the outside panels are slightly smaller.
Did you start in the middle of the room or on a long end?
Would like a reply to this question as well. I am wanting to install this in my basement and wondering about the size of panels. I was thinking of measuring the total width and length and come up with the average size but then the outer panels would be a little smaller, right? Thanks.
My husband is working on our ceiling as I post this and I am beyond excited to see the finished project! My only question: Did you use 1×6 appearance boards or 1×5? Both sizes are listed in your instructions (1×6 appearance boards on the “Anatomy of the DIY Coffered Ceiling” photo and 1×5 appearance boards listed in the “tools and techniques”). Thank you for sharing this project!
Lori! Thank you for catching this error! They are 1″x6″ appearance boards. I updated the tools and techniques section of the post to be clear. — Melissa
Amazing alternative to an age old problem. I am a communications technician and I regularly run into the problem of trying to run wire for customers who have closed off the access to their basement ceiling and walls. Short of makimg your basement look like a commercial office space there aren’t too many aestheticly please, yet functional ways to cover a basement ceiling. You have certainly solved the problem. Not only can a tech or electrician run wires above, but it also still allows access to fish wires through wall cavities via the top plate.
Before starting this project in my own basement I would like more information on how exactly you mapped out your pattern & dimensions. I’m not working with a square or retangle shaped ceiling. More like a couple of Tetris shapes. Great work!
I’m just starting this project now, had to rip down my old drop ceiling. I was in bad shape and we had a mouse problem before we moved in, so I wanted a fresh start. 2 questions;
1. Are you able to take the ceiling tiles completely out? Or can you just slide them over?
2. How much bigger than the trimmed opening did you cut the drywall pieces?
Thanks again! I hope to share my progress here soon
Hi Nick – Sorry about the pre-move in mouse! Yes, the tiles can be either completely removed or slid over. In some places, plumbing might prevent a full slide over, but for the most part, that wasn’t an issue. We had 1-2 inches or so of a gap/lip on the drywall panel, but it depended on the space and whether there were pipes we had to work around. And yes – we’d love to see your progress! Tag us on Pinterest 🙂
Hi Melissa,
How large of a piece of sheetrock could be had without them sagging? How larger were your pieces roughly, 3′ by 4′?
Thanks,
Henry
Hi Henry, Though there was no ‘one size’, since each room was framed to fit the space. I can say that the largest square held a 42”x36” piece of sheetrock. I hope that helps!
i’m in love with this!!! i’m redoing my salon ceiling like this right now there’s drop ceiling. do you think i could just follow that grid and instead of sheet rock use those drop ceiling tiles as i’ve already spread joint compound on some to make it a smooth finish.
Hi there –
Thanks for your post and the attention to detail in responding to all the comments above. Helping us tremendously! Two questions, did you do the ceiling first or the walls? How does that trim board up against the wall go in?
Thanks!
Hi Kristyn, Great questions! We did the suspended ceiling framing first, and then that determined how tall the wall drywall would be. The trim board around the edge of the ceiling was fastened to the same 2×4 frames in the ceiling. The best photo of this is the one labeled with arrows where Chris is up on a small ladder. The yellow arrow points to the 1×6 pre-primed board and you can also see the 2×4 in the ceiling (with a pink arrow) as well. That’s where we attached them. I hope that’s helpful! We’d love to see your finished space too! Melissa
This is an excellent alternative to dropped ceilings…we’ve also been considering doing an exposed basement ceiling, and just painting it all for cohesiveness! I really like the “finished” look of this, and I think it’d help with noise transfer. Thanks for a great post!
Thank you for the kind words Mackenzy!
Hi ! I was planning to do something similar to this by screwing some MDF trim directly to the joist and do some 24 x24 MDF panel but I find your solution better because drywall is cheaper and have less COV then MDF. My only concern is about doing the drywall panel because a 4×8 drywall sheet is thinner at the bottom and top. Did you use that part or just cut them away ? Nice job 😉 thanks
Hi Patrick. Thanks for the kind words! If you’re describing how drywall is tapered to allow for taping/mudding, we did not cut those away, but you absolutely could if needed. We found that because of the ceiling height, any tapered edge that may poke out around the trim boards was not visible from the floor. And I hear you about the cost of MDF vs. drywall. That definitely played into our decision to use drywall too. We hope your project turns out great! Thanks!
What more can be said, WOW. Putting a new room in part of the basement. Not a big fan of drop in ceilings.
Really like the look. With 2×4’s going for $7 I still like the idea. My wife found this site. I would never have thought of this way for a ceiling. I’m retired now. Yes, I do all the work wiring plumbing even the mini split.
My wife is amazed at how much money we save with me doing the work. Our home went from a small ranch 24’x42′ to 40’x42′, and yes I put a full cellar under the new 16’x 42′ area. How many homes have two cellars…the new room is under the new area so there is little piping other then the heat pipes, and wiring I installed. Wife is happy with her new laundry room so I get the new room in the cellar… Thinking about a pool table. The room is 15’x15′ not a bad size for a pool table. Thanks for the idea of a ceiling. Any other ideas on other rooms?
Hi Tom! Sounds like you have plenty of projects on your plate too! Glad you were able to find some inspiration in the ceiling solution. We have several other rooms and reno ideas on the site, and you can take a look through the blog pages, or search by home/room/area. I miss our old pool table, so we’ll live vicariously through your new cellar room! Best, Melissa
Do you think this is more cost conscious than having a dry waller come in and hang, mud, tape, sand (get it paint ready)? I love this look!!
Hmmm – I’m not sure the lapboard sure is less costly, no. We just loved the look too! We’ve never paid a drywaller to do work, so I won’t speculate on their costs (which I would think might vary considerably across the country/world), but I can say drywall install can definitely be done by a homeowner – so if you’re super cost-conscious, check into that too. For our ceiling, the best investment we made was purchasing pre-primed boards. It was a huge time saver and worth the minimum cost increase. I hope you find a good solution for your space that doesn’t bust any budgets! 🙂 Thanks for the kind words!
Hi I love your idea just one question can you get the drywall out to replace or paint again without breaking it or unscrewing the pine trim boards
Hi Adam – Yes, each piece is able to slide in and back out without removing the trim board. We had a little height above the drywall pieces which enabled us to tilt them ever so slightly if removal was needed. Hope that helps!
I have a question, can I use 1″ x 1/2″ in place of the 2×4’s to save clearance and to properly butt up to the fire sprinkler heads? Will this still work in the same manner. I will be using the 4″ wide MDF for the appearance board. Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated, as I plan to get this going this week.
Hey Greg – Good question! I think it would depend on the span. If the ceiling span is very wide, the 1×1/2 may not be rigid enough to hold the frame securely. However, if you use some galvanized strapping for rigidity, that may work. Honestly, it may be best to test a section for strength and see if you feel comfortable with it. We’d love to see the finished project!
Your ceiling looks amazing! I was thinking of doing something similar in my basement. My question is how long have you had the ceiling installed now, and do you notice any sag in the drywall panels themselves? I am concerned about the panels bowing in the middle after a few months.
Thanks!
Hi Brian, We have since sold this home, however, I can honestly say in the 2 years we had the space finished with drywall panels, we had zero issues with sagging. We hope that helps!!
What were the dimensions of your room?
I’m going to put this up in our basement office this weekend, will send along some pics once done.
At the intersection of the 1×5 boards did you toe nail with brads to maintain alignment?
Andre, Yes, we have a few spots just like that where we toenailed in the boards to keep things square and sturdy. Thanks for asking the question!
I LOVE the coffered ceilings you all installed in your basement. We are new to DIY and didn’t want drop ceilings but the coffered ceilings seems to be a great solution. We are concerned about sagging. You mentioned metal strapping for additional support but I didn’t see a picture showing the metal strapping solution. I am definitely a visual person. Can you please show a picture on how this was done as well. Our basement has high ceilings (12 feet) and we wanted to drop about 18 inches but we are concerned about sagging. Please help 🙂
Hi Ebony – We have since sold this home, so I won’t be able to snap another photo, but from one very visual person to another, I’ll try my best to explain things! We used galvanized strapping to secure the hanging wooden frame from the joists above at a few locations. Galvanized strapping is typically used for plumbing/piping and it comes in rolls at hardware stores. Every inch or so there’s a hole in the strapping so you can nail or screw it down. We didn’t want to *see* the stapping on the finished side of the boards, so we screwed/attached the strapping to the joist above and then rolled out some of the strapping to length and screwed/attached the other end to the frame that held the panels. The length of the strapping is determined by how far your joists will be from the wooden frame (so, in your case, maybe 18+ inches or so). This way, once the finished appearance boards were attached and the drywall panels put into place, all of the strapping was hidden from view. I sure hope that helps sans photo! We’d love to see your finished room once it’s complete. And we’re super jealous at the thought of 12 ft ceilings in a basement!!! — Melissa
I have read this blog few times to get myself well educated with this technique, I really like this idea How! I have read all the questions, because honestly they are all my questions as well. Going off this question and answer thos….. How often do you think you placed strapping? At every intersection or more? Thank you!
Hi Kimberly, Great question! We honestly placed the stapping as needed based on the size of the room. In the small rooms, we used a few pieces (2-3) and in the larger and longer room spans, we used more (like 5-8 pieces). The boards are rigid on their own, so the strapping is just helping secure things and make the frame less bouncy. I hope that helps! Thank you reading!
Couple other questions… 😉
1) How much of a gap did you find was ideal between the drywall panels and the 2×4 frame so that you could easily get it in?
2) One of the rooms I want to put this in has a pretty long gap, approx. 17′. Would you suggest running a cross beam and using two shorter lengths (maybe an 8′ and a 10′) and connecting the two boards to that, or getting a 2x4x20 and cutting to length?
Hi Kahn,
1) We had 1-2 inches or so of a gap/lip on the drywall panel, but it depended so much on the space and whether there were pipes we had to work around too. You may find you need to play around with it some (I know we did). 2) It really depends (sorry, I know I say that a lot for this project, but it’s custom to your space), but I’m not sure it matters tremendously if you have two shorter pieces or one longer one. We tended to run side to side 2x4s across the shorter width, but if a run is long (like 17′), then you can always use metal ties to secure it to the joists in the middle of the room (we did this as well). That should allow you some flexibility.
If I installed the 2″x4″ grid directly to the joists would you be able to remove the drywall panels by dropping them down? I’m thinking you cannot since they are captured on all four sides without removing a trim piece. Your panels push up and slide over into the space you created above the 2″x4″‘s. Maybe exposed removable screws would be necessary for this type of installation?
Hi Stephanie – good question. I just asked Chris his thoughts on this. Our thoughts – it would definitely make it much more difficult. We would slide the sheetrock straight up and then tilt it into place. But we utilized the headspace to do so. There were several spots where existing main floor plumbing made getting the sheetrock into place challenging though, so we still think it’s possible. We’d love to see what you come up with!
Love the idea, thinking of replacing my ugly drop ceiling panels with this method. I did have a few questions for you:
1) How did you secure the small 2×4’s to the main runs in the same run? Did you toenail them as you wouldn’t be able to screw directly into the main 2×4 with the other small cross piece already in place.
2) Did you use joist hangers at all?
3) Were the can lights mounted directly on the drywall or did you use cans with Joist supports between the 2×4’s?
4) What size were your main panels of drywall?
5) Did you use a saw or a utility knife to cut the drywall?
6) How far apart did you space the joist straps to prevent sagging?
Thanks a bunch!!
Hi Kahn! Thanks for the kind words…. 🙂
1) Yes, that is exactly what we did. Great point to clarify with our readers!
2) We did not use any joist hangers for this project.
3) The can lights are hanging directly from the drywall. They are IC Rated, were super easy to install, and worked great in the space.
4) There was no ‘one size’ or main size – each room was framed to fit the space. I can say that the largest square held a 42”x36” piece of sheetrock.
5) We typically scored with a blade and snapped the pieces. Though sometimes we were a tad off the cut and needed to fine-tune with a sheetrock knife.
6) We used 3-5 joist straps in the middle section of the ceiling and just spaced them out to carry the load.
Thank YOU!
How were able to attach the 1×4 in the middle to 1×4 attached to the 2×4 to cover the gap between the sheet rock?
Hi Nick – The entire ceiling was framed in a skeleton of 2″x4″. Anywhere there is a 2×4 frame, we covered it with a primed & painted appearance board (the visible white appearance board). We ran long runs of the board wherever we could, and then we cut shorter cross pieces in the middle. I circled the appearance boards in the image below, so you can see what I mean. These shorter pieces are attached to the 2x4s above and complete the lip for the drywall to sit on. However, if this isn’t what you’re referring to, please let us know!
Looks awesome. Exactly what I need for my basement. How did you fasten the trim boards to 2×4? Brad nails and wood glue? Thanks!
Hi Travis — Great question! We did at least two screws on each board, but we countersank them and patched/sanded before painting. We also had a few brad nails throughout, to prevent any rattling, just in case.
This is a great idea! How many inches did the drywall overhang the trim?
Hi Vivian – in most cases, between 1.5″ to 2″, depending on the piece. We would measure the opening and then find the right size so we were able to get the piece in place without a huge headache. Hope that’s helpful!
Soooo cool! I woke up and later in the day I started thinking about this stuff. I found your site on Google and it totally answered my questions. Thanks so much!
Hi Keith! Thanks for the kind words! We hope we can help be the spark for other folks too! Inspiration comes from everywhere. 🙂
Awesome job! I too have been thinking something similar but could not fully visualize how to go about it so this helps. What is the measured distance between the 2×4’s used or the cut size of the sheetrock? I’m wondering how large of sheetrock pieces I can use without them sagging or bowing. Thanks in advance.
Hi Andrea! Our largest sheetrock square is 42”x36”, and we had no sagging whatsoever. Each room is a slightly different size, so our recommendation is to run the 2x4s in one direction in as long of a run as possible, then do the cross pieces. This allowed us to customize each area, dividing the rectangles to fit the room. We always like to mention that the basement space has a mini-split A/C with a built-in dehumidifier, so that definitely helps keep moisture down too. We’d love to see your finished space once you tackle it!
Your ceiling looks great but I would not want to lower my ceiling by 12 inches.
Hi – you’re right, this is not a perfect solution for all basements. We were fortunate to have high enough ceilings and the space to cover the piping from the first floor, but we definitely hear you! Hope you find a good solution for your space.
Do you think this would still work without lower the ceiling with metal straps? For instance, just attach the trim boards to the 2x4s that are directly attached to floor joist. I wasn’t sure if you needed more hanging space to get the drywall boards in and out. Thanks for your help and blog!
Justin, great question. We didn’t use metal straps to drop the ceiling, but the main reason we didn’t just attach the 2x4s to the floor joists above was due to some plumbing and piping that we didn’t want to reroute. Dropping the 2x4s down a little (like a couple of inches) allowed us to save a lot in plumbing costs. Thankfully, we had the headroom to allow for this tradeoff. But, if you don’t have that piping/plumbing issue, it might just work for you. We were also seeking to minimize the noise from the wood floors upstairs, so giving some ‘air space’ combined with the insulation helped that. Also, it may not occur, but attaching to the joists in some homes might make the ceiling rattle a little bit when someone is walking above, since the panels aren’t really attached, they’re just resting on the ledge. In any case, we hope that helps with your project!
I had this same question. Curious if I can just attach the trim boards to the joists. My only concern is that my joists are spaced 16” apart so I’m not sure if the drywall panels can still be moved around. Any ideas?
How did you finish the edges of each cut drywall panel? Is painting the drywall edges enough to keep them from crumbling around the edges?
Hi Ann, We scored and cut the drywall with a sharp blade and haven’t had any issue with crumbling edges. It’s stayed firmly intact, probably because it is only under its own weight. Hope that helps!
This is incredible! How much do you think it cost you per sq ft?
Hi Heather, like most projects we do, the real ‘cost’ is in our own labor (aka the sweat equity)! Drywall is fairly inexpensive and so is 2×4 framing lumber. The trim boards (the white, painted board you can see) were a tad more costly, plus add in primer and paint too. Although we don’t have an exact number, we estimate it costs about $1 to $1.50 sq ft, and that’s installing it ourselves.
Y’all are GENIUS! I have been cooking up something similar in my head for 2 months now. We bought a house with an unfinished basement that I have GOT to get done for our kids to have rooms. I really wanted something more upscale and finished looking and this is it!!!! Thanks for putting it out there!
Thanks for the kind thoughts, Tara! Hope it helps with your basement too!