I've been stuck on this for a while but I'm trying to figure out a way to complete a star ceiling in the home theater where I don't have access to the area above the ceiling (it's a finished kitchen). The ceiling material will be finished (drywall) so all the runs need to be fed from above.

The only thing I've come up with is finishing the ceiling on the ground, pushing through the fiber then mounting the ceiling using a drywall lifter but I'm not sure a lifter could handle the 2.5 sheets of drywall plus the framing.

Help!

this is not a DIY solution, but I will throw it out there as a possibility:

stardomes (http://www.stardomes.com/)

I'm not sure how feasible it will be to install the fibers in the drywall an then lift up......how are you going to mud the seams and screw holes? What about painting? .

All the DIY installs I have seen have used separate fabric covered panels.

I faced a similar situation and went the Star Domes route. I bought a panel from them and framed around it with molding. The panel rests in a lip on the molding. This gives it the couple of inches from the ceiling that it needs to clear the lighting apparatus in the back of the panel.

I looked at doing it myself with cloth covered panels, buying and inserting my own fiber optics, etc but went the Star Tiles route because of the ease of doing so. The ain't cheap though.

Ain't cheap like a couple hundred bucks or big money? I'm thinking of doing a 4' x 8' area with Star Tiles.

Thanks!

Check out what r00ster did in his thread. I found the starting page where he works on this star ceiling here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=586943&page=13&pp=30. Would this work as you've imagined? I think Ruben (SandmanX) did something similar, but I didn't go dig through his thread to double check.

-Ryan

You can see my smaller scale effort here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9017850&&#post9017850) - believe total cost was circa $400

Thanks for the great ideas!

Basically, the area for the star ceiling will be in a tray ceiling. I was going to frame out the tray, install the sheetrock, have it painted then install the fiber before lifting into place with a drywall lift (if it could support it).

I was going to attach the tray to the joists in the ceiling using the tray framing and build the bottom of the tray while the finished part of the tray was in place. Since I was planning on cove lighting I wouldn't have to worry about dealing with detail where the sides of the tray meet the bottom of the tray.

My biggest worries included:

weight of the tray and being able to lift into place
movement of the tray into place causing issues with the finished surface
ruining the finished painted tray while finishing (drywalling) the rest of the room


I really wanted my mother-in-law to paint a dark and dusky sky before installing the fiber, but considering the time involved I don't want to spend all of my time and hers for something that doesn't work!

I am completely considering doing what the others on avsforums have done and create panels to install in the tray instead... especially if you guys think my original plan is not so smart.

Check out SandmanX's post. His frames look great. You could go to his SMX Screen Material website and register to see his construction pics, easiest way to not have to flip through the huge thread here.

I don't think it a standard practice to punch fiber optic through sheetrock. Rather, suspend a light tray from the finished ceiling.

Just a FYI on one of your questions, The drywall lift shouldn't have a problem with the double layer if you still go that route.

I would do it with panels - We install them in theaters all the time and using a panel type system, it's your best bet, I can get you some photo's if you want to see something we have done.