drop ceiling or drywall?

That all depends on how the present ceiling looks now. If the panels are in good shape and are not warped and it's all level, there's no need to rip it out unless you need the extra head room. I plan on installing a drop ceiling in my basement using 2 x 2 tiles.

I have the same question.

Todd, what tiles are you going with ? any particular design ?

If your ceiling has lots of plumbing, cables, etc, I advise a drop ceiling.

Vitod:

Love those black tiles and black grids. That is exactly what I am after.

What brand are they and where did you get them?

Would you mind me asking how much it cost for your square footage ?

I am going to use ceiling link. http://www.ceilinglink.com/

This system is good if you dont have tall ceilings.




Just my 2 cents

They're from Armstrong. Got them from a local specialty home supplier. You can find the same. Look in the yellow pages and ask, ask, ask.

I paid $340 shipped. The ceiling is 12.5x22.

I agree with Todd' statement.

It also depends on the look that you want to have. Drywalled ceilings will have a smoother look and are less expensive to install, however should you ever need access to something above it (electrical, plumbing, etc), you will run into problems.

There is also the repair factor here. If you get a leak its easier to swap out a tile than it is to fix the drywall.

I like the look of the 2x2 tiles and drywall for the appropriate areas.

Excellent.

Thank you

I've heard of people painting their tiles (mostly black). I believed they spray painted the tiles to make sure the little holes got painted as well.

If you have a sample piece you can always try it out...

I am looking to but a house and the basement has the perfect configuration for my masterminded theatre. It is finished already and had a drop ceiling as well. I understand this is fine but my concern would be accoustics and rattling from the aluminum supports and such. Do I need to add any insulation above it to better fill it out. I dont know if there is any there at the moment since I am still trying to purchase the house.

That's not necessarily true. Problem is that manufacturers are always changing their tiles every few years, and if you don't happen to have enough spares you're pretty much screwed. This happened with my parents, luckily they found something that was pretty close.

Taylor34

That would be depend on the tile your using, most have been around for as long as I've been in the industry (16 years) but do change names from time to time depending on the manufacturer. For example a basic tile such as 2x4 Radar which is the cheapest and most commonly used tile around used to be known as 727 (I'm going from memory it's been a while) but is now called 2310, same tile different reference number. Thats not to say that certain tiles may become dated and they'll stop making them but I think those tiles are few and far between.

Saying that I'd never put Grid & Tile in any house. It's just a personal preference but I think it looks tacky and belongs in office buildings and store fronts. I can understand why some people may choose to go that route because of what they have above the ceiling but I'd rather have the DW look and just rip it up if I need to get at something, different strokes for different folks.

I painted the tiles black for my room; diluted flat black latex and shot it with a power sprayer. For the grid, I "roughed" it up with some 0000 steel wool and used a 1" roller to paint them. It has been 7+ years now and no problems so far..YMMV

You can also get black grid although if you don't feel like painting, CGC and Armstrong both make it among others I'm sure.

This may not be an option for the OP, but I chose a different option. I screwed 2x4 armstrong acoustic ceiling tiles to the joists and then stapled on some styrofoam 12" x 12" tongue and groove decorative ceiling tiles. It was slightly more expensive than drywall, but it has many advantages in my book.

Better sound absorbtion (so the fam upstairs is as undisturbed as possible)
Easier than hanging drywall on the ceiling by yourself.
Don't have to mud, tape, sand, texture
Preserves headroom vs. dropped ceiling
Nicer looking that dropped ceiling (though arguably not as nice looking as drywall)
Still have easy access to plumbing/electrical/hvac

I'd say drywall, you may not have the tools but I'd bet you could find some one to hang it cheap enough. We have a large open room in the basement, 30'x19' and we paid about $600 to have the drywall hung. It doesn't look like you are talking about a huge area either.

drywall in my area runs about 65 cents a sq.ft finished. I personally would do drywall if you can just because you will have better sound isolation. Do 2 layers of drywall. Add green glue if you can afford it. my theater will have drywall while the rest of my basement has drop ceiling. An option to allow running cables later is to run conduit in the joist from one side of the room to the other so later you could add on.

i would personally go for the drywall - doing double layer in my theatre room with resilient channel... excellent soundproofing option and great look with knock down... a little bit more work but better in the long run - how often are you in the ceiling anyway, just plan ahead and go with the drywall

Aussie

If you can't decide, maybe you should do both! I wanted to go with something unique in my theater area, so I went with a gyp border (18") and then did the 2x2 ceiling grid in the center. The gyp and ceiling tiles are going to be dark gray and the ceiling grid will be flat black. Wait a few days and decide for yourself...

I recomend some crown molding for the sides of the walls. It cleans them up nicely and is what I am doing now with some 2 1/4" deep crown.

What I am using is similar to "Ceilinglink" its called "GridMAX" which is available at Mendards. So far I have not had any issues with it and it was easy to install.

Hawkeye Josh.

Thanks for sharing your latest photos. You are really starting to shap-up nice! I'll bet you are excited to be this close to the finale? So you will be ready in time to see the Hawks in the bowl game in AZ...?

I have finally finished the bathroom in the Cuzzn Eddy Cinema, photos will be up soon. I have just started planning my electrical work the theater and game room area. Several Questions for you (I'm too lazy to go back in your thread):

1) What are the dimesions of your theater area (excluding the bar)?

2) I see you went with can lights - this will be my direction as well (also with rope lights in the soffits and wall sconces). I'm curious as to what brand, and what size can lights did you use?

Regards,
Craig - CuzEd2
Cuzzn Eddy Cinema

I put the ceiling grid in the theater area. The only tiles left to place are the special cut ones, which I have yet to cut. Anyway, the ceiling tiles and gyp border are both Satin Pewter (Glidden) and the ceiling grid is black.

I think the combination of the gyp and lay-in grid looks pretty neat and unique.

For more pics, go here:

MORE CONSTRUCTION PICTURES

ENJOY!!

I kind of did the opposite. I didn't want to fight with the recessed lights and I'm limited to an 8 foot ceiling.

So, I kept the side open where some pipes were, the shut off vales and left enough room for fishing low voltage.

The side will be a custom drop ceiling. It will probably look like a trimmed tray ceiling when done.

Here's a pick of the ceiling framing.

Sort of a newbie here....We made the choice to go with drop down ceiling in the media room of the basement just for future proofing. If it is not to our liking, I figure I can always put up drywall later (albeit the tiles will then be a "sunk cost"). Anyway, we are looking at what tiles to use and deciding on the acoustical properties. It appears that CAC should be greater than 30 to limit sound from traveling upstairs. However, the Noise Reduction Coefficient has me stumped. I value the sound more that noise absorption, and I don't want a dead room. Anyone out there know what to choose?

Is there a good forum on AVS that has this kind of info? Sorry if I missed it.

Thanks,
Mike

I painted my Armstrong ceiling black.

The wall moldings & main beams were painted before I installed them, then I connected the 2 and 4 feet cross sections and painted them when they were up.

I used the same flat black paint on the grid and the tiles, and it matches really good.

I picked a tile that didn't have any grooves in it, called Pebblebrook. I think it was about 90 cents / sq ft. ($60 for a box of 16). For the room, 14x13, the tiles cost about $180.

Looks like Vitod and I picked the same color scheme.



Bill