[taxman48]

researching some screens as a newbie to the subject. I have a dropped 2x4 panel ceiling and was wondering if anyone put up a screen thru a dropped ceiling? Guess I was wondering what "Ceiling installation" means when you look at some of these screens such as Vapex or Elite. I am totally new to this subject, just picking the best brains on the web. thanks in advance

 

[Mike Garrett]



Quote:
Originally Posted by taxman48  /t/1415354/mounting-screen-thru-a-drop-ceiling#post_22126572


researching some screens as a newbie to the subject. I have a dropped 2x4 panel ceiling and was wondering if anyone put up a screen thru a dropped ceiling? Guess I was wondering what "Ceiling installation" means when you look at some of these screens such as Vapex or Elite. I am totally new to this subject, just picking the best brains on the web. thanks in advance

You have a couple ways to go. Companies build recessed in-ceiling screens. These are made with a slot or a trap door. You install these screens flush with your ceiling and they have a ledge for the acoustical grid to sit on. You run tile to sit on this ledge. A cheap route would be to install a regular screen above the ceiling and make a slot in the ceiling using mains and tee's. This slot needs to be located precisely so that it lines up with the drop down screen. Also if electric, you would need to set the upper limit so that the screen retracts to the point that you want. My brother and I put in a set up like this for him, but it was in a plaster ceiling. He has a slot that is just slightly larger than the bottom batten bar and when retracted the batten bar stops in the slot, slightly above finished ceiling height. it works very well. Since part of his ceiling area went to attic space, we boxed in the area for the screen, so that there would not be any thermal loss.

 

[psgcdn]

Typically drop ceilings have gaps that are much smaller than the height of a standard electric screen body. I am building a semi-box, 3 inches tall, into which my electric screen will be mounted. The screen casing will occupy space lower than this semi-box, but the ceiling will be mounted flush with the bottom.

 

[Mike Garrett]



Quote:
Originally Posted by psgcdn  /t/1415354/mounting-screen-thru-a-drop-ceiling#post_22129425


Typically drop ceilings have gaps that are much smaller than the height of a standard electric screen body. I am building a semi-box, 3 inches tall, into which my electric screen will be mounted. The screen casing will occupy space lower than this semi-box, but the ceiling will be mounted flush with the bottom.

I am not following what you are saying. I am very familiar with drop ceilings. The slot in the ceiling can be any size that you make it, since you would have to build it yourself using a couple of mains with a short piece of Tee pop riveted to the mains. If it was mine, I would make the slot just slightly larger than the bottom batten bar.

 

[psgcdn]

The gap I was referring to isn't horizontal, but the vertical gap between the ceiling and the floor joists it is suspended on. Sorry, that could have been clearer!

 

[Mike Garrett]



Quote:
Originally Posted by psgcdn  /t/1415354/mounting-screen-thru-a-drop-ceiling#post_22148973


The gap I was referring to isn't horizontal, but the vertical gap between the ceiling and the floor joists it is suspended on. Sorry, that could have been clearer!

Okay. For most people there should be plenty of room (if the joist space is clear). With 2 x 10 joists you have 9-1/4" of space, plus the gap between the bottom of the joists and the ceiling grid. We just built a larger wood box, that was attached to the side of a joist. Then we shimmed out the side of the box so that the screen was sitting where we wanted it to drop down. In our case the box was there to seal off the slot opening in the ceiling, to keep from losing conditioned air into the attic above. Half the screen space was above attic space and the other half had a 2nd floor room above it. The box also kept the screen housing from getting dusty.

 

[psgcdn]

Right. That's true. I didn't think of that because my screen happens to run perpendicular to the joists, and has to sit underneath. Ah well...

 

[Mike Garrett]



Quote:
Originally Posted by psgcdn  /t/1415354/mounting-screen-thru-a-drop-ceiling#post_22150579


Right. That's true. I didn't think of that because my screen happens to run perpendicular to the joists, and has to sit underneath. Ah well...

I just assumed that the screen was going between two joists, since you were talking about placing above a drop ceiling. That is because usually there is not enough room between the drop ceiling and the joists to go the other way with a screen. Now it is all a lot clearer.