2 Ways to Cover Ceiling Beams

Ceiling beams may create an unattractive look in your house. In order to avoid the entire  of your house from looking dull due to the ceiling beams, there are two ways in which you can conceal them. You can either cover them with drywall or install a drop ceiling.

1 – Covering the Beams with Drywall

Put a ladder or scaffolding below the ceiling so that you will have easy access to it. Fix a nail into the beams on their bottom at both ends of the room. Place a string onto the nail and pull the string to the other side of the room to reach the other beam. Check that the string is level when you finish. In case the beams are not level, utilize a tape measure to measure the beams.

Fix thin wooden strips to the lower edges of the beams with nails. Do this in order to make the ceiling beams level. The nails that you should use should be three times longer than the thickness of the strips.

Get some boards which measure 2 by 2 inches and place them on the wall in such a way that they are parallel to the ceiling beams. Place the lower sides of the boards in a straight line with the bottom of the beams. Identify the location of your wall studs and fix one or two nails in each stud. The nails should be four inches long. Utilize a stud finder if you can't find the wall studs yourself.

Attach the drywall sheets to the beams and make sure that the sheets measure 4 feet by 8 feet. Place the nails at every 8 inches parallel to the sides and every 12 inches parallel to the middle. Use a putty knife to apply drywall compound to the seams. Apply a piece of drywall tape as well and cover it with drywall compound. Hide the nail holes by covering them with compound. Let the drywall compound dry thoroughly and then smoothen it with sandpaper.

2 – Installing a Drop Ceiling

In order to construct a drop ceiling to hide your ceiling beams completely, you need to build the support beams first. These support beams should be parallel to the ceiling beams but have an even distance of about 12 or 24 inches between one another. Use the support beams to make an outline on the perimeter of the room so that the drop ceiling will be supported on the edges as well.

Do not forget to install some insulation in the space between the original ceiling beams and the new beams which support the drop ceiling. In this way, you will now start saving a lot of money when you pay energy bills.

As a safety and security procedure, do not forget to wear protective eyewear when you are working on a ceiling or doing any other overhead job. Pay attention also when you are standing on scaffoldings and a ladder.