Building a Tray Ceiling

A tray ceiling gives an illusion of height without major renovation in your house. This fixture frames ceilings to either highlight the center of the ceiling or make the ceiling more interesting. Although you can hire a professional to install one of these in your house, building one on your own is cheaper and is sure to give you great satisfaction. Here’s how you can construct these accents for your house:   

Step 1 – Look for Crown Moldings

Go to home improvement shops and look at the various crown moldings that they are offering. If you have a particular tray ceiling design that you want to copy, look for the crown moldings that fit the tray ceiling that you want to base your work on. Otherwise, make it a point to see crown moldings of different profiles, facings, and widths. This will help you formulate ideas on how to design your tray ceiling.

Step 2 – Determine the Depth You Want to Create

Decide on how high you want your ceiling to look after placing a tray ceiling. The more crown moldings you put in your tray ceiling, the higher your ceiling will seem to look like. To know the number of crown moldings you need, measure the perimeter of your ceiling and divide by the length of the crown moldings that you will be using. So if your ceiling has a perimeter of 10 feet + 10 feet + 14 feet + 14 feet (10 by 14 feet) which equals 48 feet, and the crown moldings you have measures 8 inches, then you need a total of 6 moldings to complete your tray ceiling.

Step 3 – Miter the Joints

Use a coping saw and a miter saw to miter the joints of the crown moldings. Fit them together in such a way that they overlap each other. Doing this will make room for the joints to contract and expand without breaking during the cold and warm weather.

Step 4 – Paint your ceiling

Even if you don’t plan on painting a mural on your ceiling as with the Sistine chapel, applying a fresh coat of paint on it will make it stand out more. Paint your entire ceiling using a paint roller. Wait for the paint to dry.

Step 5 – Attach the crown moldings

When installing the crown moldings to your ceiling, remember that the nearer you place the crown moldings on the center of your ceiling, the higher your ceiling will seem to look like. After attaching the moldings, create studs using a 2 by 4 wood. Use a nail gun to attach drywall on the studs that you’ve built. When you’re done use a joint tape to secure the joints into place. Apply joint compound on the joints and sand them with a sand belter to make them look even.