Finishing Basement Ceiling


  #1  
Old 02-28-00, 12:10 PM
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I am in the process of finishing a bedroom in my basement. I plan on drywalling the ceiling, however, not all of the floor joists are exactly level. What is the best way to eliminate the potential problem of waves in the drywall? Thanks for your help.
 
  #2  
Old 03-01-00, 03:47 AM
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Olifer:
I would not put sheetrock on my floor joists.
This is a no no. You should put up 1x4 stips across the room. You nail them 16" on center across the room, attaching them to your floor joists. If you have one joist really high, put in a shim. You then attach the sheetrock to these. Good Luck

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Jack the Contractor
 
  #3  
Old 03-01-00, 04:45 PM
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Cool

Jack's suggestion will work. Have you considered a suspended ceiling for your basement?

If you need access to any utilities it is a lot easier to remove tiles from a metal grids than to tear a hole in sheetrock, and them have to patch it.

You can take care of the uneven joists this way too.

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  #4  
Old 03-03-00, 08:30 AM
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Why is it a No No to put the sheetrock directly on the floor joists? I have seen many new homes built in my area where this is common practice. What is the advantage to installing these 1x4 strips across the joists?
Thanks for your help.
 
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Old 03-04-00, 04:05 AM
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Olifer: As people use their homes, and put furniture on their floor and walk on them, the floor joists settle. Many times contractors will have put small shims under the joists to level them for the floor above.
Sheetrock is really kind of fragile. If you have a sheet attached to the joists, and one of the joists settles, which they will, it will crack the sheetrock. The 1x4's will take out the setteling and give a better base to attach the sheetrock to. They will
also level out the bottom of the floor joists. In 30 years of building, I have very seldom ever seen a level set of floor joists on the bottom. Of course the trick to the 1x4's is to use 12' or 16 footers, to cover alot of joists. Hope this answers your questions. PS. I know you will see alot of contractors and people attach to the floor joists. But you will never see one of my homes or one of my jobs done this way. you will also not find any cracked sheetrock on my jobs. Even in living rooms or other rooms.

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Jack the Contractor
 
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Old 03-06-00, 12:32 PM
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Jack,
Thanks for the great advice! I will do as you suggest.

 
  #7  
Old 11-21-01, 02:03 PM
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septic smell

having a major problem within my house in regards to septic smell..only happans when the laundry is done...have 3 teenagers and doesn't happan during or after showers!! not when the toilet is flushed or the dishwasher runs. The laundry room is on the first floor NOT in the basement. we have had the septic cleaned out about 2 years ago. The laundry room is located in the back of the house and septic is in front(our house is only 24 feeet wide)Can anyone point us to the way to fix this or at least give us an idea what is causing this? Thank you
 
  #8  
Old 01-20-07, 11:45 AM
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Originally Posted by ;209631
having a major problem within my house in regards to septic smell..only happans when the laundry is done...have 3 teenagers and doesn't happan during or after showers!! not when the toilet is flushed or the dishwasher runs. The laundry room is on the first floor NOT in the basement. we have had the septic cleaned out about 2 years ago. The laundry room is located in the back of the house and septic is in front(our house is only 24 feeet wide)Can anyone point us to the way to fix this or at least give us an idea what is causing this? Thank you
I can tell you what I discovered about the nasty smell in my basement... The sewer pipe under the floor was so old and crumbled, the sewage was leaking out of it into the soil below the floor. My toilet used to clog on a regular basis because of it. We busted up the floor, installed new PVC, hauled out the stinky dirt (well, some of it) and then poured lots and lots of lime into the trench. No more stinkly basement.
 
  #9  
Old 01-21-07, 04:22 AM
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Question Drywalling Basement Ceiling

Originally Posted by ;30760
Olifer: As people use their homes, and put furniture on their floor and walk on them, the floor joists settle. Many times contractors will have put small shims under the joists to level them for the floor above.
Sheetrock is really kind of fragile. If you have a sheet attached to the joists, and one of the joists settles, which they will, it will crack the sheetrock. The 1x4's will take out the setteling and give a better base to attach the sheetrock to. They will
also level out the bottom of the floor joists. In 30 years of building, I have very seldom ever seen a level set of floor joists on the bottom. Of course the trick to the 1x4's is to use 12' or 16 footers, to cover alot of joists. Hope this answers your questions. PS. I know you will see alot of contractors and people attach to the floor joists. But you will never see one of my homes or one of my jobs done this way. you will also not find any cracked sheetrock on my jobs. Even in living rooms or other rooms.
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Jack the Contractor
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Jack this makes a lot of sense... I have the same dilemma with my ceiling I'm finishing in our basement for a home theater (23'x13'). I'd like to keep the ceiling as high & straight as possible so I decided to buy some 7/16" 4'x8' sheets of OSB to put up after I fill the joist with R-19. By using OSB instead of 1x4s I think it will help with sound proofing the room. i.e. LESS SOUND from traveling upstairs. Will putting up the OSB work to help keep the floor above more stable & also keep the sheetrock from cracking or having any wavy look to it from uneven floor joist?

FYI. I'm going to put up a 2'Wx1'D trey ceiling around the perimeter of this room so the section of ceiling that will have the OSB & sheetrock will only be 9'Wx19'L. The floor joist run W to E and the 19' length is N to S. The OSB isn't tongue & grooved but the 2"x10" floor joist look pretty straight/level & are 16" on center. No plumbing or pipes are in this area either.
WDYT OK to put up OSB or should I return & buy 1"x4" strips for ceiling?
 
  #10  
Old 01-31-08, 08:18 PM
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Originally Posted by Zelda55
I can tell you what I discovered about the nasty smell in my basement... The sewer pipe under the floor was so old and crumbled, the sewage was leaking out of it into the soil below the floor. My toilet used to clog on a regular basis because of it. We busted up the floor, installed new PVC, hauled out the stinky dirt (well, some of it) and then poured lots and lots of lime into the trench. No more stinkly basement.
I am in the same boat as you! Any help?!?
 
  #11  
Old 02-01-08, 05:48 AM
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Flyboy -

The experts on another forum would tell you're wasting money and won't get the results you THINK you'll get using 4X8 OSB or even the so-called "soundboard" (or Homesote product). Do like Jack says and just use 1X4's perpendicular to the joists and 24" on center. Then fill (not stuff) the cavity with regular old pink stuff (R19 is probably good).

Good luck,
Tom
 
  #12  
Old 02-16-08, 04:20 AM
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Originally Posted by tlogan
Flyboy -

The experts on another forum would tell you're wasting money and won't get the results you THINK you'll get using 4X8 OSB or even the so-called "soundboard" (or Homesote product). Do like Jack says and just use 1X4's perpendicular to the joists and 24" on center. Then fill (not stuff) the cavity with regular old pink stuff (R19 is probably good).

Good luck,
Tom
I'll second this from all my readings. The idea is to decouple the ceiling from the joists. By using strips you are putting the screws in the strips and the strips' screws into the joist. You should really do this with the wall studs as well. They make isolation clips for these situations. I am planning an audio room under two bedrooms and it is getting expensive, but I want to listen in the evening and I don't want to disturb or be disturbed.

Another recommendation is two layer drywall with acoustical caulk. Box and seal your electrical outlets. Sound travels almost as well mechanically as well as through air. Especially sound from subwoofers.
 
 

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