Daily Home Renovation Tips

In Parts 1 and 2 of Drop vs Drywall Ceiling, I presented several reasons why I am a big fan of drop ceiling.

The major reason related to the ability to get at the plumbing and electrical and air ducts that resides attached to the basement ceiling. If you need to follow someone else’s wiring or plumbing lines, all you need to do is to remove the ceiling tiles in a drop ceiling and there you go. Can’t do that with a drywall ceiling without damaging the drywall.

The picture below provides another reason for preferring a drop ceiling. See if you can tell. Careful now…….really focus on the ceiling:

Do you see it? Don’t focus on the unpainted part on the right…that’s easy to fix.

The hole in the middle of the ceiling. Nope, that’s the opening for the heating vent.

Look closer. Do you see the two sets of lines running left to right in the picture? Yes, those are what I’m talking about. Those lines are the result of the drywall not being installed flat. If a drop ceiling was used, you should not see such an installation. Rather you would more likely an even or flat ceiling. If this was a 3-dimensional picture you would be able to tell that the drywall on the ceiling actually changes slope twice, once for each line.

What caused this? Speculation (as this was installed before we purchased the house) on our part says that either who ever installed the drywall on the ceiling did not pay attention to that part of the ceiling or did not exercise proper care during the installation.

How can this be fixed? Well, to do it right I would think the drywall needs to be removed and new drywall needs to be installed, taking into account what is being this drywall causing the two lines.

If a drop ceiling was used instead of the drywall, the fix is much easier and less messy than breaking drywall.

However, drop ceilings are not everyone’s favorite and some just don’t like the aesthetics. I tend to be more practical in my views on things. And, I quite like the aesthetics of the drop ceiling.

The choice is yours. Just recognize the pro’s and con’s of both basement ceiling systems before you make your decision.