Furring strips for ceiling tiles???

[AlchemyAcres]

Any suggestions as to the best way to connect wood furring strips to an old lath and plaster ceiling for installation of acoustical ceiling tiles?

Thanks!!!


~Martin

[DM]

I guess it depends on your ceiling, but i used screws on the couple i did.

DM

[AlchemyAcres]

I guess it depends on your ceiling, but i used screws on the couple i did.

DM

I'm afraid of plain screws...I'd hate to see the whole thing come crashing down.

Unless there's some special drywall screw that would work?



~Martin

[Andy Jones]

Screw them up.That's the best way to go.No beating and bouncing when fastening them between ceiling joists.You can get drywall screws up to 3 1/2" long.They will go right through the plaster.

[cinok]

There is a difference in screw strength if that's what you are worried about plain drywall screws are weak compared those that are used for decking or subfloor work. The also make them in different drive type instead of just plain phillips which prevents striping when driving them. I would recommend pre drilling the furring strips to prevent splitting

[keydl]

Locate and chalk the joists, mark up the spacing for the furring strips, predrill the furring strips. Put a carbide drill in and drill the plaster for screws, start the screws and shim for level then tighten the screws. Pull chalk lines for the tile pattern, remember no tiny tiles on the side or end.

Screw length for 1 in plaster, 3/4 furring strips would be 2 3/4 or 3 in to give at least 1 in of thread in the joist. This will usually even pull falling plaster back to the joists. If the air space is closed it makes good insulation and a vapor barrier is a good plan.

Same works for walls except a radiant barrier is needed to prevent air circulation in the vertical space.

Foam works well also, I prefer the 1/2 in foil faced in the 3/4 in space - the combination - air space, foil radiant and foam come close to a wall - R-11.

[Illini Warrior]

check for the direction your ceiling joists are running ...... furring strips will be 90 degrees (crisscross) to the joists ..... remember that you are dealing with old construction and the joist distances apart will/could vary by a few inches ...... if you have easy access to the space above (attic??) mark the joists by drilling along side each joist .....

don't go cheap cheap on the furring strips ..... the standard "furring strips" sold are 1 X 2 and usually are of poor quality ...... lots of knots, splits and twisted like crazy ....... for a few bucks added onto the project use 1 X 3 or even 1 X 4 ...... better quality stock and will give margin to spare in case things are off a bit ......

old construction ...... room is going to be about as square as a round barrel ...... you need to find the center of the room as best as possible ..... lay your furring strips 12 inches on center from your room's center ....... use 3 inch screws (furring strip thickness + plaster + lathe + 1 1/2 holding grip into ceiling joists) ...... hammering nails will crack up your ceiling plaster ....... your ceiling will have dips and high points ....... you need a bundle of cedar shims to keep the ceiling level ...... shim those dips .....

start your ceiling tile stapling in the room's center ...... work out a pattern across & down the room ..... now you'll have four separate corner spaces to fill in .... use 5/8 wide staples and not the 1/2 wide ...... use ceiling tile staples made for the job ...... don't be shy about using plenty of staples on those ceiling tile stapling flanges ..... make sure they "seat" completely into the tile, otherwise the mating tile will be obstructed .....

good luck !!!!!!!!

[backlash]

It would also be a great time to run speaker wire if you wanted to.
Wish my Dad would have done that.
I would like a surround sound system but I don't want to mess with hiding the wires.

[oeb]

I used drywall screws the last time I hung some ceiling with furring strips. I predrilled both furring and ceiling with a bit size that allowed for a snug but not extremely tight fit such that only the threads were disturbing the plaster and lathe around them. I also increased the hole size in the furring strips so that the screws were not grabbing them at all but were in fact doing all their gripping work on the old work. This allowed a "fine feel" when snugging up in plaster. I also reamed a counter sink for the heads in the furring. The overall objective was to catch the plaster and lathe, where lucky enough to find it, with the screw threads but not to allow much back pressure from the screws while I just firmed them up-- as opposed to tightly torquing them down a lot; thereby never stripping out of the plaster and lathe. Spackling and paint covered all the screw heads nicely. In this way no damage was done during installation and these screws have held everything in place now without a problem for over five years. I've whacked several ceiling bugs with pretty good swipes, too. Oh, and the job still looks good. Very much good luck to you,
oeb