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From: silberma@agrigene.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.rec.wood
Subject: Re: Wood Ceiling Installation questions (from novice)
Message-ID: <245@agrigene.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 25-Nov-85 12:11:27 EST
Article-I.D.: agrigene.245
Posted: Mon Nov 25 12:11:27 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 28-Nov-85 07:59:19 EST
References: <749@hou2e.UUCP>
Organization: Agrigenetics Madison,Wi.
Lines: 52

> I want to to built a wooden ceiling in the kitchen of my 1950 vintage house.
> Current ceiling has 1'x1' white tiles (gag)
> on 1"x3" lathe on joists on 16" centers.
> Room is L-shaped; longest wall to wall spans are 15'.
> 
> Naive plan:
> 1) Remove old tiles.
> 1a) Possibly add stapled vapor barrier
> 2) Mount 4'x8'x5.2mm plywood under the lathe as an underlayment.
> 3) Glue parquet squares to the plywood.
> 
> My motivation here is not to do a botch job.

I put in a wood ceiling in my kitchen in Ossining, NY 10 years ago and it
still is up and looking good.  Here is how I did it:

First, I would not recommend putting a vapor barrier in the ceiling because
you have to let the moisture escape somewhere.  Moisture barriers work
best on walls that face the outside.

I removed the old tiles and checked to make sure the lathing strips were
indeed on ceiling joists (they were).  I opted to use 1"x4" tongue and
groove hemlock because it looked attractive, was strong, and was con-
siderably less expensive than other woods.  It prices out at 25 cents/sq ft
compared to 85 cents/sq ft for cedar.

I used random lengths, the shortest was 4 feet, the longest was 12 feet.
I established a pattern that looked like this:

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I face-nailed the first three courses of boards and blind-nailed the rest 
through the tongue.  If you are unfamiliar with this technique consult a
good handyman/home-fix-it/do-it-yourself type of book.  It is best to do 
this when the humidity is low (now is a good time in NJ, just turn off
the humidifier) so that the boards will not shrink.  I did my blind nail-   
ing every three feet.  It helps to have several ladders and friends on
hand to help hold the boards and take over some of the nailing chores.

I treated the boards before I put them up with a sealer and finish.

I'd recommend this approach over parquet/plywood because it is easier,
there is no glue to mess with, the weight/load on the ceiling is greatly
reduced, and it is easier to take care of.