Has anyone used Styrofoam Ceiling tiles?

[Texas_Ranger]

My point wasn't that the glue wouldn't hold up but that no one will ever be able to remove it again if you use the stuff designed for the task!

[Jeepnstein]

Here's my take on ceiling tile. I've put up thousands of them over the years. And I've put up some very nice ceilings with the stuff. They're far more work than just hanging and finishing a new ceiling out of sheet rock, or just doing some simple plaster repairs to what is there if it's not falling apart.

You have to work off a very flat surface. If you substrate has bumps and waves in it then your finished ceiling will show it, even accentuate it. We always used 1x strapping as firring strips on tile ceilings. And we spent the time and effort to make sure the firring strips leveled out the ceiling which meant shimming it in spots. Measure twice and cut once on this part of the job. That's why most people do drop ceilings with metal grids instead. If you plan on applying them directly to your existing ceiling make sure it's solid and flat. Also make sure you aren't gluing the tiles to a papered ceiling. Some times that ceiling paper is covered with a popcorn texture, beware.

You then need to start with a straight line as a reference point for you tile. Don't count on the walls to provide this. You'll be popping lots of chalk lines to keep it straight. Some times you have to split the difference on your walls on the first line. Keep it straight!

You'll be washing your hands a lot. Keep them clean when handling the tiles. And don't take the tiles out of the boxes until they are ready to go up. Even if you plan on painting them keep them clean. This is a real challenge when using adhesive.

[arwenmark]

I do plan on scraping off the tissue paper the PO stuck all over the ceiling, and scraping level the mounds where she slopped joint compound trying to fill trenches she dug out of the plaster to run electrical wires. The hardest part will be trying to fill and level where the ceiling was ruined and came down from the leak. The is an area about the size of the sheet of drywall but getting it to line up perfectly with the current ceiling level will be tough.
You don't use firring strips with these styrofoam tiles, you glue them up, they are extremely light.

[Mick_VT]

I think Jeepenstein was talking about using furring strips to create a flat level base rather than attaching directly to the plaster, not because of the weight of the tiles. It would also make prep and removal a lot less arduous.

[Jeepnstein]

I think Jeepenstein was talking about using furring strips to create a flat level base rather than attaching directly to the plaster, not because of the weight of the tiles. It would also make prep and removal a lot less arduous.

Yeah. Judging from what your pictures show that ceiling is in pretty rough shape. And you want it nice and consistently flat. Some of the newer tile products are really good at giving some good looks that were unobtainable without some serious money. We've used them in one of our Judges chambers and it looks fantastic. They also deadened sound which meant conversations happening in the room stayed in the room, if you know what I mean. But you have to have everything lining up well to pull it off.

It takes just a few hours to fir out a ceiling. If you have a couple of helpers it goes even faster.