Has anyone used Styrofoam Ceiling tiles?

[matchbookhouse]

If I remember correctly, McCall's PO put crinkled tissue paper with glue over the entire ceiling - not a real attractive surface look.

[kelt65]

Sorry - all I can see from the pics is a textured ceiling ? That can be skim coated and smoothed out for a fraction of the cost of other repairs, including the necessary tools, if you DIY. Use a flat ceiling paint afterwards and any inconsistencies will be less apparent.

http://seejanedrill.com/plaster-skim-coat/

Sell the tiles on your local CL when they arrive. Your house has lots of original details including unpainted wood trim, which are very attractive. Right now the ceiling issue is bugging you - but live in the house for a little while
before embarking on any major changes. The stick up tiles sound like an easy solution to hide the problem - but they are a nightmare to remove and not an unobtrusive solution.

That lady's videos are by far the most instructive I've seen on the subject. They're the only ones that don't leave me with more questions than I had before. I might even try this myself ...

[lovesickest]

Kelletim - I know - her videos are really great, with excellent clear explanations and clearly shot demonstrations, and no dead air. She has another video about how to mitre trim for angles that are not exactly 45 degrees - what all old house improvers know well. This was information I had not encountered anywhere else.

I posted a comment on one of her YouTube videos to tell her how good her video demonstrations were - and she replied the same day to thank me for my comment. All of her videos have clear, sensible advice. Her plastering videos really helped me to tackle pretty extensive plaster repairs I had not done before. It was also helpful to see how she handled the tools, as this is not always instinctive. My repairs are certainly acceptable - and better than what was there. A professional certainly could have done them more quickly, with less muscle agony, with better results. My budget is limited - so I did them myself. This was not a disaster.

[kelt65]

Kelletim - I know - her videos are really great, with excellent clear explanations and clearly shot demonstrations, and no dead air. She has another video about how to mitre trim for angles that are not exactly 45 degrees - what all old house improvers know well. This was information I had not encountered anywhere else.

I posted a comment on one of her YouTube videos to tell her how good her video demonstrations were - and she replied the same day to thank me for my comment. All of her videos have clear, sensible advice. Her plastering videos really helped me to tackle pretty extensive plaster repairs I had not done before. It was also helpful to see how she handled the tools, as this is not always instinctive. My repairs are certainly acceptable - and better than what was there. A professional certainly could have done them more quickly, with less muscle agony, with better results. My budget is limited - so I did them myself. This was not a disaster.

One of the things that gets me about plaster instruction videos is they never talk about the material, and I haven't the faintest idea what to use. The number of different things that can go into a mix is mind boggling, and they all seem to use what they're comfortable with. Very frustrating. So here she actually mentions a specific product. I did not even know they made 90 minute set skim coat plaster.

They also always say vague things like "mix to consistency of pancake batter". Well, I can't remember when I last made pancakes, and who knows what pancake batter is supposed to be like anyway? She shows exactly how viscous it's supposed to be by demonstrating how it should behave when the trowl is turned upside down.

[arwenmark]

I will be scraping off the crinkled paper and the bumps and so forth before the Styofoam goes up Also need to fill in the are hole from the leak.
The ceiling is high enough it should not be getting bumped by things. As for taking them back down, hopefully we won't have to, but if so then the entire plaster ceiling will be coming down at the same time, that was the other alternative, but of course extremely messy.

[lovesickest]

From the looks of the size of the hole - it would take less than one sheet of drywall to patch it, some taping, joint compound, and a few skim coats in that area. There is no reason for the entire ceiling to have the plaster removed from the lath unless the keys are broken (keys are where the plaster smushes through the spaces between the strips of lath to "lock" it into place).

If you have to scrape the entire ceiling before you stick up the styrofoam panels - then that is as much or more work than patching, skim coating the patched area ? I bet the rest of the ceiling is fine under the DIY texture ?

When properly done - a drywall patch on a plaster wall or ceiling that has been skim coated and sanded properly is invisible when primed and painted to match.

[Neighmond]

If you do go with polystyrene please for God sake put a few smoke detectors up, in each level. Once ignited, it burns furiously with a hot, smoky flame, and outguesses deadly vapors that will kill in seconds in a closed up house. They used to use four by eight sheets as insulation in trailers around here, and when I was a child I remember a Christmas tree lighting some curtains and then the ceiling on fire and three little babies died of the fumes before anyone knew there was a problem. I remember one firefighter telling my dad that they lay dead in the bed without a mark on them, and looked like they were asleep.

[shazapple]

We installed them in our bedroom. They are a nice feature for a smaller room so I'm not sure I would put them in a room much larger than ours (10x20).

Installed

IMG_1433 (Small).JPG (48.75 KiB) Viewed 661 times

IMG_1236 (Small).JPG (33.43 KiB) Viewed 661 times

They have a similar consistency as take out containers. We've had them up for 4 years now and no issue with paint or the glue holding them up.

We got them from http://www.talissadecor.com/ There are more pictures in my thread on "the old site"

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/forums/viewt ... m&start=50

In terms of fire safety, I don't think these are substantial enough to cause any more issue than other things in the house (furniture, carpaets, etc). I would be hesitant to compare them to 4x8 sheets of polystyrene as they are really different uses and thicknesses.

[arwenmark]

Lee,

What glue did you use and how and where did you apply it to the tiles? and How much glue?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

[shazapple]

Here's the writeup I had on OHW. Short answer is tile adhesive and too much is better than too little as it easily wipes off. We put an even coating over the back of the tile then a spot in the centre and four corners.

We painted them with a roller before we put them up, and then used a brush to touch up the seams after. When you first get them they look a lot like styrofoam takeout containers. They are fairly forgiving and will bounce back if you squish them.

For placement of the tiles, I would suggest drawing out a diagram of the room and a grid of the tiles in order to see what works best. You could start laying full tiles at the wall you see when you first walk into the room, or base it off of something else in the room (light fixture, beam, etc). We used a laser level to get a straight line between the light fixtures and then snapped a chalk line on each side of the beam. The line is perpendicular to the beam, so we have full tiles starting at the beam and spreading out from there. We did this for two reasons 1) We didn't want a straight beam with an off kilter ceiling and 2) to "split the difference" so any irregularities with the walls wouldn't be so apparent since there was a cut tile there anyway. By centering the line in the middle of the room the cut tiles on one side of the room aren't any larger than on the other, so the room is somewhat symmetric. Once you caulk the joints and cut edges it is not very noticeable. Alternatively, you could omit the cut tiles and have a blank or texturized border between the tiles and crown molding. A lot of older houses use this technique because of how uneven the walls were.

Installing the tiles definitely goes quickest when you have two people. My wife use a trowel to spread a thin layer of tile adhesive on the back of the tile, and then put a large dab in the center, corners, and sides. I stood on a step stool to align the tiles and push them against the ceiling. Whoever is doing this better have decent upper body endurance, because it really tires you out! Too much adhesive is better than too little, and it wipes away easily with a wet cloth. Do all the full tiles first, and then work away at the cut tiles (scissors work best). The light fixtures you see in the pictures weren't installed when putting in the ceiling, so it was easy enough to cut the tile around the electrical box.

After that, I sat on a tall ladder and went from joint to joint filling in any gaps with paintable caulk. My wife followed behind with the paintbrush. Again, here a wet rag helps with any cleanup. Some people suggest using a ziplock bag on your finger to help spread the caulk.

Hope this helps! Our room is about 12x20 and it took two of us about 10 hours from start to finish.