geopi@hou2e.UUCP (G.COTSONAS) (11/21/85)
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. Questions: 1) Is the WEIGHT a problem? 2) Should screws be used for the plywood? 3) Should the parquet tiles be tongue & groove for interlocking and strength? The material I had my eye on did not have tongues & grooves on the squares. My motivation here is not to do a botch job. I will appreciate any pointers. Thanks. - George P. Cotsonas AT&T IS, Holmdel, New Jersey
briand@tekig4.UUCP (Brian Diehm) (11/23/85)
>Current ceiling has 1'x1' white tiles (gag) >on 1"x3" lathe on joists on 16" centers. Um, I can just see all those little miniaturized lathes just spinning away on your ceiling! Must be quite a sight. I'll bet the power distribution to all these lathes is quite something - probably on the order of Christmas tree light wiring! Too bad those yucky white tiles cover all this up! Or do you mean lath? As in the wooden strips used to hold plaster in place? -Sign this? Are you kidding - I'm having FUN here!
silberma@agrigene.UUCP (11/25/85)
> 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: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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.