DIY Home Improvement Thread..

[TheMalcolmConnection]

My wife and I finally decided to move into town to be closer to work. Bought a really nice spec home with a large unfinished basement. I want to make it the ultimate man-cave and split off a side room to be a workout room. My dad (who works at the local home improvement place that's basically a high-end Lowe's) can get contractor prices on all materials and can do most of the work to finish off the basement.

He's insisting we go with a drop-ceiling because if we had plumbing problems later in life, we'd have to tear out a piece of the ceiling. I REALLY don't like the look of a drop ceiling and can see ourselves spending a lot of time in our basement when it's finished and don't want to feel like I'm staying in an office building.

Does anyone have any advice about cost or pros/cons of both a drop ceiling and a Sheetrock ceiling? The only variables are that my dad and I will do the floors and walls.

[Elessar78]

My wife and I finally decided to move into town to be closer to work. Bought a really nice spec home with a large unfinished basement. I want to make it the ultimate man-cave and split off a side room to be a workout room. My dad (who works at the local home improvement place that's basically a high-end Lowe's) can get contractor prices on all materials and can do most of the work to finish off the basement.

He's insisting we go with a drop-ceiling because if we had plumbing problems later in life, we'd have to tear out a piece of the ceiling. I REALLY don't like the look of a drop ceiling and can see ourselves spending a lot of time in our basement when it's finished and don't want to feel like I'm staying in an office building.

Does anyone have any advice about cost or pros/cons of both a drop ceiling and a Sheetrock ceiling? The only variables are that my dad and I will do the floors and walls.

What about an exposed ductwork look? I know this picture features HVAC but what about building a housing for the pipes?



Or simply painting them some unobtrusive color that blends in?

[TheMalcolmConnection]

I REALLY like that look, but the house we bought isn't really conducive to it. I'm at the point I really need someone to sell me on the idea of a drop ceiling to consider it. I'm reading that drywall is cheaper anyway...

[Bubble Screen]

I'm maybe in the minority here, but I can't stand that look. Don't see what's so appealing about all the pipes showing. That would drive me crazy looking at that every day. To each their own.

As far as your predictament. I'm with you. I wouldn't want a drop ceiling either.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

Thanks to both of you. This is going to be our first basement/media room. To get into a little more detail, the basement is around 1600 sq ft. The side room is going to be the exercise room, so I would say the area of the media room will be around 1000-1200 sq. ft. Half of that will be ping pong and pool, the other half will be my Skins gear/TV/Bar. I just feel like a drop ceiling would kind of look like crap with the stuff we're trying to do.

[Park City Skins]

Painted exposed look isn't a bad thing really. Can be a pretty creative,(and inexpensive comparatively speaking),direction to go. Can be a big plus in smaller spaces. Speaking of which,while I can see the pros of the dropped ceiling,I'm not a big fan of them myself. Especially in areas where the ceiling can really "crowd" and already small,(height),space. Such as unfinished basements. My brother has an unfinished basement that I've been working on over the years. Low ceilings so dropped ceilings out of the question. Going with drops,(soffit. Bunkers.),to hide some of the ductwork and such,(stuff that wasn't hidden up in the ceiling). More work,but a better look and helps at least keep the illusion of more space. Dropped ceilings don't always have a long life either. They can sag,discolor,ect. in a relatively short time. Pros and cons to many things,just comes to personal preferences sometimes.

[zoony]

It always comes down to preference but I prefer a drop ceiling for exactly the reason your dad mentioned. Buy some nice quality acoustic tiles and it will be a great sound deadened and give you a surprisingly hi end look.

If you need to fix a leaking bathtub, it won't be 4 hours worth of work before you even get started.

[Elessar78]

I'm maybe in the minority here, but I can't stand that look. Don't see what's so appealing about all the pipes showing. That would drive me crazy looking at that every day. To each their own.

As far as your predictament. I'm with you. I wouldn't want a drop ceiling either.

The exposed look would not be my first choice either but just responding to his parameters. I think, done well, it could look good. But it is a more modern look. My issue with drop ceilings is that, well, they look like drop ceiling tiles. We've advanced so far in aesthetics for the home that it's disappointing.

check out these tin ceiling tiles, why can't drop ceiling look like this?



Did some digging, and while not exactly the same, could make the drop ceiling more interesting:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_89091-61-124...ductId=3045489

or http://www.lowes.com/pd_80991-61-46A...ile&facetInfo=

And they're paintable to boot!

Also I think people tend to install the drop ceiling really low. I'd hug it as close to the ceiling as possible, although I don't know if that makes "contractor" sense. I just hate the low ceiling effect.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I'm probably still going to learn towards drywall for the ceiling. In addition to taking the advice here, there are so many people on other forums I've read that say, "We did drop ceiling (some people even had the painted) and we went drywall because we spent so much time down there and it just didn't seem 'homey' enough." Really appreciate all the advice. We close on March 6th, so it'll be a long road this summer to finish, but it'll be a beast media room once we're done.

---------- Post added January-27th-2013 at 09:04 PM ----------

We're hoping to do recessed lighting throughout and run CAT5 for the home theater and Playstation3.

[Mr. Sinister]

I actually like that non painted look. Gives off a cool, anti-establishment vibe. Probably wouldn't do it if I had a family though. I'd probably go more conventional. But I had a place to myself, I'd definitely go for a look like that.

[Park City Skins]

The four foot by five foot racks that hang from the ceiling are great, Kobalt brand at Lowe's for about 139. They hold 500lbs. Put them in for a customer I did kitchen work for, I will put in two of these in my garage in the future.

I like those,but I'm going to go ahead and build them myself for the most part,(though I may look in to those for above the garage door). Cheaper and I customize.

Okay. So. I caved. Convenience over carpenter "pride." Just installed a couple of similar ones in the garage the past day. They provide more flexibility over something I would build,(though I still might build a few smaller ones down the road). Look great in the garage and made a big dent in the clutter.

[SWFLSkins]

Okay. So. I caved. Convenience over carpenter "pride." Just installed a couple of similar ones in the garage the past day. They provide more flexibility over something I would build,(though I still might build a few smaller ones down the road). Look great in the garage and made a big dent in the clutter.

Nice, the Kobalt ones also allow adjustment in height and you can hang stuff from them, they have these cool wire racks that hang down from them and you can hang wood from them. Nice to hear you made some head way.

[pointyfootball]

Bigger issue to doing drywall vs. drop ceiling is if the builder was "lazy" or if he was able make the ducting, wiring, posts, etc. easy to build around by recessing them or condensing them. If you have several HVAC lines atop the joists, your drywall ceiling is going to look weird unless you build down to make it level. Very few basements allow for ceilings similar to other floors in the house, unfortunately. It could be done, but takes some forethought/planning.

[youngchew]

Anybody ever install their own hardwood floors??? I'm a total n00b when it comes to home improvement.

After just 1 year in our house, and after paying several thousand for upgraded carpet through our homebuilder, the wife has decided she now wants to tear it all out and install hardwood floors.

We've received several estimates, and it looks like we could save ourselves 3-4 grand if we do it ourselves. Only looking at about 800 square feet for part of the main floor....

As a guy that has problems putting together IKEA bookshelves, should I just leave it to the pros? I'm thinking warranty and all that good stuff that comes with letting a professional do the install...

[Park City Skins]

Been a few threads on the flooring in the past,but here's one from a couple of years ago.

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...horror-stories)

Also in this thread,there's been some discussion on the flooring. Shouldn't have to look hard. Hardwood flooring can be the more difficult,labor intensive one to put in vs the laminate and other similar flooring. Imho of course.