Sheetrock on ceiling?

Question

I need to hang sheet rock on the ceiling, it currently has acoustical tiles stapled to the rafters. Can I go right over top of that and if so, do I need to use wood strips first and then hang the sheet rock? If I need wood strips, what size do you recommend, 1x4 or what?

Answer 1

Like the others say: finding the joists is your problem and removing a tile or two could help there. You do not need to remove tile unless it is suspended. 1x2 would be sufficient and less costly than larger sizes for strips. You also need to be concerned with the fixtures that penetrate. Plugs and light boxes may need lowering too.

Answer 2

You can go over the tile.  They are probably applied with furring strips run perpendicular to the joists above.  Are they applied to plaster above?  You want to attach your drywall with screws through to the joists, not the furring.  Depending on the thickness of drywall you use, we usually do laminations with 1/4", you'll need to determine your s***w length.  If you've got plaster, furring, and tile, you'll need 2-1/2" screws.  If no plaster and/or furring 2" will suffice.  Apply construction adhesive to the drywall in a ribbon fashion, lift up and place where wanted, run screws into the corners and mid way down the sides for support, then finish s******g.  Don't forget to stagger the joints of the wallboard ends.

Answer 3

You will definitely want to tear the old tiles out just for the PITA factor. If you have a clean starting point, a clean finish is much easier. There is a tolerance with tiles that you will not get out of sheetrock. Be sure to use 5/8" rock on the ceiling. And not sure what you are doing with the walls, but ideally you would want to have the ceiling on top of the wall rock.

Answer 4

You don't say what size your tiles are.  It is unusual for them to be attached directly to the rafters.  I would remove them first.  If you find there are already furring strips then your problem is solved.  If you need to add furring strips you can use either 1x3 or 1x4's.  Make sure you level them with shims to get a more professional look to the finished job.

Answer 5

if you can locate the ceiling joist then you will know where to s***w the Sheetrock into just keep in mind the thickness of your ceiling tile when choosing the length of s***w your going to use

Answer 6

I would be surprised if the ceiling tiles were really stapled directly to the rafters. It would be expected for them to have been installed onto "furring" or "strapping" - 1 X 3 inch strips.

Get rid of the ceiling tile. Do make sure to use furring strips or strapping. 1 X 3 is typical, I used to work on a crew where they used 5/4 X 4, which was cheap and available there. The rafters will almost certainly not be level or even, you'll get a wavy ceiling if you fasten your drywall directly to the rafters or joists above.

Run a string, and put a little level on the string and use that as a guide for setting your furring strips so that you'll have a nice, even and level framework to fasten your drywall to. Shim the strips with cedar shingles or whatever your preferred shim material, but do use furring and make sure to level it.