How to Hang a Tin Ceiling

By: Harry Sawyers, This Old House magazine

Shopping List

Supplies You Will Need

1. Pressed-metal ceiling panels
come in 2x2- or 2x4-foot sizes

2. Press-metal cornice
come in 4-foot-long sections

3. 3/8-inch plywood
creates solid nailing surface for ceiling panels

4. 2 1/2-inch decking screws
for attaching the plywood underlayment

5. 2x4s
used to build T-braces for supporting plywood during installation

6. 11/4-inch-long, 18-gauge finishing nails
for brad nailer to fasten ceiling panels; or use special cone-headed nails

7. Latex caulk
used to fill gaps at the seams

8. Metallic touch-up paint
for concealing caulked gaps and mistakes on an unpainted ceiling

9. 1x4 tapping block
used to seal panel seams

10. Fine-point indelible marker
for marking cut lines on ceiling panels

11. 1/8-inch drill bit
used to locate ceiling joists

12. 3/8-inch drill bit
for boring tin-snip starting holes in ceiling panels

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Tools List
Tools You Will Need
- Circular saw,
  for cutting plywood sheets
- Jigsaw,
  for cutting holes in plywood
- Drill/driver
- Chalk line,
  for snapping layout lines
- Gloves,
  used to protect hands from sharp-edged ceiling panels
- Brad nailer and compressor,
  rent for about $40 a day
- Compass,
  used to mark round cutout holes
- Framing square,
  used to mark square or rectangular cutout holes
- Tin snips,
  for cutting ceiling panels
- Hammer
- 4-foot level,
  used to mark cornice layout lines on wall
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Product Gallery
Product selections for this project
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Introduction
Overview
Steps:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8

7: Hang the cornice

10 to 14 hours for an average-size room
About $2.50 to $8 per square foot

Difficulty: Moderate Installing the plywood can be a struggle and the cornices require some fussing, but the pressed-metal panels go up surprisingly quickly.

So you’re soaking in the tub, you’ve got the candles going, you look up, and what do you see? Nothing. Well, technically, it’s something—it’s a plain, white ceiling. However, if you had nicely decorated copper panels overhead...well, that dancing candlelight would look sweet.

As This Old House technical editor Mark Powers shows here, in less than a weekend you could turn your blank ceiling into an architectural showpiece of pressed metal—with plenty of time left for a Sunday soak. And why stop there? Put some sleek steel above the kitchen cabinets, or take a classic Victorian-era pattern and paint it white to make a lacy canopy in your bedroom.

So before your next bubble bath, jot down some measurements and soon you’ll have all the parts for your new ceiling in hand. Then all you’ll have to do is raise it up and lie back.