Anyone ever paint an unfinished basement ceiling???
skbrothers
stuff with plastic and spraying my basement ceiling joists (and
everything on them) flat black.
Anyone ever do this?
What are the plusses and Minuses?
Walk into any number of retail establishments and you'll see the
"warehouse" look is in style. Plus it's cheap to do and maximizes
headroom. The operative word is cheap! I'd rather spend $$$ on new
machines then drywalling and drop ceiling, frankly. Plus, we are
likely to move in the next year or two, so I dont want to sink $$$ into
a full finishing job.
My concern is any issues that I need to consider regarding spraying
duct work, electrical/phone cables, gas lines, water lines etc...?
Would I need a special paint to take the heat/cold?
My goal is to make the ceiling less obvious. Fill a basement with
enough toys and people tend to forget they're in a basement.
Take a look at a few pics of my gameroom and share any
thoughts...thanks!
http://home.comcast.net/~skbrothers/wsb/html/view.cgi-photo.html--SiteID-2744250.html
P.S. These shots are a bit dated but they get the point across
regarding my ceiling. The LOTR you see, now occupies the space that
was originally surrounding a CFTBL (sold it to buy the LOTR). You'll
note the lighting and decor in that area was designed to compliment
Creech. Addtionally, a Black Knight now sits proudly to the right of
my LOTR. (I now officially, collect pinball machines!!! Woo Hoo!)
B.T.C.
space. It took a lot of time, and I did it with a brush, but it
turned out great and really was cheap.
Good Luck, Brian
bobnatlanta
I started painting an unfinished ceiling years ago as an experiment. I
knew the ceiling would eventually be finished, unless I really liked
the results, so I gave it a try. Talk about a pain...Smell, paint
drift, and the general frustration of constantly banging my head on and
reaching around joists and through pipes...I gave up after detemining
that whatever the results, it wasn't worth the effort to me.
CraigC -CPM-
hiding something. Part of our basement ceiling was painted white and
looked nice and clean but later on we found out that they had a fire
down there and tried to cover it up.
Other than that you _should_ be ok, providing that you dont paint over
something that you'll need later...like the color coded wires,
instructions for things or that the paint doesnt react with something .
Might be cool to leave the copper pipes exposed.
IMHO i would leave it unpainted and just clean up all the runs of pipe
and wire so it looks realy neat and tidy. but then i;m crazy like that.
looks like you have plenty of headroom to not worry about the ceiling
too much.
-c
Ken
tend to rust through the paint, but it isn't noticable unless you look
for it. I guess I could have treated the pipes first to eliminate
this.
I used my air compressor - conventional sprayer with a 3 gallon
pressure pot. You need a pressure pot to force the paint through the
gun. Latex is too think to use a siphon cup.
It took about a day to do a 20 x 30 basement. As always with painting,
start from the top and work down. In other words, do the ceiling first
before the walls, then do the floors last. I realize this isn't always
ideal or practical, but it's the rule of thumb.
Wagner paint systems = crap. The money 'saved' will be offset by the
fact that the gun will clog or wear out before you are finished.
To spary any quality paint, you either need to do the above or use an
airless system. Those start at $700.00 for a basic system. The
conventional setup as described above can be done for around $300 -
$400 with Home Depot or Lowe's equipment. Figure $60 for a usable gun,
$100 for the pot, $50 for the hoses and any amount above $100 for a
compressor. Oilless compressors work well and can keep up. They are
loud though....Mine was put in the garage with about 150' of hose so I
wouldn't have to hear it all day.
Good luck! It is do-able and I like it better than a drop ceiling -
you loose 3-7" with a drop ceiling.
-Ken
Superpin Al
fabric. I had the idea to attach fabric with either a cloud or night
sky pattern across the ceiling. Went with the night sky pattern and it
looks alright and is easily removed if desired. Beats the hell out of
all that sanding if you finished it as well. :)
Al
skbrothers
"Faked" walls in my unfinished basement arcade. I created wood frames,
stretched fabric over them, and use eye screws and hooks to hang them
from the ceiling. Creates an illusion of a finished basement and if
you arent paying attention, you'd think the basement was finished (to
some extent).
You dont happen to have pics of your fabric ceiling do you? If you
email them to me I can host a few of them on my modest webpage.
Thanks for the initial replies everyone...
kctobyjoe
'basement' looked like that. I dunno if I can even say I have one. The
'basement' is actually at ground level and is attached to the garage,
and laundry room, which resides below the TV room area. Man, I envy
having a high ceiling like that!
Dont forget 'Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain...'
lol
Really, That's a nice setup.
kc
immark
even Sherwin Williams. They have a paint that you can spray on the
ceiling, and the over spray, will dry and you just sweep up. Not sure
of the cost, but is suppose to work well.
Good luck with what ever way you go...and good luck with you addiction,
I mean hobby.
Mark
Superpin Al
later this week.
romeo52
I have painted a basement ceiling and had great results. I used a
airless sprayer, drop cloths on the floors. First coat sealer, second
coat semi-gloss bright white. Look good after the two coats but a
third really gave it a finished look. The wood sucks paint like crazy,
the old the house the more paint the wood takes.
Good Luck Bill
barry c
basement. Winter is the worst, with the least amount light coming in.
I think it is a good idea, but go with a bright color.
Richard Cranium
I was going to take the painted ceiling route myself, until a realtor
friend of mine talked me out of it. He is a pretty respected agent
around these parts. He said most future buyers would not care for it.
So I went the drop ceiling route. Oddly enough, months later I was
thumbing through a basement refinishing book at Lowe's, and whadda
think I saw? A beautifully finished basement area with a painted
(white) ceiling! Looked great!
Overall though, I am glad I went through the trouble of the drop
ceiling (2x2 style that actually drops through the grid about 1/4" -
looks pretty schnazzy). It was a bitch keeping it tight to the ceiling
so I would not have to stoop (I'm 6' 10"). It also helps to insulate
both noise and temperature from between levels of your home.
A couple of basement pics
http://journals.aol.com/visteoncanbiteme/Basement/entries/35
Good luck in whatever you decide,
Chris
immark
point of being able to get to wires etc). They also have a flush mount
drop ceiling. It will mount right up to the joists, then snap panels
in place. Just another thought, you can keep as much ceiling height as
possible.
Nice shot of Moon Patrol on there Chris....I always liked that game.
Mark
Richard Cranium
Thanks Mark. Love that MAME cabinet. Moon Patrol on a 27" monitor
rules!
Chris
Action Pinball
> Fairly self explanatory, but I am considering covering all my gameroom
> stuff with plastic and spraying my basement ceiling joists (and
> everything on them) flat black.
>
> Anyone ever do this?
Yes- I did. I actually stripped our ceiling (old popcorn ceiling,
plasterboard, and plaster) and removed the nails, cleaned up a bit, and shot
it all flat black. Wires, joists, wood, pipes, ducts- everything. This is
on our gameroom in the basement- we were going for an industrail look with a
bit of contemporary design. Turned out really nice. As good or better than
I had hoped.
The rest of the room is fully remodeled and finished (rest of whole basement
is finished too)- not concrete walls or unfinished basement type stuff- we
have new windows all down one wall in the game room (ground level in the
front of the house), all new drywall, custom "casino" carpet, new lighting-
the works. Even some custom curved drywall soffits around the room with
recessed lighting- it's pretty cool.
I got inspired with the idea for the ceiling from a local restaurant in our
area that had done the same thing. The curved drywall was something I
always wanted to try- I grew up working for an electrician part-time and we
did a big job at an advertising agency that bought 2 floors of an office
building downtown and they were doing a lot of curved sheetrock and angled
walls, windows, doors, etc. So I picked up some ideas and know-how from
that and finally put it to good use. Really liked the open ceiling idea and
always wanted to do it in part of our basement. So finally did.
> What are the plusses and Minuses?
Plusses:
- Minimal work- no finishing or sanding/painting of finished
sheetrock/texture required.
- Minimal cost- couple gallons of cheap industrial black paint is pretty
much it.
- Looks cool if you want that industrial look.
- Easy to touch up if you ever need to.
- Makes the room seem taller, bigger, and more open. This is nice. You're
really only gaining 1/2" of space with the drywall not being up there, but
the openness of the joist spaces make it feel taller.
- Easy to run wires, pipes, or install lights, etc. for future additions to
the room or repairs/remodeling of connecting parts of the house.
Minuses:
- VERY MESSY. Mask everything off REAL good (especially the floor), and
wear clothing that you can basically throw away when you're done.
- One realtor told me that any room in your house that has an open ceiling
is considered an "unfinished space" so can't be included as part of the
finished square footage if you go to sell/list your house. Okay. Whatever.
I put about as much stock in anything a realtor says as I might in a cheesy
used car salesman, so take it for what it's worth. If we sell our house as
it is with the black open ceiling, trust me- it WILL be listed as finished
living space. Or we'll find another clown- I mean, realtor.
- Cobwebs. They seem to gather up in there naturally with the ceiling being
open, so get yourself a good feather duster on a stick to clean the ceiling
every few weeks and keep it nice.
- Noise. Can be noisier if you have a high-traffic area upstairs or worse-
wood floors above. Sometimes we'll get the kids bouncing around up there
(living room is above the gameroom) and it can be a bit annoying...
Some advice:
- I shot our's with a paint sprayer. I sure wouldn't recommend doing it
with a brush or roller- it would take forever and you still wouldn't get as
good a look when done.
- We used flat black paint. You could use satin finish, but I wouldn't use
anything with any more sheen in it than that. It would look dumb. The
restaurant that I got the idea from has since repainted their ceiling in a
dark flat brown color. Still looks good, but any color that isn't vibrant
or bright (that draws the eye) is an okay choice.
- Do a few coats- 2 minimum. I shot one and thought I got it all real good,
but there are a few spots I can find now if I look real close where some of
the wood kinda shows through. I didn't use a primer/sealer (no real need
with a dark color, plus it's more money and work anyway), so a good thick
coat or two comprehensive normal coats should do a good job. That's the
only thing I'd change if I did it again.
- Shoot into all the cracks, holes, above/below pipes, etc. to really get
everything covered. You don't want to look up into the ceiling from across
the room after it's done and see something that didn't get paint on it.
- If you're going to be remodeling/finishing the rest of the room, open the
ceiling, clean it up, and shoot it all first- before you do any other
demolition or finishing in the rest of the room (walls, ceilings, windows,
doors, etc). This way, you don't have to mask off the "old stuff" that is
going to get ripped out, and besides that, it's MUCH more difficult to paint
the ceiling AFTER you've done all the finish work on the rest of the room.
So do the ceiling first, then move on.
> My concern is any issues that I need to consider regarding spraying
> duct work, electrical/phone cables, gas lines, water lines etc...?
> Would I need a special paint to take the heat/cold?
Not if you use a latex enamel. Latex will flex and not crack from changes
in temperature. Our's has been done for over a year and no problems at all.
> My goal is to make the ceiling less obvious. Fill a basement with
> enough toys and people tend to forget they're in a basement.
Black is a color that helps with that. When people see black, the mind
takes it as "nothingness", "null", "empty", "void". So people don't focus
on it and it isn't distracting. I painted the large recessed section of the
ceiling in our home theatre with flat black paint, too, to avoid distracting
the eye- trying to design it (shapes of walls, soffits, colors) to focus the
eye on the screen showing the movie, rather than drawing your eye away to
something else.
Hope that helps!
Ray J.
--
Action Pinball & Amusement, LLC
Salt Lake City, Utah USA
Web: www.actionpinball.com
We're serious about pinball. Anything else is just for fun!
Ken
advantageous concerning property taxes. Getting the State of Illinois
to believe you is an entirely different matter :-(
-Ken
Tom Lucht
I know a guy that does painting for a living. He painted (sprayed)
the ceiling, rolled the walls and floor. Came out looking great and I
traded him a vid for the work he did. Definately worth the
investment. There was a lot of over spray that did get hung up in the
air, but we had moved everything and run plastics to prevent stuff
from getting coated with paint. It came out looking very nice and the
ceiling blends in very well. Gives the basement more of a finished
look without having to pull a permit and pay more taxes :-)
Good luck,
Tom
DefJam
Sounds really cool, do you have any pics ? .. funny you guys are
discussing this, I was just kicking this around with a realtor as well
and they were not fond of the idea...
Jim