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Basement ceiling options

6 years ago

I have a semi-finished basement, with painted block walls, vinyl flooring, and a tiled ceiling. It all looked fair (not great, not bad) until I needed to get steel beams put in for bowing walls. In the process, some ceiling tiles needed to be removed, leaving large unfinished gaps in the ceiling. Now I'm debating the best course of action to take. A few options I've considered are:

1) Simply replace the tiles that were removed. This is unlikely to be feasible because I haven't been able to find tiles with the same or similar pattern in them. To complicate the matter, some of the bracing that was put in for the steel beams is about an inch below the existing ceiling.

2) Drywall. I don't like this option because I like the idea of having accessibility to the plumbing, which is original to this 1950's house. Even if I made access panels, I don't know if I want to risk leaks ruining the drywall. (Note that much of the plumbing was exposed in the beam installation, so I currently do have access to it.)

3) Dropped ceiling. I might consider this, but I'm concerned about losing too much height. I've also heard that they can be a pain to install. But, it's possible that I could install without having to remove the existing tiles.

Remove all tiles and keep the beams exposed for an industrial look. Possibly spray paint it a dark color. This is seeming to be the most likely possibility. Are there any downsides to this option? Would I want to keep the cross-beams that were installed for the existing tiles to be nailed to, or would it look better with those removed (which would be the biggest pain of all, I think).

Attached are photos. The larger area of missing tiles is where I removed them thinking I'd go with option 4. Since then, I've been reconsidering all my options.

Thoughts?

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Comments (2)

Tina Colley
6 years ago
We removed drop in tiles in our basement. Painted it black and we love it! Rent a spray gun.
CMac thanked Tina Colley
cat_ky
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
If you are looking for a more finished look, then I would either try to match what you have, or replace what you have with something very close, or go for the drop ceiling. You have plumbing and you have electrical up there. Hard to repair when things go wrong, if it is all painted a dark color, besides, it makes the room much darker.
CMac thanked cat_ky
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I feel like I shouldn't be giving advice since I'm just beginning the basement "journey" myself but I like your point about how you don't have to access pipes in other parts of your house, so why shouldn't the basement be the same! We've had to access pipes in part of our dining room and kitchen but our house is 100 years old. It was a pain but not terribly expensive when it came to the opening up or re-drywalling or patching after (forgot what they technically did). I'd say the biggest pain comes down to having to re-paint the entire ceiling to make paint match! Especially if it's a big basement ceiling! However again... if you have a good plumber/electrician do the work and think ahead about anything you might want later (assuming you're talking newly-added plumbing/electrical), it seems you have a pretty good chance of not having to access it for many many years to come (?). I was just adding to my ever-building list of questions to research: what would it look like (would it even be possible) to drywall the majority of the living space in our basement - which will have an open kitchen - but then put some sort of access panels in the ceiling (drop ceiling or whatever it's called) in the kitchen portion? Same with bathroom? But again, maybe not necessary! Plus I really want to sound-insulate between floors as much as possible in case we need to rent out the basement because we have 3 loud boys!! : - /
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