Drop ceilings are one of those things that are much easier to
install if you know what you're doing. Luckily my supplier, Interior
Resource Supply in Dearborn, Michigan has installers that work
at reasonable rates.
Joe offered to install the grid and tiles for $30/hr and figured
it would take between 15-25 hours to complete the entire job.
Considering the fact that it would probably take me five times
as long to do it myself- and it certainly wouldn't look as good,
I figured it best to leave it to the experts!
Installing the drop ceiling grid
Using a laser
level,
Joe was able to find the lowest point in the basement (thus the
highest he could put the ceiling) very easily. You need to leave
about 1 ½ inches below the lowest point to allow space to put
in the tiles. I was amazed at how quickly Joe was able to lay
the grid.
He started with a track completely around the basement. He simply
lined it up with the red line of the laser level. Next he began
to criss-cross the tracks at 2 foot intervals (since I'm using
24" tiles). He used c-channel around the main ducts, with tiles
beneath those too.
Since we still had to have the electrician layout exactly where
the recessed lighting would go, Joe didn't put in any of the tiles
on this trip. Once the electrical is complete, he'll come back
to finish the job.
,
Joe was able to find the lowest point in the basement (thus the
highest he could put the ceiling) very easily. You need to leave
about 1 ½ inches below the lowest point to allow space to put
in the tiles. I was amazed at how quickly Joe was able to lay
the grid. ![Black & Decker laser level [Click for details]](images/black_and_decker_laser_level.jpg)
He started with a track completely around the basement. He simply
lined it up with the red line of the laser level. Next he began
to criss-cross the tracks at 2 foot intervals (since I'm using
24" tiles). He used c-channel around the main ducts, with tiles
beneath those too. 