Suspended ceiling: anyone used ACP CeilingMax?

[AcidWater]

I want to maintain as much headroom as possible.

AFAIK the standard type suspended ceiling requires at least 4" drop so you can get the tiles onto the grid..

The ACP CeilingMax screws directly to the joist. Its made of flexible plastic so that instead of tilting the tile up in the space above, you bend down the rail edge.

You only lose about an inch of headroom.

Anyone install one of these? Any difficulties? Does it really make getting the tiles in and out easy? I have some water valves above that I want to get to seasonally.

[Howard Emerson]

Get yourself a 6-8' straight edge, and then hold it across several of your joists. Better yet, even, just string a line across all of them from one end of the room to the other.

If you can live with actually seeing all that variation in your panels, use that system.

I suppose you could just shim all the high ones to equal the low ones, but you've got to ask yourself: 'Am I feeling lucky?'

Think about it before you do it.

As far as needing 4" for a normal dropped ceiling: You can get by with 1" if you're willing to remove a cross bar to slide the first row of panels into place, and then put it back, then do another and so on.

Best of luck.

Howard
http://www.howardemerson.com/

[AcidWater]

I'm getting RID of a tongue & groove type. Want lay-in panels so I can up up there.

[Howard Emerson]

I'm getting RID of a tongue & groove type. Want lay-in panels so I can up up there.

I clearly understand that.

I'm trying to help you maintain headroom while avoiding having the ceiling look like 'who did it and ran?'

In case you're not understanding what I'm getting at: The system you want to use will closely follow the underside of the existing joists, and they are never, ever on the same exact plane, so you will clearly see undulations in the finished product.

At least with a normal dropped ceiling system, you can avoid this.

Your choice.

HE

[helix3]

I've used this on a few ceilings. What I have done is to run strapping across the joists and mounted the channel to that. It also provides a firm backing while you are trying to snap in the 'T' piece to finish. You can unsnap and get the tiles down, but you need small fingers to get in there or your cuticals take a hit. I have fat fingers, so mine take the hit

When I run the srapping, I also use a level, string and shingles to level it Nothing looks worse than eying down a 30ft room and having a wavy ceiling.

The CeilingMax is easy to install you can easily cut the stuff with tin snips and install it with drywall screws.

[Howard Emerson]

I've used this on a few ceilings. What I have done is to run strapping across the joists and mounted the channel to that. It also provides a firm backing while you are trying to snap in the 'T' piece to finish. You can unsnap and get the tiles down, but you need small fingers to get in there or your cuticals take a hit. I have fat fingers, so mine take the hit

When I run the strapping, I also use a level, string and shingles to level it Nothing looks worse than eying down a 30ft room and having a wavy ceiling.

The CeilingMax is easy to install you can easily cut the stuff with tin snips and install it with drywall screws.

Helix,
That is exactly what I assumed would be the case regarding a wavy ceiling.

The product's principle is sound in terms of saving as much head room as possible, but there are definitely tradeoffs, which you've described first hand.

Glad it worked out for you...............Now go get a well deserved manicure for those cuticles:-)

HE
http://www.howardemerson.com/