Finishing a basement....drop or drywall ceiling?

[Ottakee]

We want to finish off our basement. It has the walls and flooring but no ceilings. This is a daylight basement and had a full bath, 2 bedrooms and another area that could be either a family room or another bedroom. Once this is done we would have a 5-6 bedroom 3 full and 1 half bath house in 5 acres with 2 pole barns.

 

The bid for the drywall ceiling was higher than I thought....but still doable with our budget. The biggest kicker will be that EVERYTHING..... EVERYTHING will have to come out of the basement. Right now that is a bath, 2 bedrooms, an office (in the family room area) and the storage room. That is a lot of stuff. On the positive it would also be a good motivation to get ride of half of our stuff. Dry wall dust would be everywhere.

 

The other option (but not sure on price yet) is to put in a drop ceiling. Positives for this would be no need to move everything out, no drywall dust, and easy access to all of the pipes and wires in the ceiling.

 

If though you were looking to buy a house, which one would be more of a positive draw for you? We live in a very hot market, in a township with the lowest taxes around but a good school district (and 2 doors down from the elementary school).

 

Just trying to decide if the mess and expense is worth it to have drywalled ceilings.

[Nemom]

I prefer drywall ceilings personally rather than drop ceilings in a basement.  Drop ceilings always feel "cheap" to me.  

[gardenmom5]

I prefer drywall - it's not hard (a pain, but not hard) to diy.  then you can do a room at a time. 

 

in our basement, we have some drywall, and some drop.  dh wanted drop so he could access wires in the ceiling . . . . .

[Ottakee]

I prefer drywall - it's not hard (a pain, but not hard) to diy. then you can do a room at a time.

 

in our basement, we have some drywall, and some drop. dh wanted drop so he could access wires in the ceiling . . . . .

This basement is not a DIY as it needs multiple bulkheads and other things. DH is NOT a drywall guy and if we want to sell, it needs to look GOOD.

 

DH likes drop better for access.

[TrulySusan]

I like drywall better for looks, but we have a drop in. The benefit has been that when the water line to our fridge upstairs sprang a leak, we only had to replace a few pieces of ceiling tile and could do it ourselves. That same leak with a nice drywall ceiling would have been awful to have to fix.

[snickerplum]

At our last house we refinished the basement and replaced the drop ceiling tiles with drywall. Dh put it up and we hired out the mudding and taping. It looked so much better, much more finished.

I will say, though - a positive to a drop ceiling is having easier access to pipes, ducting and whatnot. Pulling down a tiles is way easier than having to cut a hole and fix the damage.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Anne in CA]

I would go with the drop myself, but I am paranoid about needing easy access.

[EKS]

I vote for drywall.

[TechWife]

 

The other option (but not sure on price yet) is to put in a drop ceiling. Positives for this would be no need to move everything out, no drywall dust, and easy access to all of the pipes and wires in the ceiling.

 

If though you were looking to buy a house, which one would be more of a positive draw for you? We live in a very hot market, in a township with the lowest taxes around but a good school district (and 2 doors down from the elementary school).

 

 

If it's an older house, the drop ceiling may be of great benefit. The importance of accessing pipes and wires in an older house shouldn't be underestimated. It provides much easier access for both identifying issues and repairs. If there is a pluming leak, replacing the ceiling tiles is much less expensive and much easier than repairing drywall.

[gardenmom5]

This basement is not a DIY as it needs multiple bulkheads and other things. DH is NOT a drywall guy and if we want to sell, it needs to look GOOD.

 

DH likes drop better for access.

 

 

didn't know this was a JAWM.

[Tap]

What is the space going to be used for?

 

If it is something casual like a guest room, extra space for hanging out, laundry etc.....then I wouldn't worry too much about it and consider a drop ceiling.

 

If it is going to be used all the time, will be full time bedrooms or a living room...a drop ceiling would be tacky and commercial or community based housing feeling to me.  

 

Drop ceilings make me think of an office or school, where you expect damage and need cheap repair options. Due to that, when I have seen drop ceilings installed in homes....it makes me think "cheap repairs".  My father was a contractor and drop ceilings were used to lower cost on materials or to reduce ceiling height in commercial offices to make it cheaper to heat/cool/noise proof. They were not done in nicer spaces.  

[abacus2]

If you are in a hot sellers market either ceiling will be fine, but I doubt I would bother to finish the basement for the purpose of selling. If the sellers market is hot now, sell now before that changes.

[Lecka]

We bought a house recently with drop ceilings.

 

My husband would have really preferred drywall.

 

However -- there were NO homes we looked at (in our price range, the right size, location, whatever) that had drywall ceilings. Not one.

 

Where we moved from -- in our price range and size every home almost would when drywall in the basement.

 

Our realtor acted like she thought it was unusual to do that because of wanting access to the piumbing.

 

I don't know.

 

I have wondered if it has to do with the climate being so different here (we have moved to a place with colder winters and much more humid summers).

 

I really have no idea, though.

 

But I think it will matter what is common for basements in your area.

[Lecka]

What is interesting too is my husband thinks drop ceilings seem cheap and institutional, like some people are mentioning, but I don't have that feeling.

 

He thinks they are equivalent to grocery store floor tiles, and I don't at all.

 

To me if other things are nice then the ceiling isn't something I pay attention to.

 

But it was something my husband didn't like about the housing options here.

 

The other big thing to us was how few houses here have an attached garage. That is also a hugely standard thing where we moved from, like it would be unusual not to have an attached garage with access into the kitchen area of the house ----- but here very few houses are built this way.

Edited June 24, 2017 by Lecka

[Pawz4me]

I'd go with the drop because I'm more into practicality than aesthetics and so I'd definitely prefer easy access to wires and pipes. But neither one would be a deal breaker for us.

[AMJ]

Consider the acoustic properties of the two ceilings -- drywall will reflect more noise, causing the spaces there to seem louder, less peaceful.  A drop ceiling helps lessen noise in a room.  

If your largest space:

• seems echo-y or noisy, or
• if you can hear footfalls all over, or
• if you hear plenty of noise from upstairs

then a drop ceiling might be beneficial.

 

 

That said, what my DH's aunt and uncle did:  When building their house they stacked the bathrooms to lessen routing plumbing.  They were going to drywall all of the ceilings, but were told that the bathrooms, at least, should have drop ceilings for ease of access to the plumbing.  They installed drop ceilings of stained wood, making it all look like a nicely paneled ceiling.  

 

You could easily do similar and paint the wood if you really don't want the look of acoustic tile.  You could back the wood with acoustic foam if needed (put slabs of the foam inside the ceiling, with the wood supporting it) -- this would cut down noise transmission from upstairs (even the gap a dropped ceiling provides would cut this down some, and the foam would absorb more noise).  Unless you decided to leave the wood rough, though, the smooth treated surface will reflect some noise in the room.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Drywall looks nicer, BUT if you need to access pipes or wires a drop ceiling makes so much more sense.  You won't have to destroy the ceiling to get to that stuff and it is bound to happen at some point. 

 

 

[Ottakee]

So the hive is quite divided :-)

 

I wish this was a DIY project but DH is not accomplished at drywall and there are many angles, bulkheads to build, etc that we just need a professional. Drop ceiling he could possibly do....maybe. he is awesome at Auto repair and other things just not drywall.

 

We will see where the bid today comes in and go from there.

[Annie G]

I prefer the look of drywall but for a basement would probably go with a dropped ceiling because of price and easy access to plumbing. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

So the hive is quite divided :-)

 

I wish this was a DIY project but DH is not accomplished at drywall and there are many angles, bulkheads to build, etc that we just need a professional. Drop ceiling he could possibly do....maybe. he is awesome at Auto repair and other things just not drywall.

 

We will see where the bid today comes in and go from there.

 

If you want something that looks fancier, they do have decorative drop down tiles.  We installed some because there are some rooms downstairs with drop down tiles and we wanted something that looked a little nicer (because it isn't a basement).  Those were likely installed to lower ceilings (save on heating costs it's an old house with very high ceilings) and to cover asbestos tiles. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

google decorative drop in tiles if you want pics

 

 

[catz]

I think it really depends on the house. In our old house built in the 90's, we had a walk out basement in a newer home with the wiring, plumbing concentrated to a utility room and we boxed a closet around some. That space it was a no brainer to do dry wall.

 

Our current home was built in 1915 and has an OLD basement. There are houses in this neighborhood that would price at over 500K+ that look like magazine homes on the main levels that have a drop ceiling in a 100 year old basement. We have pipes and wires running all through ours. We'd never do dry wall down there.

[Carrie12345]

There's no legitimate reason to limit the choices to drywall and ugly.  It's 2017.  Pretty much anything can be both functional and pretty!

 

https://www.pinterest.com/explore/drop-ceiling-tiles/?lp=true 

[Ottakee]

This house was built in the early 90s but the guy did the plumbing and electrical himself so we do have pipes and wires running under the joists etc. That is what makes drywall harder.

[SparklyUnicorn]

There's no legitimate reason to limit the choices to drywall and ugly.  It's 2017.  Pretty much anything can be both functional and pretty!

 

https://www.pinterest.com/explore/drop-ceiling-tiles/?lp=true 

 

Yes!

 

Our decorative drop down tile ceiling is the nicest looking ceiling in our house.  It doesn't have to look industrial or cheap and ugly.  So many options. 

[maize]

Does anyone do stretch ceilings in your area? I like those a lot.

They seem to be more common in Europe though.

Edited June 24, 2017 by maize

[Cinder]

There's no legitimate reason to limit the choices to drywall and ugly.  It's 2017.  Pretty much anything can be both functional and pretty!

 

https://www.pinterest.com/explore/drop-ceiling-tiles/?lp=true 

 

Ooh--those are nice and might be a great compromise for OP. The mention of drop ceiling *did* conjure up images of the old, industrial looking stuff--reinforced, perhaps, because a friend recently bought an older home with the old style drop ceiling. But these in the link actually look good!

[TechWife]

whoops!

Edited June 24, 2017 by TechWife

[catz]

There's no legitimate reason to limit the choices to drywall and ugly.  It's 2017.  Pretty much anything can be both functional and pretty!

 

https://www.pinterest.com/explore/drop-ceiling-tiles/?lp=true 

 

:iagree: Yes, so many good options available now!   The classic style ones are what we see in the nicely finished basement of older homes here.

[zoobie]

If you're planning to sell in the near-ish future, I would probably go with drop. A realtor might be able to tell you if the price difference between drop and drywall would be made up in the resultant sale price.

[foxbridgeacademy]

I HATE drop ceilings they look horribly cheap but in your situation they are the more practical choice.  As a buyer in a hot market I'd deal with a drop ceiling and when eventually some pipe sprung a leak I'd grudgingly be thankful the previous owners went with the ugly thing.  This ONLY applies to basements. 

 

ETA: some of these aren't too bad

Edited June 24, 2017 by foxbridgeacademy

[Ottakee]

If you're planning to sell in the near-ish future, I would probably go with drop. A realtor might be able to tell you if the price difference between drop and drywall would be made up in the resultant sale price.

I will double check with the realtor but she had said before that drop vs. drywall wasn't making a huge difference in our market.

 

This is a large house with the finished basement.  1900 sq feet on the main and upper floors and another 1000 in the basement finished so we would have 2900 sq ft. finished.  We though are not in a fancy subdivision, upper end area, etc.  Our biggest appeal would be to foster/adopt/homeschool families as we would have 5-6 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, a play room, family room, etc. as well as 5 acres and 2 pole barns (one set up for auto repair and other other a 4 stall horse barn).

 

Then again, we might just stay here for the next 30 years.....as our main floor would be totally livable when we are elderly or even in a wheelchair.

 

Depending on the bids, dh and I talked about getting the stuff and trying to install a drop ceiling in the bathroom ourselves.  It is the smallest area (about 8x13) and easiest.  Then if that goes well tackle the next easiest area.

 

I just feel like we are at a standstill here until we decide and get the work done as we can't do painting until this is done, can't replace flooring upstairs until this is done and painting is done (if we go with drywall we will have drywall dust everywhere), etc. and on and on.

[prairiewindmomma]

I would do a drop ceiling only if I bought the posh tiles that look like a coffered ceiling. 

[dsmith]

We put a drop ceiling in ours, mainly for pipe access. We found a ceiling that didn't look cheap - it has texture, is heavier than the cheap industrial drop ceiling and is not a super bright white color. We also put in recessed lighting. The main heating pipe came down further than the ceiling, so we had it boxed in with drywall, but with an opening so that the heat will radiate down. We have steel sheets with a cloverleaf design in the opening so that we can't see the pipe. It looks nice, not cheap at all. If we redo it in the future I may choose something like this:

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/MONO-SERRA-Wall-Design-2-ft-x-2-ft-Flamingo-Suspended-Grid-Panel-Ceiling-Tile-32-sq-ft-case-PANTQ22F/205170276

 

 

Edited to add: We had a major pipe issue right before Christmas. It caused about $3000 worth of damage, but at least we only had to replace a few tiles instead of a large piece of drywall ceiling. We know that within the next few years we have to replace about 20 feet of pipe, so I'm really glad for the drop ceiling!!

Edited June 25, 2017 by dsmith

[RegGuheert]

When we had the ceilings finished in our current and previous homes, we went with drywall on the ceiling. BUT, in both cases, I moved, or had moved, some of the mechanical systems so that they would not require ugly boxing by the drywall. Also, I left a portion of the basement unfinished in each house and I moved nearly all of the source water pipes into those areas. Finally, I installed valves in the unfinished areas so that plumbing areas could be isolated individually. (Some houses these days are built with manifolds which already serve this purpose.)

 

The result in both houses is a fully-finished basement with full-height (or nearly) ceilings and very little in the way of water pipes above the drywall.

 

Here are a few things I did in this house to improve the finished result:

1) We had a rectangular section of ductwork replaced with 4" by 30" inch ductwork, thus raising the ceiling height in that area by about six inches.

2) Moved another section of ductwork behind a main beam so that the duct would be in a smaller room rather than in the main room, which now has full-height ceilings.

3) Water pipes which run from the unfinished mechanical room above the finished ceiling to the crawl space under the other section of the house were replaced by by a single, long section of PEX with no joints in that portion. That will minimize any possibility of a leak over the drywall.

4) Similarly, the tubing which runs to the icemaker and faucet was replaced by a single long run where it runs across the ceiling. If this particular line needs to be replaced, it can be pulled though from one end or the other without removing any drywall. (That could have also been achieved with the main water pipes in 3) above, but those were firmly attached to the joists. Hopefully having no joints will prevent any need for replacement in the ceiling.)

5) Some drain pipes were rerouted to prevent the need for being boxed in for drywall.

6) The water heater was moved into the same area as the other mechanical equipment so that there would only need to be a single unfinished room in the basement.

7) Electrical wiring was moved so that drywall could be screwed directly to the joists.

 

The challenges in each house were different, but in both cases, I was able to install drywall ceilings, achieve full-height ceilings with no, or minimal, boxing of air ducts, and made all source plumbing either fully accessible or much less likely to pose a problem in the future.

 

Of course every house is different and sometimes the desired result cannot be achieved. That said, builders do not install the mechanical and electrical equipment with finishing the basement in mind. They are focused on functionality and minimizing the workload. By putting some effort into changing the arrangement of the mechanical equipment, you can often achieve a much better finished result while minimizing the risk of very costly rework in the future.

[bettyandbob]

In my geographic area, I gave never seen a drop ceiling. Everyone has drywall in the basement.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I HATE drop ceilings they look horribly cheap but in your situation they are the more practical choice.  As a buyer in a hot market I'd deal with a drop ceiling and when eventually some pipe sprung a leak I'd grudgingly be thankful the previous owners went with the ugly thing.  This ONLY applies to basements. 

 

ETA: some of these aren't too bad

 

We have something like this.  Not exactly this.  Definitely not cheap looking or horrible or like something you see in an office building.

 

[lmrich]

I love the drop ceilings using beadboard.