Unique Ideas for Remodeling the Basement Ceiling

Basements are usually used as a storage area in a home; they can also be used as an extra room, recreation area, home theatre or something similar. The basement often has a very ordinary looking ceiling so this is one place to start when thinking of brightening up this area to make it livable. Finding some good basement ceiling ideas to begin will help to work out what could be done to improve the look of the ceiling. Pipes and wires are often found running across this area, so looking for an idea that will help to cover these up may be helpful. The suspended ceiling, which is also known as a false ceiling is suspended below the actual main ceiling structure and allows for a plenum space between, which conceals wiring, piping and other things like ductwork. This idea may be ideal for a ceiling with quite a number of these fittings running across it to allow inspection and maintenance when necessary.

A number of other basement ceiling ideas are the bamboo mat or bamboo slat ideas. A bamboo mat consists of thin bamboo strips that have been woven into a mat; these are then layered in a similar fashion to a laminated product to achieve a certain thickness. Bamboo slats are bamboo poles cut into lengths, split long ways to the desired thickness then attached together so that they form a panel. These usually come in rolls of certain lengths and widths. Both these products are suitable for improving the look of a basement ceiling and they can be left to look natural, given a clear protective coating or painted.

Several other basement ceiling ideas are the use of fabric to make a colorful or plain canopy which is stapled on, or the use of drywall which is a gypsum plaster product. Drywall is made from thick sheets of cardboard with gypsum plaster in between and is pressed flat then kiln dried. The product is around one to one and a half inches thick and is attached to the beams of the ceiling, and can be painted a suitable color afterwards. The downside of the bamboo, fabric and drywall are the difficulty of getting to any of the wiring or piping etc., afterwards. A final idea if there is a concern about this problem, may be to paint the actual basement ceiling in a light color to help reflect available light in the room, cover wiring with molding and give this and any piping and ducting a coat of the same colored paint to help these things blend in. If the lighting is attached a little lower than the ceiling especially with a copper or brass style shade attached, these things will generally blend into the shadows of the ceiling, and this idea gives access to all the ceiling extras at any time.