Grid Ceiling

I purchased my materials at Lowes and went with a plastic grid system vs the aluminum rails because I thought it looked a lot easier to install, and wasn't that much more expensive. I was right and it was worth it. Cutting the parts is very easy to do with standard shears. I chose Armstrong Home Style 2'x2'x1/2" Tiles. The style number was Brighton 266.

I'm not sure what I was thinking back when I framed the soffit around the duct, but I left the space for the grid ceiling at 6'-4". Oops. This would essentially leave a 1-1/4" gap on either side of three full tiles. If I installed it this way, I would have to cut twice the number of tiles and use a fourth connecter grid. That seemed like a waste of time, so I fought the urge to have everything perfectly centered and installed the grid with three full tiles starting on the back wall, leaving a single 2-1/2" gap behind the duct soffit.

After marking a level ceiling line, I installed the square angle perimeter rail using drywall screws. The main beams I ran across the space so I wouldn't have to create any joint connections along the way.

To make sure they were level I ran two strings across the length of the room located off the bottom of the perimeter rail. Then I just installed the drop wires and tied them off to length when the beam touched the string. I used the simple nail in hooks to connect the wire to. Every other cross beam lined up with a ceiling joist, so I just nailed into them for the drop wires. For the in-between locations, I put a 2x2 nailer between the joists and connected into that.

The cross bars snapped into place in the beams using a rib and detent system. The first one I didn't realize the ribs were even there... after struggling with it for a few minutes I figured it out and the rest of them snapped in easily. Once these were in place, I loaded in the ceiling tiles. Cutting the embossed tiles for the short sections was pretty irritating because you have to manually create the relief so it drops down in the grid. It was tedious, but the finished product turned out nice.

The recessed light fixtures came with tiebars that had connection hooks for drop ceiling grids. This made installation very easy. I just created the circle cutout in the tile, set it in the grid and placed the fixture over it. When I ran the lighting circuits, I put standard outlets above the locations for the lights. So I just terminated the fixture service wire to a plug so I could just plug them in after I installed them. This also makes it very easy to take them out if I ever have to.

Here's the finished product looking down the room, and from an angle. Initially, I was a little concerned with the drop ceiling looking "cheap", but I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

HVAC and bouncy steps

For the HVAC, I added standard registers in the wall and tied into the main supply & return trunks. We only have a single air handler, but there was an existing register pushing air into the basement, so I wasn't too concerned about robbing air from the furthest rooms on the circuit. To start, I removed the existing register and patched up the hole in the duct board. I cut in a standard 8" take-off and ran insulated 8" diameter flex duct to a 12x6 register box. I sealed everything off with foil adhesive to ensure no leaks. I ran a single low supply so the heat would enter the room on the floor.


On the return side, I left one stud space without insulation so I could use it as my return chase. So here, I just cut into the wall space and the return trunk with 8" take-offs and connected the two with insulated flexible duct. I only opened up a single 12x6 low return so I would pull cold air off the floor in the winter. We'll see how things go this summer to determine if I need to add a high return to pull hot air off the ceiling. With the AC on in the house, the basement was always comfortable, so I may not have to bother with it.

Here's the return register...

And the supply on the other side of the room.

So far I've been pleased with the performance and the finished space stays very comfortable.

After the drywall was installed, I noticed that the steps were a little bouncy in the middle of the run. To fix this, I fastened some nailers to the wall using Tek screws and screwed the stringer to them. On the framed side, I did the same thing and tacked some nailers on the studs and tied into the strigner...... No more bouncing.

Baseboard Molding & Door

I installed standard baseboard molding around the perimeter of the room to finish off between the carpet and the walls. It was very easy to put it and I didn't have any troubles. I purchased primered composite molding and I was very happy with it. It only required one coat of paint to cover sufficiently and I had no trouble cutting clean edges with a 12" 40 tooth blade.

I planned a 36" interior door into the unfinished section of the basement and purchased it as a pre-hung assembly. I cut the door frame to length so I could screw the top to the header, which was level. Then I shimmed the hinge side square and nailed it in. Finally, I installed the door on the hinges and shimmed the jam side to even the gaps. I installed a standard interior door knob set into the pre-cut openings in the door. It shuts smoothly without binding, so I'm happy.

I finished around the door with standard door casing molding.

My miter saw and brad nailers paid off huge for this effort and made cutting the corner joints and nailing on the molding a simple task.

This was the first time I had a chance to use the brad nailers that were included in the air tool set. I'm very happy with them and they worked flawlessly.