Installing the suspended ceiling was probably one of the most fun parts of finishing the basement. It was a really nice change of pace from the tedious time it took to do the woodwork.
My brother told me about a really great tool at the Armstrong website for calculating tile layouts. I found that I had about 800 square feet to tile.
The image to the left shows my van stuffed full of all the material I needed. I was really proud that I made it all in one trip.
The first thing I had to do was box in the three window wells that I had. The image to the right shows how I did this. The idea is that eventually I'll add stained plywood on the inside of those window wells, and add mathing trim around the edges.
Building the windows boxes also told me how low I needed to suspend my ceiling. So from there I took a laser-level and drew a line all the way around the room where I wanted to attach the ceiling wall angle pieces.
Once the borders were up, I added the main runners. I also used the laser-level for these. That made quick work of lining up the beams.
Getting all of the recessed lights in the tiles were tricky. Fortunately I had them all positioned so that they fell in the center of each tile. That way I didn't have to put up the tile, circle the lights location, take down the tile, and cut the hole. I could just cut the hole first and save a lot of time.
In the exercise room, I put in fluorescent lights. I thought it would keep down the heat while working out. These turned out to be pretty easy to put in. However I got extremely lucky that the fixtures JUST fit between the grid and the ceiling joists. It was such a close fit I screwed the housing to the joists to keep it more secure.
A friend of mine suggested I use "natural daylight" or full-spectrum bulbs, rather than the regular fluorescent ones you usually see. They provide a much less harsh light that simulates natural sunlight. We really like them.
I enjoyed this project so much, I think this summer I'm going to put a similar ceiling in my garage.
