How to Apply Ceiling Tiles to Cover Your Problem Areas
The easiest way to tile over an existing problem ceiling is to use foot-square tiles and a thick, trowel-on adhesive. Adhesive will work as long as the old ceiling is reasonably smooth and sound. If the old paint is literally falling off in sheets, adhesive won’t work. The paint will continue to fail, taking the adhesive and the new ceiling right along with it.
But even on a cracking ceiling like mine, peeling in a few spots here and there, the adhesive works well. It grabs immediately so you don’t have to bother with staples. Just press the tile in place and it stays there.
Planning – the key to a neat installation is a little bit of planning so that the border tiles (those along the walls) don’t come out looking narrow and skimpy. This is really fairly simple. Let’s assume you are working with foot-square tiles. Start by measuring and marking the center lines of all four walls. Then snap two chalk lines connecting these marks and dividing the ceiling into quarters.
Next measure the distance from one of these lines to either of the two walls running parallel to it. Measure in feet and inches. If the ”inches” part of the measurement comes out to less than six, your border tiles will be less than six inches wide, and that’s too narrow for good looks.
So go back and snap a new chalk line parallel to the one you just measured from, but place it exactly six inches away, either to the left or right. It doesn’t matter which. This new chalk line will be one of your guide lines for your first row of tiles.
Now repeat this process with the other original chalk line – the one running perpendicular to the one you just checked. Measure from it to the wall, and if the inches part of the measurement comes out to less than six, snap a new line six inches away. If the inches come out to more than six, leave the line where it is.
You are now ready to start placing tiles. Begin at the intersection of the guide lines. i Using a narrow putty knife, put five dabs of adhesive about the size of a half dollar on the back of a tile. Put one dab at each corner, and one in the center. Then press the tile firmly in place, aligning one corner with the intersection of your chalk guidelines.
Next to this tile, put up a row of tiles running from the center of the ceiling out to one wall (don’t worry about the border tile for now) and stop. Be sure to keep this row aligned with your chalk line. Then go back to the center and lay another row of tiles along one of your other guide lines running perpendicular to the first row.
Now fill in the area of ceiling between these two rows. Be careful to slide the tiles into place so their tongue and groove edges interlock, and don’t apply so much adhesive that it oozes out between tiles. After filling in this quarter of the ceiling, do the other three.
If you have a helper dabbing on adhesive and handing you tiles, it shouldn’t take more than an hour to cover an average ceiling, not counting the border tiles. Install these last. You can cut them to size with a sharp utility knife, or with a saw. Don’t try to make them a snug fit. Once they are glued in place, you can cover any small gap between them and the walls with a molding, as shown in the accompanying sketch.
Cutting and fitting the border tiles and molding should take another hour or so.
It’s a good idea to finish the molding before you install it. This will help you keep paint, stain, or varnish off the ceiling and walls. You may have to touch the finish up a bit after installation, but this is still easier than doing the whole job of finishing in place.
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Tags: apply tiles, border tiles, ceiling tiles, square tiles