Install a Tongue & Groove Cedar Wood Ceiling
Ceilings are typically made of plaster, drywall or fiber tiles, but if you want a more interesting covering --- rustic, classic and a conversation piece --- consider a cedar wood ceiling. Wood ceilings install under the same principle as wood floors, with tongue and groove fittings on the sides that hold the boards together. The boards have to be attached to joists, not plaster. You can buy an electronic stud finder at a hardware store.
Instructions
1. Locate and mark each ceiling joist inside the ceiling, using a stud finder. Draw lines across the ceiling with your pencil and level to show where the joists are across the whole ceiling.
2. Measure the ceiling along the starting wall, which must be perpendicular to the direction of the joists. Cut a ceiling plank to that length.
3. Set the board on the ceiling, along the starting wall, with groove facing the wall. Hold the board 3/8-inch out from the wall, so there's a gap along the edge of the board. This will allow for wood expansion as the climate changes.
4. Secure the board. Shoot two nails up through its face at each point where the board crosses a joist.
5. Measure and cut the next board. Lock it alongside the first one, connecting the groove of the second board over the tongue of the first. Press them tightly together.
6. Secure the second board by shooting one nail through the side, above the tongue, at an upward angle, so the next board will hide the nailhead. Put one nail at each point where it crosses a joist.
7. Repeat the process, working your way across the whole ceiling. Use a table saw to cut the last row of boards lengthwise, so they fit along the ending wall with a 3/8-inch space left.
8. Measure, cut and install trim around the perimeter of the ceiling to cover the gaps.
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