Looking good Andy. Don't know what to tell you about the ceiling, that's a head stractcher. Really like those Atlas locos, they have done a very nice job on that line of locos. Thanks for sharing. D. Muse
I have the same issue with low ceiling. I have plenty of 2x2 ceiling tiles in stock to instal .but i'm considering painting. If you paint, cover Everything and wear a respirator. I'l be staying tuned in for future updates. Nice layout.
Our church had your ceiling problem. Our first attempt was a drop ceiling but it was too low. Second attempt was to paint everything up there. We eventually ended up in white which could be sprayed, mostly. Good luck.
Love that Marshline. LOL. I do like those Trainmasters. My last house had a basement similar to yours. What I did was paint the floor joists and duct work black. I then used handing shop lights over the layout with a crafted valance on the front of them to give a more finished look without the drop ceiling. It was an imperfect solution, but it worked well enough in a place where a suspended ceiling was impractical.
Andy , paint the ceiling black and do not worry about it. If the ceiling was level across go with dry wall but with all that HVAC ductwork it isn’t IMO worth the money spent. Once the trains are running people concentrate on the trains not the ceiling.
Drop ceiling is probably the best way to go I did it and I have a smaller basement than you. and you can fasten track lights to it. The drop ceiling will also keep down quite a bit of dust from falling onto your layout.
Andy Dorsch just take your time make sure it’s all leave and use plenty of wire to support it I have some shop light panels I tried to keep the shop lights between the floor joists for the same reason as you low basement ceiling. They’re just for the ambient room lighting I use track lighting clipped to the ceiling frame and use the track lighting for the layout lighting
I have a similar setup as you. First I insulated between the floor joists with the pink Corning batts, next I'm adding 2x4's or 2x2's to the floor joists and filling in the spaces between them with 1-1/2" pink rigid insulation and then adding either 1/8" masonite or plywood to cover the insulation up. I will probably paint the ceiling the same blue as the background on the walls. Why all of the insulation, you're asking? I have roommates upstairs that are night owls. They're up most of the night and sleep during the day. They are also DJ's, hence them being night owls. Plus it's a bit cold in the basement. I'm also doing the samething to the walls, 2x4's and pink rigid insulation board. I also mounted 2x4's to the ceiling outlining my proposed benchwork perimeter, attached 4' old florescent tube lights(that I had bought for a previous layout) to the 2x4's. I'll then attach my valance to the light 2x4's, attach another 2x2 along the valance so I can attach the ceiling. I wanted to add an LED night time effect, stars, but figured it would take way too many LED's for stars. However, I might add strip LED lights to the valance and try to do a night scene with the blue LED lights and/or a blacklight? I have a video up of me insulating between the floor joists(Fat guy insulating the ceiling?) and in a previous videos showing the lights and in my last video(?), insulating the walls. I'm saving on pink board by only cutting once by placing the 2x4's 4' apart. Attaching the pink board vertically but the plywood or masonite horizontally, so I have fewer seam lines to make disappear. You may ask why the 2x4's on the walls? I might add a display shelf?
I'm a contractor and see lots of basements like yours. Seal the ductwork, then box them and other protrusions in with simple 2x framing covered with lauan plywood. The minimal clearance drop ceiling framing system works well but is at least double the cost of conventional drop grid. I would screw 1x4 furring perpendicular to the joists and then screw (so it's removable) lauan ply cut into 2x4ft panels. Then paint it white or black as desired. This is probably the same amount of labor as painting the bare joists and ducts, but is much cleaner, which is important in a train room. You can of course add insulation if desired, but only if you need sound isolation.
Craig! That is a fantastic idea. Where was this comment when I started painting that crap!I really like this idea. Thank you Craig! How do you pronounce your last name?
It’s pronounced “Veck-ee-own”...a good Irish name, lol! Sorry I only found this yesterday, but you can still cover your painted ceiling....it will help keep the dirt and dust to a minimum. I’m probably a day late/dollar short on this too...I suggest using two biscuits per joint on the helix segments, to better fight any tendency for the pieces to twist in relation to each other. Don’t worry about the slots overlapping.
I'd say paint the ceiling white. Painting it black will make the ceiling "disappear," which is fine, until that time you lose track of all that duct work, and smash your noggin (don't ask me how I know about that). White will keep the overhead hazards on your mental radar, and will also augment your ambient light. My two cents...
Layout looking good. Engines look great. You still have room to put a drop ceiling in from what it looks like the space you have over the door way. It would be the easiest and cheapest way to go.
There is a drop ceiling system using snap-in plastics rails that snugs directly up against the existing floor joists. I've seen it used by a contractor in one of my banks with good results, but I'm not sure about any cost comparison. Otherwise, as long as it's covered with anything, so even luan or other thin ply material would suffice. The old school solution to this was a panel board of some kind and 1' ceiling tiles. That's not desirable for most of us, and can be labor intensive, but it shows that solutions are indeed available wirhout losing all the headroom. Benchwork looks good man, I'm interested in following the E bracket arrangement as I am following Joe Fugate's efforts with his TOMA benchwork build. Thanks for sharing...
