Project bathroom - ceiling

Hi all.

Our bathroom ceiling is unnecessarily high. It's also awful. A previous owner was a great fan of awful lumpy artex and 80s style sort of skirting but at the ceiling. It's horrid.

So a thought occurs to me. From the top of the tiles, there's about 3 inches of horridness to prepare the eye for the abomination that is the textured ceiling.

I thought if I put in a sort of false ceiling, I could have a nice smooth surface aligned to the top of the tiles. This would give me an opportunity to modernise the lighting, add more insulation thus improving energy efficiency, and make the whole bathroom easier to clean.

My research tells me I can attach light wooden beams to the ceiling if I find the real beams to screw into. I'm not worried about electrics. I just need to possibly extend cables if necessary to allow for the lower ceiling. Then I can trap rock wool insulation between the current ceiling and the new one.

What I'm less sure about, is what can I use for the new ceiling? All my research tells me plasterboard then skimmed. But I wonder if I could use ply, painted with a good coat of condensation proof paint of some kind. That would be easier for me I reckon. And would open up a range of opportunities for custom lighting options. I'm thinking a grid of pin point LEDs perhaps.

Is ply a stupid idea for this role? What else could I use? I'd like to do it myself without need for expensive trades people to finish any of it. But I'd also like it to look good in the long term, and be safe and compliant with the latest fire/safety regs and recommendations.

 

I've just come across pvc ceiling cladding. Any thoughts? It's designed to clad the existing ceiling, whereas I want to lower mine. Any thoughts on the cladding option?

Cladding would certainly make the plasterboard route more appealing, as then I wouldn't need to worry about getting a perfect finish to the new ceiling, as the cladding would hide a lot of my DIY incompetence.

 

Hi,

Just to add on to what @JWK has said, you can just fit the plasterboard and after filling the screw holes and joints, then paper it with thick lining paper for a very smooth finish or an embossed vinyl type etc for a nice effect etc, if thats you kind of finish.
Use Tapered Edge board to get the smoothest effect after joint filling with scrim tape

Can you get into the loft over the bathroom ? if so use a fine drill and make a hole either side of the joists so you can see their location from within the bathroom.

Depending on the thickness / peaks of the Artex ? you might find fitting battens a bit difficult to produce a level surface.
A couple of ways around that, making a hole in the Artex and fitting spacers direct to the joist or just try a blade under the Artexx, sometimes the whole lot will come away quiet easily.
Do wear protective clothing and a face mask as its nasty stuff to breath in.

The battens do not have to be that light, the wider they are the easier it is to fit your plaster board.
Unless there are two + of you, then get some lengths of timber, ceiling height to make up one or two props to hold up the other end of the plaster board.

 

Not used that cladding, but as you can see, it can be applied direct to battens, so you can still get the depth you needs and no need for a plasterboard surface.

Depends if that look will go with the rest of your decor ?

You can also see that if your bathroom is not too big you can easily fit level batten/mini joists by fitting wall plate timbers, as this vid shows, so saving any work on the existing ceiling.

 

Use a vapour barrrier behind the plasterboard (or sheets with an integral barrier) to reduce the risk of condensation in the new void you'll be creating.

I've seen Artexed ceilings overboarded without using any new timber supports, by using countersunk galvanised wood screws to fix through the existing plasterboard into the existing timber ceiling joists and noggings above, using 12.7mm thick boards and tightening the screws to adjust the level of the new ceiling finish and get abutting edges flush. Cut a channel out of the existing wall plaster around the perimeter to accept edges of the new boarding and work in from the perimeter towards a middle joist.

 

The minimum plenum depth would probably exceed 3". It all depends on the chosen design, but whilst a suspended ceiling fixer may manage 4", a DIYer may require 6".