I'm in the minority, but with basements that are not intended to be comfortable living spaces, I prefer no ceiling materials at all. Paint the whole thing black and forget the hassles and shallowness. Some feel that dust is a problem, but I never noticed it.
Dropping lights off of the joists tends to reflect the light downwards, making the black ceiling disappear into the abyss of the shadows. Sure, you can see it if you look at it, but nobody focuses on the ceiling when they're working on the layout.
I use tube shaped LED lighting. Some hard wired individually and others chained together based upon location.
Personally, I think this is a cool basement (please ignore the political theme of the pic)
- Douglas
Doughless I'm in the minority, but with basements that are not intended to be comfortable living spaces, I prefer no ceiling materials at all. Paint the whole thing black and forget the hassles and shallowness. Some feel that dust is a problem, but I never noticed it. Dropping lights off of the joists tends to reflect the light downwards, making the black ceiling disappear into the abyss of the shadows. Sure, you can see it if you look at it, but nobody focuses on the ceiling when they're working on the layout. I use tube shaped LED lighting. Some hard wired individually and others chained together based upon location.
I actually like the black "space" above the lights with the open joists, but in my situation it is a non starter for two reasons.
The construction professional in me is not comfortable painting wires, junction boxes, heating and plumbing pipes (we have hot water baseboard heat), dryer vent lines, etc.
And, my house was built in 1964, the sub flooring is diagonal planks, not plywood. So some level of dust is more of an issue.
Sheldon
Doughless I'm in the minority, but with basements that are not intended to be comfortable living spaces, I prefer no ceiling materials at all. Paint the whole thing black and forget the hassles and shallowness. Some feel that dust is a problem, but I never noticed it. Dropping lights off of the joists tends to reflect the light downwards, making the black ceiling disappear into the abyss of the shadows. Sure, you can see it if you look at it, but nobody focuses on the ceiling when they're working on the layout.
Where I mildly disagree with you is your statement that basements are not intended to be comfortable living spaces. I get your point, and I am not at all sure why basements were created in the first place. However, when I think back to my grandparents home, the basement contained a large coal burning furnace and an attached basement room where coal was dumped through a large window.
Nowadays, a lot of new homes, especially higher end homes are built complete with lavish finished basements that rival the nicest first floor great rooms and family rooms.
Here in the Chicago area, basements are made of poured concrete and are almost always air conditioned and heated with duct work and vents coming off the furnace. Unfinished basements are always somewhat dark at the outset with hanging pull chain fixtures holding 60 watt incandescent lights every 12 to 20 feet or so. But, unfinished basements are dry, and they scream for layouts in the case of model railroaders.
Rich
Alton Junction
ATLANTIC CENTRAL I actually like the black "space" above the lights with the open joists, but in my situation it is a non starter for two reasons. The construction professional in me is not comfortable painting wires, junction boxes, heating and plumbing pipes (we have hot water baseboard heat), dryer vent lines, etc. And, my house was built in 1964, the sub flooring is diagonal planks, not plywood. So some level of dust is more of an issue.
I forgot to reply to Douglas on the issue of dust. "Some feel that dust is a problem, but I never noticed it". Really? On my layout, dust is my weathering. LOL.
Dust is unavoidable and it spreads all over the house and basement thanks to central heat and air circulation. I'll tell you what else finds its way onto the basement layout - - wood chips and shavings.
Say what? Yep, all those nails that were used to lay hardwood flooring on the first floor created tiny wood chips that fell onto the ductwork and conduit. Over time, in my case now going on 22 years, those wood chips make their way down to the layout.
Too late now to vacuum on top of the duct work and conduit, so I have just learned to live with it. Before I take any photos of my layout, I have to dust and vacuum.
richhotrain Doughless I'm in the minority, but with basements that are not intended to be comfortable living spaces, I prefer no ceiling materials at all. Paint the whole thing black and forget the hassles and shallowness. Some feel that dust is a problem, but I never noticed it. Dropping lights off of the joists tends to reflect the light downwards, making the black ceiling disappear into the abyss of the shadows. Sure, you can see it if you look at it, but nobody focuses on the ceiling when they're working on the layout. Douglas, I'm not sure that I totally agree with you, but my wife sure does. Before I added the recessed can fixtures, my wife all but begged me to paint (or spray paint) the joists and the underside of the first floor subflooring. Her two color preferences were black or white. I demurred. Where I mildly disagree with you is your statement that basements are not intended to be comfortable living spaces. I get your point, and I am not at all sure why basements were created in the first place. However, when I think back to my grandparents home, the basement contained a large coal burning furnace and an attached basement room where coal was dumped through a large window. Nowadays, a lot of new homes, especially higher end homes are built complete with lavish finished basements that rival the nicest first floor great rooms and family rooms. Here in the Chicago area, basements are made of poured concrete and are almost always air conditioned and heated with duct work and vents coming off the furnace. Unfinished basements are always somewhat dark at the outset with hanging pull chain fixtures holding 60 watt incandescent lights every 12 to 20 feet or so. But, unfinished basements are dry, and they scream for layouts in the case of model railroaders. Rich
Douglas, I'm not sure that I totally agree with you, but my wife sure does. Before I added the recessed can fixtures, my wife all but begged me to paint (or spray paint) the joists and the underside of the first floor subflooring. Her two color preferences were black or white. I demurred.
I meant in the basements where the homeowner is choosing to not make them living spaces. Not saying that all basements shouldn't be living spaces.
Having said that, that pic looks like a pretty comfortable place even with the unfinished ceiling.
Its a trade off. Personally, I don't like the look of the white squares and metal grids anyway.
But we're talking layout rooms and what makes the most sense for that is what matters.
richhotrain ATLANTIC CENTRAL I actually like the black "space" above the lights with the open joists, but in my situation it is a non starter for two reasons. The construction professional in me is not comfortable painting wires, junction boxes, heating and plumbing pipes (we have hot water baseboard heat), dryer vent lines, etc. And, my house was built in 1964, the sub flooring is diagonal planks, not plywood. So some level of dust is more of an issue. Sheldon, I see that we were replying to Douglas at the same time. Like you, I cannot bring myself to paint wires (conduit in my case), junction boxes, heating and plumbing pipes. I forgot to reply to Douglas on the issue of dust. "Some feel that dust is a problem, but I never noticed it". Really? On my layout, dust is my weathering. LOL. Dust is unavoidable and it spreads all over the house and basement thanks to central heat and air circulation. I'll tell you what else finds its way onto the basement layout - - wood chips and shavings. Say what? Yep, all those nails that were used to lay hardwood flooring on the first floor created tiny wood chips that fell onto the ductwork and conduit. Over time, in my case now going on 22 years, those wood chips make their way down to the layout. Too late now to vacuum on top of the duct work and conduit, so I have just learned to live with it. Before I take any photos of my layout, I have to dust and vacuum. Rich
Sheldon, I see that we were replying to Douglas at the same time. Like you, I cannot bring myself to paint wires (conduit in my case), junction boxes, heating and plumbing pipes.
I meant dust generated by the ceiling itself. I don't know if Sheldon was planning to rewire the ceiling when he hard wired in the lights, but when I did mine all of the wires and boxes were disconnected, hanging, with the circuits shut off. A good time to sweep, power wash, or vacuum if I was to actually paint mine.
Then wash the floor. Push it down the drain or sump pump if it not too chunky. IOW, prep work. Removing all of that initial dust keeps it from getting churned up. Concrete walls and floors create dust. Painting them keeps it down.
I can see where Sheldon's diagonal plank flooring might change the options.
Doughless Concrete walls and floors create dust. Painting them keeps it down.
Concrete walls and floors create dust. Painting them keeps it down.
Doughless Personally, I don't like the look of the white squares and metal grids anyway.
Personally, I don't like the look of the white squares and metal grids anyway.
An alternative option is to drywall the ceiling which looks a lot better. If wiring or conduit is in the way, install fir strips and lower the drywall ceiling an inch or two. If local codes require access to stuff above the drywall ceiling, blank plates can be added for access.
richhotrain Doughless Personally, I don't like the look of the white squares and metal grids anyway. I agree. Except for high end materials which can be quite expensive, a lot of drop ceilings with metal grids can have a somewhat dreary look. An alternative option is to drywall the ceiling which looks a lot better. If wiring or conduit is in the way, install fir strips and lower the drywall ceiling an inch or two. If local codes require access to stuff above the drywall ceiling, blank plates can be added for access. Rich
I agree. Except for high end materials which can be quite expensive, a lot of drop ceilings with metal grids can have a somewhat dreary look.
We drywalled our basement ceiling back in Indiana. It limits the access to the ceiling infrastructure. I'll never do that again.
Doughless We drywalled our basement ceiling back in Indiana. It limits the access to the ceiling infrastructure. I'll never do that again.
I have flourescent fixture style LED lighting hanging from the joist. I like that painted black look.
Our sub floor is also diagonal t&g boards, which, were used to form the basement, easy to tell from the concrete staining.
From Pinerest, not my basement.
Mike.
My You Tube
Since we don't have kids at home anymore, my layout is in what used to be a mainfloor bedroom.
Once or twice a year, all our kids and grandkids reunite here. So years ago, I put three bedrooms, a bathroom, and a storage room into the basement. That meant when I decided to take up the railroad hobby, the basement couldn't be used (said the house's boss).
Our building codes require basements to be insulated, so our basement walls have insulation covered with sheetrock. Since we put in egress windows in each of the rooms, the basement rooms no longer have that basement "feel".
If I didn't have that situation, I would not have finished the ceiling, and I would have a huge area for a layout. As it is, the storage room has so much junk in it that I couldn't squeeze an N scale caboose in there, let alone a layout.
I like the look of the ceiling painted black.
York1 John
Nobody said drop ceilings look good, they are just functional for maintenance.
My basement walls and floor are painted, and will likely get a fresh coat as layout work progresses around the room. Not that you will see much of the walls.......
John mentioned insulation and egress windows, all code here as well for new construction. Not required on existing properties unless you do some crazy total rebuild remodel.
My entire basement, all sides, is only about 1' out of the ground. It is cozy warm without any insulation, well it was about 68 degrees yesterday with an outside temperature of 25.
There is no direct heating or cooling, just a little heat from the boiler pipes. It stays in the high 60's all year round.
I guess my big thing now is to make up my mind about this lighting thing.
For those reading this who may not have seen these pictures in my other thread, a few shots of the basement, virtually all of which is the new layout space.
These pictures were taken right as we were moving in. I am currently remodeling a bathroom upstairs and replacing the plumbing in the basement (the house is a rancher, so all the plumbing is effectively in the basement) before I begin working on the layout.
Yesterday I completed a large section of the plumbing work, which also includes adding a laundry sink in the basement in what will be my shop area.
The big wooden workbenches came with house, mostly already gone.
ATLANTIC CENTRALJohn mentioned insulation and egress windows, all code here as well for new construction. Not required on existing properties unless you do some crazy total rebuild remodel.
I realize I'm getting pretty far off-topic here, and I've mentioned it before...
Two years ago the house behind me caught fire. Two young girls were sleeping in a basement bedroom, and had to get out.
They got out safely, but that scared me. We have all our grandkids sleeping in the basement when they're here. So we paid to have egress windows put into each of the bedrooms. Hopefully, they'll never be used.
But they do let in nice daytime light, making it seem a little less basement-y.
Sheldon, you are fortunate to have such a huge area for the layout.
York1 ATLANTIC CENTRAL John mentioned insulation and egress windows, all code here as well for new construction. Not required on existing properties unless you do some crazy total rebuild remodel. I realize I'm getting pretty far off-topic here, and I've mentioned it before... Two years ago the house behind me caught fire. Two young girls were sleeping in a basement bedroom, and had to get out. They got out safely, but that scared me. We have all our grandkids sleeping in the basement when they're here. So we paid to have egress windows put into each of the bedrooms. Hopefully, they'll never be used. But they do let in nice daytime light, making it seem a little less basement-y. Sheldon, you are fortunate to have such a huge area for the layout.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL John mentioned insulation and egress windows, all code here as well for new construction. Not required on existing properties unless you do some crazy total rebuild remodel.
Well, John, it's my thread, and unlike some others on this forum, I allow "conversations" in my threads, so no worries.
Yes, if people are going to sleep in basements, proper egress is a must have. I am a residential designer, my father was, and my son is a firefighter. I understand that well.
I don't know how much you have followed my posts, I surely don't think everybody cares about my business. The house we are in now is our retirement spot. Not too big, not too small, brick rancher on 2.3 acres. I get the whole basement, and a detached garage when I get around to building it.
Our previous house was a large 1901 Queen Anne style house that the wife and I completely restored 26 years ago.
At that property my train room was a 1000 sq foot space above a large detached garage/workshop.
While that was nice, the new space is about 1500 sq ft.
We had a plan, it took us a while to find the right house. We wanted less house, on more land, with one floor living since my wife has rheumatoid arthritis, and a train room equal to or larger than the previous one.
Moving, selling the other house, and taking care of some other personal business has taken longer than planned, but it is all coming together now.
As soon as I finish up this bathroom remodel, layout construction begins. We knew when we bought this house we would make a few small changes and that it would involve updating all the plumbing - not a big job for me - its what I do.
richhotrain I worry that it will look like a cave
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
richhotrain I worry that it will look like a cave And wots wrong with a cave!!!