The coffered ceiling is a time-tested classic that does not lose its popularity these days. Consider its features, materials used, and installation recommendations. You need to choose the right model based on your budget and taking into account the characteristics of the room in which the installation is planned. In particular, the temperature and humidity conditions in it should be taken into account.
Recommendations for the selection of coffered ceilings
Coffered ceilings are a specific design. The wrong choice of materials can completely ruin the design, make the room gloomy, and the interior - "oppressive".
To avoid such problems, it is necessary to skillfully combine elements, adhering to the following rules:
- When installing wooden caissons, choose the material to match the furniture and the floor to get a complete picture.
- Dark colored caissons can only be used in rooms with high ceilings, as they visually reduce the vault.
- To accentuate the walls, the coffered ceiling should be as light as possible, and ideally completely white.
- The larger the room, the smaller the cells should be. In compact rooms, caissons should be about 1 meter in size.
Please note that in addition to the finished slabs, a wide variety of decorative elements are produced: baguettes, rosettes, stucco moldings. They can be used to create interesting effects on the ceiling. Do not forget about the organization of lighting, which will organically complement the design.
Preparatory work for the installation of a coffered ceiling
The way the plates are installed depends primarily on the type of material. Wooden products are attached to the lathing of beams, plasterboard - to a metal frame, polyurethane and cardboard - to self-tapping screws or liquid nails.
Although the suspended structure hides small irregularities in the coating, you still need to prepare the base ceiling, for this:
- We clean the surface from the old finishing layer.
- Remove loose plaster.
- We get rid of rust stains, mold and mildew.
- We putty large cracks with a cement-based composition, having previously primed them to improve adhesion.
- We treat the walls with a deep penetration primer.
- If necessary, level the base ceiling with putty (for unevenness up to 5 cm) or plaster (for unevenness from 5 cm).
- We paste over the surface with wallpaper if you plan to install the support beams.
The color of the wallpaper and its texture must be thought out in advance. It is important that the background is not only combined with the beams, but also "echoed" with individual decorative elements in the interior. Plain wallpaper is usually chosen, but products with a mild texture are allowed. Otherwise, the ceiling will look "congested".
Features of the design of coffered ceilings and marking
All work begins with drawing up a drawing. The result completely depends on the correctness of the scheme and the applied markup, therefore at this stage you need to be extremely careful and check each step several times.
In the process, we adhere to the following instructions:
- We measure the height of the corners and the middle of the room, as well as the length of each edge of the intersection of the wall and ceiling.
- We display the obtained measurements in the drawing. Better to do it on a sheet in a three-dimensional plane.
- We draw a diagram of the location of each cell with a step of 0.8-1 m in such a way that a uniform and correct pattern appears. Please note that a large depression in the center of the room looks impressive, in which a chandelier and cells of the same type are fixed along the contour.
- Using a chopping paint cord, tape measure and a laser level, we apply a schematic grid to the ceiling, first marking points on opposite walls, and then connecting them together. At this stage, you need to be very careful and do a lanyard bounce only if you are completely sure in accordance with the line of the drawing. Otherwise, you can ruin the wallpaper, if any.
Please note that it is possible to finish the ceiling in this way only in rooms with a ceiling height of 2.5 meters, since the structure will take a segment of up to 20-25 cm. Otherwise, you can choose thin strips.
Installation of a wooden coffered ceiling from support beams
For such a finish, it is not necessary to choose expensive wood (oak, walnut). You can purchase a cheaper material and give it a showiness with stain and varnish. Please note that the moisture content of the tree should not exceed 12%.
Leave the tree in the room you plan to finish for a few days before installation. This is necessary to adapt the material to temperature and humidity. Also, the wood should be treated with antiseptic compounds to protect it from mold, fungus, rodents and insects.
Next, we work in this order:
- Using the markings applied to the ceiling, we nail the beams to the ceiling.
- We cut out a plank along the length of the ceiling and nail the planks equidistant from the ends of the edges.
- We attach the frame with nails to the ceiling covering.
- We make strips to mask the sides and close the frame from below with a board.
- We make box beams and attach them strictly perpendicular to the longitudinal strips, paying special attention to the corners and joints.
- We process the resulting gaps with thin profile strips.
Next, you need to decorate the resulting structure. It can be painted, pasted over with foil, supplemented with interesting stucco or wooden carved patterns, fixing them with wood glue or staples.
Rules for installing wooden caisson-slabs on the ceiling
Production models are produced in the form of ready-made slabs, which are fixed to the ceiling.
You need to work with them in this order:
- According to the markings, we attach the plates with the help of brackets, starting from the central part.
- In the resulting gaps between the individual elements, we mount decorative slats.
- We fix the ceiling plinths around the perimeter of the room. Please note that fillets can be used to hide the gap formed due to the unevenness of the corners and walls.
Factory slabs of a coffered ceiling made of wood can be completely blind and not have holes. In this case, preliminary wallpapering of the base surface is not needed, and the squares themselves are mounted on a wooden crate.
Technique for fixing coffered ceilings made of MDF
This material is lighter, it is fixed much easier than wood, but it has worse performance properties and serves much less.
Installation of coffered ceilings from MDF is carried out as follows:
- Using the markings, we install a crate made of thin strips. The wood for the frame must first be left for several days in the adaptation room and treated with antiseptic compounds.
- We attach the first piece in the center of the room for a uniform pattern. We fasten it with self-tapping screws, which we screw into the groove.
- We mount the rest of the elements using the thorn-groove system.
- We install the plinth around the perimeter of the room.
If desired, such plates can be painted with an acrylic compound or decorated in other ways.
Rules for fixing a plasterboard coffered ceiling
The installation of caissons from this material is similar to the installation of false ceilings. You will need ceiling profiles (CD), guides (UD) and partitions (UW / CW), as well as hangers, crab connectors and self-tapping screws of various sizes.
The work is carried out according to the following plan:
- We measure and apply an additional marking line on the walls around the perimeter of the room. This is the level of placement of the first and second tiers of the structure.
- We mark the places of fixing the suspensions at an equidistant distance from the jumpers.
- We mount the guide profile along the line on the wall.
- We fix the suspensions in the marked places
- We fix the longitudinal ceiling profile on the hangers according to the markings.
- We fix the jumpers using "crabs" for the connection. The frame should occupy the entire perimeter of the ceiling.
- In the places where the caissons are installed, we attach the UW-profile to the covering along the length of the room.
- Cut the jumpers from the UW profile and attach them perpendicular to the already installed elements.
- In each formed rectangle, set the CW profile segments in a strictly vertical position. The length of the segments will correspond to the depth of the niche. There should be three pieces on each edge of the shape (two at the edges, one in the middle). If the cell is less than a meter in size, then you can limit yourself to two racks.
- We connect the ends of the vertical segments with a UW profile.
- At this stage, we carry out the installation of the wiring by placing it in a plastic corrugated sleeve and attaching it to the base ceiling.
- We sheathe the resulting protrusions with plasterboard using self-tapping screws. The fastener caps must be buried in the base.
- Cut out parts from drywall sheets with an area equal to the internal dimensions of the cells.
- We attach each element inside the resulting box.
- We glue the joints with a reinforcing tape and apply a putty layer. At the same stage, we putty the places of the recesses from the fasteners.
- We strengthen the coating by pasting it with fiberglass.
- Apply the finishing putty in the thinnest possible layer and wait for it to dry completely.
- We rub the roughness with fine-grained paper and remove the dust.
- We prime the coating with an acrylic compound to level and improve adhesion to the further finishing layer.
After the primer impregnation has dried, you can proceed to further finishing the coffered plasterboard ceilings: painting, fixing the stucco molding, wallpapering or another method of your choice. It is recommended to use baguettes inside niches for decorating corners and joints. They are installed after finishing cladding.
Fixing technique for polyurethane coffered ceilings
This material is characterized by relatively high performance characteristics. It is durable, fire resistant, moisture resistant and lightweight. Polyurethane caissons are expensive, but their installation is very simple, and you can even do the work yourself. To do this, it is enough to glue the squares onto liquid nails. The work must be done carefully so that the adhesive does not stain the wallpaper. There is no need to carry out further finishing of the caissons, since these models are made in different shapes and shades, and therefore, among the variety on the market, you will definitely find a suitable option.
Instructions for the manufacture and installation of a cardboard coffered ceiling
For the manufacture of caissons, construction cardboard is used. This method of installing a coffered ceiling with your own hands will cost less, but such a structure will not last long.
Peculiar beams are made in this order:
- On a piece of construction cardboard, we draw a diagram of an expanded beam in the form of a box, not forgetting to leave space for gluing.
- For convenience, we immediately cut out the template and, tracing it, cut the required number of blanks.
- We bend along the lines and glue the scan with joiner's glue.
- After the model has solidified, we attach it with mounting glue according to the applied markings.
- We glue the gaps and joints with pieces of cardboard.
- After the structure has hardened, we finish each beam with a self-adhesive film.
How to make a coffered ceiling - watch the video:
Nowadays, not only newfangled techniques are used to decorate ceilings. The use of old techniques in combination with modern and traditional materials is surprising with the result. Our recommendations will help you choose the best material and method of fixing coffered ceilings, as well as cope with all the installation work with your own hands.
