Plywood ceiling, types of material, its advantages and disadvantages, stage-by-stage construction installation technology. Plywood ceiling is a type of suspended structure. It's lightweight, durable, and looks great when carefully assembled. The affordability of the material for making a suspended ceiling made of plywood is often a decisive factor when choosing a method for finishing a floor.
Types and brands of plywood for the ceiling
Before making a ceiling out of plywood, you need to know a thing or two about it. In this case, it will be easier to choose the material and come up with an interesting design for the ceiling.
Plywood is a wood laminated product consisting of thin veneer sheets that are glued together in such a way that the direction of their fibers coincides in symmetrical layers of plates. Veneer is obtained by pressing wood chips.
In the production of plywood, its inner layer is first formed, the composition of which may include several types of wood. Moreover, the fibers of the upper layer are located in the perpendicular direction with respect to the previous one. This greatly increases the strength of the product.
The thinnest plywood consists of three layers of veneer, but there are also multilayer sheets that form the thickness of the material. The larger its value, the stronger the sheet and the higher its price.
Plywood differs in the types of wood used in its production, in the brand of the product, moisture resistance, appearance and processing method.
Construction plywood, which is used for finishing ceilings, is of an elite grade, from the first to the fourth grade. Its top layers are usually made of maple, birch or alder wood, and the core includes conifers. Elite plywood can be made of beech, it has a corresponding cost.
For the installation of a plywood ceiling in the country, the third and even fourth grade of plywood is quite suitable, which in this case may be unpolished and indicated by the NSh marking. This finishing option will save money.
If the ceiling is finished in the living room or hallway of the house, it is better to buy sanded plywood from the outside - Ш1. The back side of its sheets is hidden when facing the ceiling, so the use of plywood with double-sided grinding is not economically feasible. The thickness of the plywood is selected depending on the configuration of the ceiling. Its thin sheets bend more easily. This property makes it possible to sheathe not only a flat surface, but also ceiling structures in the form of arches.
Many types of plywood are characterized by a certain degree of moisture resistance, which is important when choosing a material for finishing the ceiling of an unheated house. Film faced plywood is the most resistant to moisture. The outer layer of this material often imitates the structure of wood and is colorless, transparent or opaque. When the cut is made in the form of a cross, it should not peel off from a sheet of high-quality plywood. Depending on the water resistance, plywood has the brands FSF, FB, FOF and FK. They differ in the composition for gluing veneer and the materials of the outer layers. For cladding ceilings, waterproof plywood FC is used, the layers of which are glued together using urea-formaldehyde resin.
The sizes of plywood sheets are very different, but the most common are 2, 44x1, 22 m and 1, 525x0, 725 m. For finishing the ceiling, their thickness of 4-5 mm is enough. Finishing of veneer plywood sheets can be done with non-impregnated paper. In such cases, their surface can be varnished.
The decorative surface of plywood is often made of laminated plastic, which is asbestos paper impregnated with special compounds. Plywood of this type is very durable and quite resistant to chemical and thermal influences. It is often used for cladding kitchen and bathroom ceilings.
Advantages and disadvantages of plywood for the ceiling
Like any building material, plywood has its own advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of the material are:
- High rates of heat and sound insulation, comparable to those of wood;
- Mechanical strength due to the multi-layer construction of products;
- Water resistance, depending on the material and the degree of impregnation;
- Attractive appearance due to the texture of a natural surface or imitation of the structure of wood of any type of wood using laminated coverings;
- Low weight, allowing you to make a do-it-yourself plywood ceiling;
- Smooth surface offering a wide range of finishing options.
Environmental safety of plywood depends on the quality and quantity of polymer compounds that are used when gluing veneer layers. For example, natural albumin casein glue does not reduce the performance of the material, but it also does not improve its existing characteristics. Plywood sheets with its impregnation do not have sufficient moisture resistance.
Impregnation of plywood with bakelite glue gives it high strength, moisture resistance and chemical resistance while maintaining flexibility. However, it is already difficult to call such plywood environmentally friendly.
The disadvantages of plywood are low fire safety and its relative fragility.
Do-it-yourself plywood ceiling installation features
After the selection and delivery of the material, you can start finishing the ceiling with plywood. To do this, you need to align it and draw up a diagram of the location of the battens and plywood sheets on the floor surface. Ceiling work will require a building level, a tape measure and a pencil, a screwdriver, a puncher and metal scissors, plywood sheets and lathing bars.
Installing plywood ceiling battens
This work should begin by determining the middle of the ceiling. Then, using a long strip or ruler, mark the lathing taking into account the fastening of the edges of two plywood sheets on one bar. In addition, it must take into account the location of whole sheets in the central part of the ceiling, and cut ones - along its edges. As a result, the entire structure should look like rows of a bar with a distance between them no more than 50-60 cm. This is quite enough to avoid sagging of the sheets when they are fixed on the crate. For its installation, you need to use glued laminated timber 20x40 mm.
The fastening of the battens on wooden ceilings is done with nails, and on concrete ceilings - with dowels and self-tapping screws, for which it is necessary to prepare holes in the ceiling with a puncher in advance. The horizontality of the crate elements must be constantly monitored by the building level. Vertical drops of slight unevenness in the ceiling can be compensated by placing pieces of plywood under the block when it is attached to the base.
Fastening plywood to the ceiling battens
After making the lathing, you can proceed to the next stage of installing the plywood ceiling - fastening the sheets to the frame. This work is not difficult, but in order to obtain a beautiful and even surface, it requires accuracy and patience.
The order of installing sheets:
- Lift a sheet of plywood and attach it to the ceiling batten.
- Set the edge of the sheet to the middle of the timber in its longitudinal position.
- Align the position of the sheet relative to other elements of the batten.
- Fasten the plywood sheet with screws with a pitch of 200 mm.
- Install the next complete plywood sheet following the same procedure.
- Cut to the desired size those sheets that do not fit as a whole at the edges of the ceiling, and fix them in the same way.
- The joints between the plywood ceiling and the walls can be closed with ceiling moldings by placing them on glue.
When attaching plywood sheets to the crate, it is recommended to screw in the screws at a distance of 1-1.5 cm from the edge in order to avoid splitting it. A deformation gap of 2-3 mm is required between the sheets and at their joints with the walls, which ensures the safe expansion of the material with fluctuations in humidity and temperature in the room. For example, during the change of seasons.
Plywood ceiling seams
Gaps of 2-3 mm, which are left between the sheets, can be masked with thin strips, and then the entire surface can be painted or varnished. This is possible if such a ceiling will fit into the interior of the room.
Another option is to putty the seams with wood compound and cover the entire ceiling with a decorative outer layer such as wallpaper or tiles.
Before puttying, the seams are primed, and after filling them with the composition, they are leveled, removing excess material. After the putty has dried, the joints are processed with a fine abrasive mesh and cleaned of dust.
Plywood ceiling decoration
When laminated plywood is used in the headliner, no additional finishing is required. Ordinary material can be transformed using simple methods. It is important to know that varnishing or painting plywood clogs its pores and prevents it from "breathing".
It is recommended to paint the ceiling made of plywood with water-based paint, as it has air permeability, does not have a pronounced odor and dries quickly. In this case, embossed, textured and other paints on the same basis are often used.
Before painting the plywood ceiling, it must be treated with a water-repellent compound, since the moisture resistance of the material is not too high, and the water-based paint is diluted in water, exposing the plywood to intense moisture during painting.
The paint is applied with a regular roller on a solid surface and with a brush in the corners of the ceiling and in the places of its abutments. Usually 1-2 coats of paint are sufficient to obtain a quality finish. It dries within 24 hours. Artistic painting can be performed over the painted surface, which makes the ceiling very effective.
Plywood ceiling varnishing is inherently the same as painting. Glossy and matt varnishes are used to process the ceiling material. It is not recommended to use stains, they can have an unpredictable effect.
In addition to painting, the plywood ceiling can be pasted over with wallpaper, if there is no need to preserve the natural texture of the material. Polymer panels can be glued to the surface - finished products with embossed patterns. Numerous photos of plywood ceilings with various types of their design can be seen on the websites of construction organizations.
How to make a plywood ceiling - watch the video:
The availability of material for the manufacture of a plywood ceiling, the simplicity of its installation and decoration makes it possible to create beautiful designs from natural materials with your own hands. The main thing in this business is adherence to the technology of work and their accurate execution. Good luck!
