Work on the construction of a stretch ceiling begins with the creation of its frame, which consists of profile elements located along the upper perimeter of the room. Today we will tell you how to install a profile for tensioning canvases yourself. In addition to the above-mentioned main types of profiles, their modifications are applied, designed for certain places of their installation, connection conditions and depending on the complexity of the ceiling design.
The existing dimensions of the profiles for the stretch ceiling allow them to be easily docked with each other and it is convenient to place fastening holes on them. When installing the ceiling frame, you need to take into account some of the nuances:
- Aluminum moldings are good when used on straight sections of walls, in other cases they have to be cut during fastening to be installed in problem areas.
- Plastic profiles are less durable, but lightweight and do an excellent job of curvature of walls, ensuring a snug fit.
It is important to know that the joining of individual baguettes in the corners of the room is unacceptable. They have a fairly large load when the web is tensioned, which can easily break at the junction of the corner profiles. Therefore, when installing baguettes in the inner corners of the room, only their back wall is notched, then at the place of the notch, the profile is bent at the desired angle, ensuring its tight fit to the installation site.
Preparing the room for the installation of a profile for stretch ceilings
In order to qualitatively assemble a stretch ceiling frame from profile elements, it is necessary to prepare a room for convenient and safe work, to equip the workplace with materials, equipment and tools.
It is recommended to finish finishing work in the room before starting the installation of profiles for stretch ceilings: install windows and doors, level and plaster the walls. For "later", you can leave the pasting of wallpaper, since when the ceiling is stretched with the help of a heat gun, they can deform when the air in the room is heated.
To prepare the room for the installation of the ceiling frame, it is necessary to arrange a free space at a distance of 1 m from the walls around the perimeter of the room for ease of movement along it during work, it is advisable to cover furniture and equipment in order to avoid getting debris and dust on them.
To ensure the safety of work when drilling walls to fix the profiles, you should pay attention to the location of the hidden electrical wiring. In this case, you can navigate by the placement of sockets, junction boxes and switches.
Most often, the wiring runs horizontally at the level of the boxes and then descends vertically to each power dispenser. On dangerous directions, you need to make marks that will later come in handy when planning the location of the frame.
Materials and tools for fastening a profile for a stretched fabric
When installing a profile for attaching a stretch ceiling, you will need a stepladder, a hammer, a screwdriver, a hacksaw, a hammer drill, a paint cord, dowels and self-tapping screws, a drill and a drill with a diameter of 6 mm.
In addition to tools, you will need plastic or aluminum profiles with a standard length of 2.5 m. Their number is selected depending on the perimeter of the room, taking into account a small margin that is necessary when cutting and joining frame elements. The profiles are prepared for installation by pre-drilling the mounting holes in them.
There are rules for this process:
- Holes in plastic baguettes are drilled in their stiffeners, and in aluminum profiles - in special shelves along their entire length.
- The hole pitch should be no more than 150 mm. It is not recommended to make a greater distance, since under load, the profile can bend in places between the fasteners.
- The distance between the first hole and the edge of the profile is assumed to be 40-60 mm.
Surface marking for fastening profiles for stretch ceilings
Before fixing a profile for a stretch ceiling, it is necessary to mark its future location. It can be done using a laser level or a hydraulic level.
Professional marking of the lines for fixing the profile frame of the stretch ceiling is carried out using an optical device - a laser level:
- With the help of his beam, identical marks are made in each corner of the room, lying in a strictly horizontal plane.
- The beam marks are fixed on the wall with a pencil, and then connected into a flat line of the planned location of the profiles.
- If all corners of the room are visible to the eye, marks with a laser level can be applied from one point of its installation. In other cases, the device is moved to a convenient place, and the marking continues with the binding of the level beam to the already existing points.
In the absence of such a device, you can use a hydraulic level - a hose filled with water and equipped with two glass tubes. In this case, the marking process will take longer, but the accuracy of its result will be quite high.
To work with the hydraulic level, you need to draw water at room temperature into the hose, preventing air bubbles from entering it. To avoid marking errors, the hose must not be kinked. The principle of operation of the hydraulic level is based on the property of water: maintaining the horizon of its surface in a calm state. Therefore, the same liquid levels in the glass tubes of the hose will correspond to the marking points located in the same horizontal plane.
In practice, this work looks like this:
- Two people are involved in the process. At a distance of 5-15 cm from the ceiling, an angular mark of the first marking point is made. A flask (tube) of a water level is applied to it.
- After that, one of the installers goes to an unmarked corner, substitutes a hose tube for it and, raising or lowering it, achieves the coincidence of the water level with the first mark.
- When the fluid in the hose stops vibrating, a second mark is made. In this case, the water levels in the tubes applied to both marks must be the same. This procedure must be repeated in all corners of the room.
- After applying the corner marks, their distances to the ceiling are measured. From the value of the smaller of them, you need to measure 50 mm. This will mark the height of the stretch ceiling. It should be transferred to all corners of the room, guided by the hydraulic level marks.
- After that, the marks are connected by lines. This is done with a paint cord. It stretches between the marked points and releases abruptly, leaving a trace in the form of a straight line.
- The procedure is repeated for all walls of the room.
The final marking for the installation of the stretch ceiling frame profiles is finished.
Profile mounting technology for fixing the tension web
The work on fixing the profiles to the walls is carried out in the following order:
- Correct installation of stretch ceiling profiles begins from the most inaccessible corner of the room. The prepared baguette is applied to the wall exactly along the marking line. Drilling points for plastic dowels are outlined through the profile holes.
- After preparing the holes and driving dowels into them, the profile is attached to the wall using self-tapping screws. Their length should correspond to 30 mm, with a diameter of 6 mm. Screws of this size will ensure a strong fastening of the baguettes and will not allow them to bend or come off the walls when the ceiling is pulled.
- After fixing the first corner profile, you can fix the next element. It fits exactly back to back with the previous molding with a careful horizontal fit. Successful joining of profiles for stretch ceilings should not have protrusions and deviations from the marking line.
- Having reached the inner corner, it is necessary to determine the location of the profile cut. To do this, turn it outward with the back wall so that the groove for fastening the canvas is at the bottom. Then one end of the profile must be abutted against the corner, and the other end must be directed along the marking line when overlapping on the fixed baguette.
- At a distance of 10 mm from the planned joint, a mark is placed with its shift towards the corner. The back wall of the profile is notched along it. Then it bends along the notch, repeating the inner corner of the wall, and is attached to it with dowels and screws.
- Having reached the outer corner of the room with the line of baguettes, one end of the profile must be resting against the end of the fixed baguette and a line must be drawn on its back wall along the corner of the room. This will be the first cut.
- Then, in the direction of attachment, you need to make the next mark, spaced 20 mm from the first line. This will be the second profile cut.
- Further, along both marks, cuts should be made on its back wall, and the baguette material between them should be removed. For a plastic profile, this operation can be performed with a construction knife, and for an aluminum profile, with pliers. Then the baguette needs to be bent at the corner in the center of the recess and secured.
After fixing the profiles, their joints should be sealed with tape. Instead, a gray utility tape purchased from a hardware store is often used.
Fastening a stretch ceiling profile to different surfaces
In addition to brick and concrete walls, rooms can have loose or porous enclosing structures made of foam concrete, limestone, wood or plasterboard cladding. The structure of the material of such walls makes it difficult to securely fix the dowels and screws. Therefore, the fastening of stretch ceiling profiles on these surfaces has its own nuances.
If the screws screwed into loose walls do not hold the profiles well, there are two ways out of this situation: you can screw additional screws into one hole of the fastener or use spacers. Often, one or two additional self-tapping screws are quite capable of solving the problem of reliable fixing of the profile. Otherwise, you need to install a jib.
The work is done like this:
- A baguette cut with a length of 150 mm is used. A hole must be drilled at one of its ends. Then the jib must be resting against the profile and ceiling.
- Through the hole in the baguette, make a mark on the ceiling and drill to install the dowel.
- After driving it, you need to take the spacer and, tightening it with a self-tapping screw, rest it against the baguette. The spacer and profile must be rigidly fastened, excluding any movement along the wall.
In the case of installation of a stretch ceiling profile on wooden partitions or walls, use long screws 51-110 mm in size. Such fasteners can help out well when placing wall blocks under a thick layer of plaster. Otherwise, the technology of fastening the profiles remains unchanged.
Walls are often leveled using drywall sheets. If at the same time the device of a stretch ceiling was provided, then fastening its frame to the walls made of gypsum plasterboard would not be difficult. Self-tapping screws fixing the baguettes are screwed into an additional 60x28 profile pre-installed under the drywall. In this case, they have a standard mounting pitch of 120-150 mm. When there is no profile, the baguette is fastened with a herringbone pattern to the gypsum board sheets with a screw-in step of 80-150 mm.
How to install a profile for a stretch ceiling - watch the video:
Applying the above recommendations, you will be able to qualitatively install the profiles of the stretch ceiling frame, which will certainly cope with the task assigned to them. Good luck with your work!
