How to Frame a Hanging Ceiling in a Basement

Mark a line on the wall all the way around the room, measuring 4 inches down from the floor joists or 6 inches down if also installing fluorescent lighting panels.

Mark each of the wall studs around the room; make the mark on the 4-inch or 6-inch line you made as a guide for the perimeter molding. To determine the location of the studs, use an electronic stud finder or tap on the wall and listen for the difference in sound that indicates a stud is behind the wall.

Screw the perimeter molding in the wall studs with the top of the molding lined up with the mark you made around the room. When installing molding in inside corners, push one piece of molding against the wall and butt the second piece against it; for outside corners, cut the two pieces of molding with tin snips at 45-degree angles so they line up evenly.

Measure the room parallel with the floor joists, and divide this by the panel length, then measure the room perpendicular to the floor joists and divide by the panel width. This will give you the number of panels and partial panels needed to cover the ceiling.

Stretch a chalk line across the ceiling to mark the floor joists where each of the metal runners will go. If the numbers did not divide evenly, split the difference to include a partial panel on each side of the room so the ceiling is symmetrical.

Screw eyelet screws along the chalk line in every third floor joist; the ceiling will hang from these eyelet screws to provide support throughout the room. Insert an 8- to 10-inch long, 16-gauge wire through each eyelet, and twist it to secure.

Stretch string lines across the room, running parallel with the floor joists, and check for level. Tether one end of a string to the perimeter molding, pull it taut and secure it to the perimeter molding at the opposite side of the room. Set a string line every 8 feet. These strings will provide a guide for leveling the runners, which will be perpendicular to the strings.

Insert the end of one runner into the guide in a perimeter molding, then raise the rest of the runner up so that it is level. At the location of each hanging wire in the runner's path, thread the wire through the nearest hole in the runner, and twist the wire several times to make it secure. When you reach the opposite side of the room, insert the other end of the runner into the guide in the perimeter molding. Remember to use the string lines as a guide to ensure the runners are level and straight.

If you need more than one strip of runner, connect two pieces with the lock and tabs at the ends, and add an eyelet and wire to support the joint where the two pieces meet. In order to use an eyelet screw, you must measure carefully and cut the two pieces so the joint lines up with a floor joist.

Hang the rest of the runners, working from one end of the room to the other. If the frame doesn't appear to be well supported, insert more eyelet screws into the floor joists and hang with more wire.

Insert the hooks of the cross tees into the slots of the runners, using the chalk lines as a guide for cross tee placement to complete the grid. If using 2-by-2-foot panels instead of 2-by-4-foot panels, you'll also need to insert connector runners in the slots of the cross tees to make a grid of squares instead of rectangles.