Is it Better to Do a Drop Ceiling in the Basement or Sheetrock?

Dropped Ceiling

• Dropped ceilings offer homeowners some important advantages over Sheetrock ceilings. Dropped ceilings provide a simple way to access the area hidden by the panels so you can reach wires or pipes running above the ceiling, for repairs or maintenance. The drop-ceiling panels push up off the grid easily. The average homeowner can install dropped ceilings with only a few simple hand tools as opposed to the more complex installation of drywall.

Ceiling Height

• Most codes require that a finished basement provide a certain amount of headroom, often about 7 1/2 feet. Since basement walls are usually constructed to a height of 8 feet, headroom is a key consideration when choosing a ceiling system. Dropped ceilings take up more space than Sheetrock ceilings take up, as dropped ceilings need 3 to 4 inches of room between the bottom of the floor joist and the ceiling tile.

Appearance

• Some homeowners in the past have not found dropped ceilings as appealing as drywall ceilings due to the differences in appearance. Drop-ceiling systems usually had cheap-looking panels that did not fit in well with the rest of the home. Drywall ceilings, however, matched the drywall ceilings and walls of the home's other rooms. More recently, the advent of a wide variety of new styles of ceiling panels that have more stylish designs has closed the gap between the look of the two ceiling surface types.

Access Opening

• The major disadvantage of drywall is that it does not offer the dropped ceiling's flexibility when attempting to access wiring and plumbing for repairs. To reach a busted pipe you'll likely have to cut out a large section out of Sheetrock. One way to mitigate this problem is to create an access opening over key areas in the basement, such as directly underneath upper-floor bathrooms. You can cover the opening with an easily removable air grate.