Installation of slatted ceilings

Recommendation points

• Description of the design and types of ceilings
• Scope and features of rack ceilings
• Assembling the support system
• Installation of aluminum panels

Although slatted ceilings have not received widespread distribution due to their high cost, they remain one of the most interesting design solutions in the interior. The procedure for their installation is extremely simple, he will tell you about the features of the assembly and installation of such ceilings .

Description of the design and types of ceilings

The slatted ceiling has a jalousie form factor: parallel lamellas with spaces between them. The material of the slats is aluminum with an anodized or enamel coating, which is not subject to intense corrosion, is lightweight, highly fire-resistant and has excellent aesthetic qualities.

The fixing of the main elements of the ceiling is carried out on a special mounting profile, called a stringer. On its edges there are grooves of a special shape, with the help of which the edges of the aluminum rails are fixed. The profile itself can be attached to the ceiling in any of the ways available for hard-surfaced suspension systems. Direct and adjustable hangers are suitable, and with a minimum understatement of the ceiling – also rigid pads made of scraps of building materials.

Rack ceilings are of two types. The first and most common are straight slats that form a flat plane. The second type is represented by a set of curved slats, which, after assembly, form a relief surface, and the configuration and shape can be completely different. The embossed ceiling mounting kit is more expensive and, moreover, has more weight, but in the design aspect, such a solution can be very popular.

Decorative and protective coating of slatted ceilings is anodized paint or powder enamel. The choice of color is practically unlimited, in the palette you can find both pastel and rich colors with a matte or glossy surface, as well as mirror coatings.

Scope and features of rack ceilings

Before making a choice in favor of a slatted ceiling, you need to understand how appropriate it will be within the interior style and technical features of the room. The main feature of the slatted ceiling is that it does not interfere with gas exchange and heat exchange in any way, and therefore the finishing plane cannot be considered as a heat-insulating screen, even formally, as in the case of plastic clapboard and gypsum board, more details about which the site rmnt.ru has already told repeatedly.

Since warm and humid air will freely penetrate beyond the surface of the finishing finish, care should be taken to ensure that the formation of condensation on the surface of the floor or inside it is either excluded altogether, or is unable to harm the building structures. Depending on the type of overlap, there may be several solutions to this problem:

• It is best to cover concrete floors with a layer of waterproofing coating, having previously impregnated with a primer. This eliminates the shedding of small fragments, and the appearance of water droplets will not pose any threat..
• Frame floors between floors or under the attic are best hemmed with sheet materials. This will eliminate the removal of filler particles into the habitable environment and improve noise insulation properties. Depending on the material of the rough cladding and the type of filler, the ceiling should be lined from below with a vapor barrier with an appropriate throughput.
• Insulated attic ceilings are prepared according to the same principle as interfloor ones, only instead of a vapor barrier membrane, a barrier is mounted in the form of a dense film or foil.

Preparation of a rough ceiling always begins with the removal of crumbling or fragile remnants of building materials and old finishes. A slatted ceiling is not able to withstand significant additional load, and constant dust shedding can be a serious problem. The installation should be started at the stage when the walls are finished, while their coating should rise 20-30 mm above the ceiling plane for correct adjoining of the edging profile.

Assembling the support system

Before starting the installation, it is necessary to determine the zero mark of the ceiling. Using a hydrostatic level or a laser axis-plotter, markings should be made and strokes should be applied to all walls of the room, which are in a single horizontal plane. The marking position must be higher than the desired plane of the finished ceiling by the width of the U-shaped profile.

The height of the ceiling installation is selected individually, which is considered one of the advantages of the rack system. However, a number of nuances must be taken into account, the first of which is the need to install built-in lighting devices that require a certain cavity height, which, depending on the power and model, can be from 45 to 120 mm. Light fixtures impose a limitation on the width of the rail: the mounting hole must be located entirely within one panel.

Please note: since the ceiling material has current conductivity, when choosing lighting devices, protective measures should be provided: RCD on the 220V lighting line or switching to low voltage by installing a transformer and appropriate lamps.

Another nuance is the location of the ventilation duct. It makes sense to move the air vent higher so that it is in the hidden cavity of the ceiling, thereby eliminating the need to install a ventilation grill. However, this can only be done in cases where the rack ceiling does not have spacer inserts and the air volumes above and below the finishing plane freely communicate.

Fastening the edging along the contour of the ceiling is most conveniently carried out after preliminary fixation on double-sided tape. Sticky strips of adhesive tape 40-50 mm long must be glued every 30-35 cm and the main mechanical fasteners should be placed in the same places. After fixing, the U-profile shelves can be used as a base for adjusting hangers and aligning stringers in a common plane.

Installation of the mounting profile must be carried out from one wall so that the location of the grooves coincides along the entire length of the rails. If you can see from the position of the grooves that at the end you will need to trim the slats with a width of less than 40 mm, it is better to slightly displace the stringers so that the extensions are installed both at the end and at the beginning of the ceiling. If the length of the mounting profiles is not enough, they can be spliced ​​with each other with an overlap by attaching an extension from the side with the alignment of the grooves and twisting a pair of short self-tapping screws into the adjacent side walls. It is advisable that when splicing stringers at the overlap, at least 3-4 installation grooves are aligned.

Installation of aluminum panels

Before the final assembly of the ceiling, it is necessary to calculate in which slats the lighting fixtures will be installed in order to pre-cut holes for them. The metal in the panels is thin and there are certain difficulties so that the cut line turns out to be even and without creases. The best option is to cut a hole with metal scissors, moving in a spiral. In the center, you can pre-make a hole with a smaller diameter using a crown, but it is better to finish the cut along the edge by hand..

Side trimming of panels is usually not required. Although the length of all battens in the set is the same, the curvature of the walls is compensated for by the gaps hidden within the edging profile. If the unevenness of the ceiling is not covered by tolerances, it is better to order all the slats to the largest size, and then trim them before installation with metal scissors. The length of the batten should be 7–10 mm less than the actual distance between the walls for easy insertion and fixation on the stringer. For the outermost panels, it is recommended to make the maximum tolerance: maximum possible length minus the depth of the edging profile.

During installation, the rail is wound on one side until it stops, bends slightly or turns diagonally so that the second edge can be wound. When the panel has “found” its place, it needs to be lightly pressed against each stringer until it clicks. The installation of a ready-made set of rails is extremely quick: first, all the main rails are attached, then the spacers, which are best cut with a large tolerance to facilitate installation. The fastening of the spacer strips is not carried out in the groove of the stringer, they simply snap into place between the main strips, held by the elastic properties of the metal and the special shape of the profile.