DIY stretch ceiling installation

Recommendation points

• Markup
• Training
• Profile installation
• Installation of lamps
• Installation of platforms for pendant lamps and chandeliers
• Web tension

The article provides step-by-step instructions for the preparation and installation of a stretch ceiling. You will learn how to correctly mark the room and install the profile, warm up and mount the ceiling sheet. The article will tell you what the preparatory work is and how to install the lamps..

In order to install a stretch ceiling with your own hands, you will need a tool:

1. Control and measuring: tape measure, square.
2. Marking: marker, paint cord, level (preferably laser).
3. Manual: plastic spatula, knife.
4. Power tools – impact drill, screwdriver.
5. Special: heat gun.

Installation of any ceiling – work at height. Provide in advance a way of convenient access to the work surface – trestles, scaffolds, stairs.

There are several mounting options for the canvas – cold, hot and heated at the end. In our case, the selected material provides for heating installation (hot installation). Ceilings are mounted in several rooms at once, which allows you to consider various options for surface preparation.

Markup

The ceiling level must be determined in advance according to the project. The horizon must be marked at the level of the front surface of the canvas. The perimeter mounting profile will run along this line..

Training

The walls must be even and reliable – the flexible profile will repeat irregularities, depressions, defects. If the ceiling is wooden, and the floor above it is residential, you should stuff a membrane, fiberglass or polyethylene on the rough boards. Unused ceilings need not be insulated.

Profile installation

The profile is installed in the usual way – on self-tapping screws or dowels according to the marking. Before installing the profile, all work on the preparation of the walls and their strengthening at the installation site must be completed.

It is better when the finish fits into the ceiling niche than when it is missing. It is highly undesirable to leave any work other than painting and wallpapering after installation – there is a risk of accidentally damaging the canvas. Tile seams must be rubbed.

How to work around corners with a profile

In order to avoid the formation of sharp edges of the profile when bypassing the inner and outer corners, it is better to do corner trimming as follows:

1. Using a hacksaw for metal, cut a bar that will adjoin the wall.
2. Bend the profile in the desired shape, press down and install the fasteners.
3. Thus, the corner will be even, smooth and safe for the canvas..

How to install intermediate profiles

Mating planes can also be covered with a canvas, but for this you need to mount a suspended (without attachment to the wall) independent base, on which a special mating profile will be installed.

The point of intersection of the planes is determined in advance and locally. Then, from the intersection points on opposite walls, you need to pull the cord and set the base on it.

The intermediate profile installed on the base must exactly match the level with the wall.

This way you can frame * rather complex multistage sections.

* The profile for fastening the stretch ceiling is sometimes called “baguette” and in this regard, from the masters you can hear the term “bind” – this means “tie”, “frame with a profile”, “set a profile”.

Installation of lamps

Lighting devices are selected in advance, and the mounting base is installed before stretching the canvas.

Attention! The heat output of the luminaires should not exceed the equivalent of a 40 watt incandescent lamp. The incandescent lamps themselves are prohibited (or highly discouraged) by the fabric manufacturers due to the risk of deformation of the stretched ceiling.

Choose standard LED fixtures. When installing built-in lighting devices, only one rule should be observed: the reverse (not front) plane of the decorative cover must coincide with the plane of the canvas.

The manufacturer recommends mounting the luminaires at 2 or 4 points, depending on the weight of the device.

Along the way, with the installation of lighting points, electrical networks are being installed.

Attention! All wires must be routed in corrugation.

All preparatory work is being completed – soundproofing of sewer pipes, sealing cracks with foam, sealing joints, etc..

Installation of platforms for pendant lamps and chandeliers

The platform for the chandelier and other attachments should be installed on 4 U-shaped hangers or pieces of mounting tape. Moreover, they should be located at an angle to it. The platform itself can be made of plywood, wood or chipboard.

The main requirement is that it must be located according to the plan and be exactly in the plane of the ceiling, or at the desired height with the hidden location of the working part of the device (alignment during installation).

Web tension

The canvas for “hot” mounting has the exact dimensions, taken in advance from the room and incorporated into the material during manufacture. The room in which the work is carried out should be warmed up in advance with a heat gun to +30 … 35 ° С, while drafts should be blocked.

Installation is carried out in three stages.

Stretching

The canvas is suspended by the corners on temporary attachments – “crocodiles” or just ropes.

This is necessary in order to warm it up in a hanging position – folded or lying on the floor, it warms up unevenly. After the suspension, the heat gun comes into play. The entire canvas should be heated evenly with hot air..

Attention! Do not overheat the web! It can deform completely. The ready-to-install canvas feels between warm and hot, but does not burn your hands.

The canvas, ready for fitting, looks like this:

Fitting

After a general warm-up, you can start to point stretching. To do this, any 2×2 m corner area is heated intensified.Then the canvas is inserted into the profile with a plastic spatula.

Opposite corners are pulled first. The areas before this also warm up intensively..

Then you should tuck the web into the profile with a uniform pitch of 200-300 mm.

Final refueling

Fill all remaining areas in profile.

Installation of small sections of inclined planes is carried out in the same sequence. The difference is that they don’t have to be heated as much as large ones – they stretch more easily..

The final look of the finished stretch ceilings:

The cost of a “hot” ceiling starts at 5 USD. eat² for the material and 7 USD eat² to work. At the same time, the price strongly depends on the complexity of the design and the manufacturer of the canvas (they are of different quality). “Cold-mounted” ceilings are much easier to work with – they do not need to be heated with a heat gun and it is quite possible for a home craftsman to install them alone.