Replacing Old Ceiling Tiles

Before you work on a ceiling that old contact your regional epa office state environmental office or local health department for advice on testing and handling.

Replacing old ceiling tiles.

Use a pair of pliers to pull the old staples from the furring strips. In doing so i remove and replace old water damaged ceiling tiles and paint the. We simply removed all tiles in that corner to install replacement tiles. For a quick update pop old tiles out of the ceiling grid and replace with fresh ones.

Sagging ceiling tiles is a very common problem observed in old houses. Surface mount ceiling tiles are easy to install. Unlike drop ceiling acoustic tiles that fit into a suspended frame most interlocking tiles are mounted on the ceiling with nails staples adhesive or a combination of the three. The replacement tiles have two sides with an extended lip for stapling to the framework as well as a recessed groove for the lip of the tile next to it see first photo below.

Fortunately our damaged ceiling tiles were in a corner of the basement used as a laundry room. Some ceiling tiles manufactured prior to mid 1970 contain asbestos. It is a tiring job and requires expertise. First remove the old crown molding then use a pry bar or claw hammer to pull the old tiles loose image 2.

This basically meant we removed all the middle tiles and left all four corners and three of the side walls. Then we snapped on the grid covers which came in two sizes 2 and 4 pieces. Upgrading a drop ceiling. Here is a post explaining a do it yourself method to fix this problem.

Begin removing the tiles. The grid for this system is much easier that the drop ceiling grid and the tiles attach directly to the grid. Make sure the strips are left smooth. First we removed all the old tiles that were exactly 2 2 in size meaning no cuts required.

This is another project that can be done by one person and in most cases the tiles that go into place can be easily cut to size using scissors. This goes faster with two people or more working on ladders from various points of the room. If your grid holds 24 x 48 tiles try a scored product that s designed to look like 24 x 24 panels. How to update your drop ceiling.