It's back to work I go!

Well I decided I'd put it off long enough. I have no excuse not to finish the basement ceiling anymore. I did the walls last spring and had Adam come in and do the spackle work. I took the summer to work on retaining walls, the fall to go hunting and the winter to...well, do nothing. So this yesterday I got out the tape measure and took careful measurements of the basement, got some graph paper and made a scale drawing of the basement, went on line and looked up information about bout suspended ceiling layout and installation, and then made all the calculations I thought I needed to go out and price the job. So, this morning after our bird walk, Terry and I drove up to the Lowes store in Horseheads to see what they had in stock.

They had Armstrong 2' x 4' ceiling tiles in a simple, almost generic pattern that would fit our pocketbook. And they had several systems to suspend those tiles from the ceiling. We were pondering the choice for the job and scratching our heads in befuddlement when a young man came over to check some stuff out in the area. he works for ACP, the manufacturer of Hi-Grid suspension system. We got to talking and he spent nearly 20 minutes discussing not just his company's product, its advantages, and how to use it, but also suspended ceilings in general. It was like having a private session with a specialist on This Old House.

When we parted ways, I not only felt more confident that I knew how to do the job, but also knew what I had to do to calculate the materials needed and what tools I should have on hand.

I'll be going back tomorrow to get the stuff I need.