Remove a drop ceiling in kitchen bad or good idea?
Hope everyone is doing well. I’m renovating a kitchen and bedroom/bathroom above the kitchen. I’m removing 2 walls to open up the kitchen. I currently have an old drop ceiling in the kitchen. Contractors are suggesting I rip out drop ceiling, do all my renovations and drywall it increasing ceiling height. I have to add a new header and sister in some of the joists. I also have to add one flitch beam. On the side that I’m opening up to the kitchen it currently doesn’t have a drop ceiling and is about 8 feet in width. Do you think it’s possible to sister the joists and install a flitch beam without ripping out the drop ceiling? It’s very old but think I could take out sections and reinstall them. My thought is it’s better to have a drop ceiling so I can take my time with renovations. I’m also not crazy about closing off the ceiling and never being able to do work on it ie bathroom leak, plumbing failure. Drop ceilings are out of style correct? I was thinking of extending the drop ceiling once the kitchen is open and just extending with new panels. I think it would be easier then drywalling and I can continue using kitchen while coming back to finish other parts of project. Thoughts? Are drop ceiling just plain ugly? Don’t they have an assortment of modern panels? I could lift the drop ceiling higher if there’s more room I can’t see how low it is compared to everything else. Also skill wise is a drop ceiling going to be an easier diy and is expense much higher?
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You don't see drop ceilings all that often in residential settings, even though they are extremely common in the commercial world. If the grid is in good shape, you can just use quality ceiling tiles and it will look a lot better (I like the Armstrong "Second Look" tiles). The cheap tiles tend to sag in the center and lift the corners, giving the ceiling a run-down look. You can replace or even paint the old grid.
All that said, I'd probably rip out the drop ceiling and replace it. If there is anything up there you need to access, you can always add an access hatch. Usually there isn't a lot of need for access in residential settings, and you can always cut out a hole in the drywall, do your work, then patch the drywal: drywall is pretty easy to repair.
BTW, why flitch beams and plates? There are usually easier ways to do that, such as LVLs or a "real" steel beam. I've always thought flitch plates were a clever idea, but they're a bit of a pain in practice due to alignment and fastening issues.
Bill
Bill,
I haven't seen a flitch beam in a couple of decades. The differing modulus of elasticity of wood and steel means the plies don't act very efficiently together. They are also hard to construct properly, and require engineering.
Outside of a basement or maybe an enclosed porch ceiling, the only time you see drop ceilings in residential is older pre 1950 homes. Many of these were put up to hide cracked plaster and water damage, especially if there was a bathroom above the kitchen. Also, they were put up in victorian era homes with high 10-12 ft ceilings to supposedly reduce heating costs. Lowering it also was a way of "modernizing" the rooms look, which was in line with the lower 8ft ceilings homes were sporting by the mid century.
I think to most people seeing drop ceiling in a remodeled home in any room other than a basement would be like seeing fake wood paneling. They might put up with it in their office at work or in a store or retail setting but not their home. How low was the ceiling dropped? A lot of these were dropped to 8 ft which might feel odd to people especially if the rest of the ceilings in the house are 9- 10 ft or higher. I would buy an older home that wasn't remodeled with drop ceilings but wouldn't want one that was restored or remodeled to have them other than the basement. If you had to soffit or box around some ductwork or utilities, or move them, that would still be better than keeping the whole ceiling dropped.
The structural engineer called for a flitch beam in one area where the upstairs is being extended over a roof but used lvls in another section. Not sure the specific reason for using it.
You should ask why. There are usually alternatives to flitch plates that are easier to install.
Bill
What would be equivalent in strength besides steel alone to a flitch beam? It’s a 20 foot beam going across the ceiling to 2 outside walls. If there’s something easier to install that would be better. I watched some videos on putting together a flitch beam, you have to nail the wood into a steel beam.
It really depends on the situation, but deeper LVLs can do a lot. My kitchen renovation was designed with a 9 1/2" deep flitch beam with 3 LVLs and 2 plates.
Because I realized the beam was in plane with an exterior wall (on the 2nd floor level), I was able to swap it for two 16" LVLs. The bottom of the LVLs is flush with the rest of the ceiling, but the top 6 1/2" is buried into the wall above.
That's about the only reason -- more strength in a given depth beam. You basically put a flat steel plate between two pieces of lumber, the lumber then keeps the plate oriented similarly to how the flanges on an I beam keep the web oriented. The difficulty with the flitch plate is getting the two pieces of lumber secured through the plate inside that isn't visible. You end up with alignment issues that sound easy to deal with but end up being a PITA in the field.
My preference would be an LVL if that will work in the space you have available, otherwise either an I beam or C channel (C channel is easy to sister to a wood beam), or a rectangular steel tube if the beam has to be exposed. If you do go with steel, I recommend you have the steel supplier drill any/all holes you need so that you don't have to drill the steel in the field. Drilling structural steel in the field with a hand drill is NOT FUN.
Bill
Bill,
I've got two intentionally exposed I-beams on my main floor.
I have a family cabin where we have some exposed steel and I used a rectangular tube for a cleaner look. The reason for steel in my case was to get more stiffness in a reduced depth, since we were working with a low ceiling. We painted ours white.
BTW, your shelves look like they need something to provide racking resistance. I'd normally suggest a shear panel, but let in bracing would probably work better on a book shelf (hehe) :-D There is an illusion of it leaning in that pic that jumped out at me.
Bill
Economists talk about the "endowment effect," which is a observation that people tend to value items that they own more than similar items they don't own, simply because they own them.
So maybe, rather than thinking about the question of whether a drop ceiling is worth keeping, it would be more instructive to rephrase the question to one of whether a drop ceiling is worth having. If you didn't have it, would you add it?