Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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How To Install A Wood Plank Ceiling

When we decided we wanted to do a wood planked ceiling in our sunroom, I think I kind of just envision walking into Home Depot, strolling down the beadboard ceiling aisle, and loading up our cart. Piece of cake. Easy as pie. Insert third dessert related idiom here.

BeadMats 1 Bead Me Up

Well, turns out there are lots of options for achieving the beadboard look. Historically, beadboard was made up of individual tongue-and-groove planks – kinda like a hardwood floor. Except between each board is a little ridge or indentation, aka the “bead.” Just look at this assortment of choices…

Bead 2 Planking

There are also lots of panel options. You know, those full 4ft x 8ft sheets of the beadboard pattern? We considered this option first because it seemed to be the most affordable (often less than $1 per square foot), but ultimately decided against it. Partly because installing these huge panels on our high ceiling seemed somewhat daunting (although Rhoda’s tutorial with the rented drywall lift made it seem less so, but we’d need to rent a truck to get them home and also had to factor in the cost of renting a drywall lift, which might counteract the savings). Mainly we skipped them because using panels meant there would be seams where one sheet meets another one – and, although you can cover those up with trim, we decided that on our sloped ceiling it just wasn’t the look we were going for.

Bead 1 Wall Panels

The next option we considered most seriously were these vinyl planks. Vinyl is a tempting option in an outdoor space because it won’t rot or warp from exposure to moisture. I read some message boards where people complained that these looked “too plastic-y” but the deal killer for us was actually the price. These were about $1.79 per square foot, so they were nearly twice as expensive as the panels (which would essentially double our project cost right off the bat).

Bead 3 Vinyl

Knowing we wanted a more authentic plank look (versus a panel) and that we didn’t think the cost & look of vinyl were ideal for us, we eventually narrowed all of our choices to these: individual tongue-and-groove wood planks. Both Lowe’s and Home Depot sold similar options (neither of which are online unfortunately). The Lowe’s option came in under that $1 per square foot mark, so the price was right. And we were also excited to be getting a more traditional look – both without any fake seams and with some real wood grain in the mix. The final cost for 20 six-packs of 6″ tongue-and-groove planks worked out to be $297 (at $0.94 per square foot). Admittedly it was a bit more than we pictured ourselves spending on this part of the project (we originally guessed that we could come in under $250) but we ultimately just want a result that we’re happy with for the long haul.

  Bead 4 Final Selection

Unlike the large beadboard panels, we could fit these in our car and install them without buying any additional equipment like a scaffold or a drywall lift – but just like the other options, this choice also had its downsides. For one, installation would be more tedious since each board is only 6″ wide, meaning all 40 rows would need to be installed piece-by-piece. And wood is also susceptible to moisture issues (warping, rotting) if it’s not properly protected and maintained. Thankfully our entire sunroom’s exterior is wood, which has held up well for decades – so we had confidence that our new sunroom ceiling would stand the test of time if we prepped it properly. Which meant that before any planks could be installed, we needed to prime and paint both sides of them… one by one. Even though the backs won’t show we primed and painted them anyways so the whole board would be protected and sealed in.

  Bead 5 Painting First Try

Pictured above was my first painting station, which didn’t work out so hot because the plastic drop cloth kept sticking to the backside of the boards. So eventually I figured out a method that worked: drop cloths on the ground and some nylon rope tied between two trees. I could get 10-12 planks done at a time (getting two done with one swipe of the paint sprayer – spraying their backside and then flipping them right over to do the front). Update: Here’s an affiliate link to a paint sprayer that’s similar to ours on Amazon since ours isn’t available anymore). 

  Bead 6 Painting Second Try

This process alone took about four days worth of two hour sessions, since we had 120 boards to do – front and back, primer and paint. We only had room for about 45 of them in our makeshift drying station in the garage (that way they didn’t get rain / dirt / leaves on them while curing) so I primed and painted one group, then installed them, then primed and painted the next, and installed those. Factor all the various paint sprayer cleanings into that, and let’s just say it wasn’t my favorite project in the world. But I knew once we got them up on the ceiling it would all be worth it. At least that’s what I kept telling myself.

  Bead 7 Drying In Garage

The primer we used was good ol’ Kilz Premium and the paint was Benjamin Moore’s Regal Select Exterior in the low lustre finish (we just told the guys at the paint desk what we were doing and they said that would work well). The color was called “In Your Eyes.” It’s a nice, pure light blue. We didn’t want the color to be too bold (we worried it would reflect into the living room window and make the whole room blue if it was too dark) and we also didn’t want it to clash next the the brick exterior of our house. We also wanted to make sure it read as blue, and not gray or green in some lighting situations. If you’re looking for a blue porch ceiling, we’ve also rounded up the best haint blue paint colors!

  Bead 8 In Your Eyes

Now, before I get into the installation part of this project – a note about insulation. After a few commenters confirmed our instincts to re-insulate the ceiling to help keep some of the summer heat from getting through, we decided to go for it. The sun beats down on this roof all day, so even though the doorways have been opened up for some nice cross-breezes, apparently insulation can keep open rooms cooler by absorbing that constant sunlight shining down from above. So we mostly used the leftover insulation that was in the ceiling before (remember we removed it here?) despite how ugly it was. It was still relatively new and would do the job just fine – although we did have to buy one new roll to fill some gaps.

And then we learned we should NOT have insulated the roof in this case. Oops. We were able to remove it later (more on that in a moment) so please ignore the presence of insulation in these next few shots…

  Bead 9 Insulation Up

Installing the planks was giving me hardwood floor deja vu. From that process, I know that setting your first board straight against your wall is a crucial step to ensure your whole project isn’t crooked. So I cut a few spacers out of scrap wood to place along the front wall to keep my first row even.

  Bead 10 First Piece

We hung our planks in this direction (running parallel with the long wall) so that we could attach them directly to the joists (every 16 inches). That way they’ll be nice and sturdy (nailing them in at such close increments will hopefully keep them from sagging or warping down the line). That wall is about 20 feet long, so it took about 2.5 boards to complete each row.

  Bead 11 First Row Done

Also borrowing from our hardwood flooring experience, we wanted to stagger the breaks between boards from one row to the next. This makes things more secure since there’s not one area of weakness for each row that lines up, and also looks nice since the boards don’t all break at the same place. So if we started one row with a full board, we started the next row with a partial scrap so they weren’t ending on the same joist.

  Bead 12 Next Rows Started

Sherry helped me by doing a lot of the cutting while I did the nailing – and the other thing we did to make the seams less visible is to cut everything using a scarf joint. By cutting every end on matching 45° angles, the boards will overlap each other a bit and will be more likely to stay together and look more seamless in the long run.

  Bead 13 Cutting Scarf Joint

You can see it a bit closer here, as we’re installing one board next to another. You’ll notice we also cut everything so that all of our seams coincided with a ceiling joist. This meant we could nail both ends of a seam into the joist, further discouraging the ends from bowing away from the ceiling.

  Bead 14 Setting Scarf

All of that cutting was definitely a bit of a time suck, so it was nice to have an extra set of hands for some help with that. And luckily the rest of the install went pretty much like clock work. The tongues and grooves helped each board slide on the ceiling pretty nicely, though it sometimes took some light encouragement with a rubber mallet.

Bead 15 Tapping2

Follow that with a shot from the nail gun into each of the joists (with some wood glue along the joists before installing the plank) and we were in business. Update: Here’s an affiliate link to the nail gun we bought on Amazon. 

  Bead 15 Nailing

It took us a good 5 hours to get our first set of 45 boards hung (over the course of a few days), so it definitely was a slow-going project. And I’ll admit the idea of hoisting a few 4ft x 8ft panels up there was starting to sound pretty appealing. But at least the breakneckback speed meant that we were able to catch our little insulation error before it was too late (instead of having to remove the entire ceiling, we could pull everything out since the beadboard hadn’t progressed too far to block anything from our reach).

Bead 16 Removing Insulation

The issue we learned (first from a commenter, and then later confirmed by the framing expert who helped us remove the drop ceiling) is that insulation traps heat (duh) and needs airflow in order to sweat that heat out. Since our insulation would’ve been installed smack dab between the roof and the beadboard ceiling, there’d be no air flow. Not only could that mean built-up moisture that could threaten our beadboard, but the hot insulation could actually result in a roof that doesn’t even meet its expected lifetime due to all that trapped heat burning it up prematurely. So we’re very grateful to have learned the error of our ways so that we could correct it before it meant tearing out our new ceiling. And we figure with the cross breezes we get paired with the two fans that we’ll be installing, this little shady retreat from the deck will be nice and cool by comparison – even without the insulation.

Bead 17 Insulation Gone

After another round of priming and painting, we could get to work installing our second set of planks. At this point I pretty much had my rhythm down and I think it only took me four hours (big difference, I know – but this was without Sherry manning the saw so I was a lone ranger for this part). I probably could’ve chugged along a bit faster if I didn’t have curveballs like jigsawing around the two fan fixture boxes, but those weren’t too bad in the end.

Bead 18 Fan Fixture

When I had that batch up, it actually started to look like a ceiling.

Bead 19 Day 2 Done

My final day of ceiling installation went pretty quickly since I only had a small sliver of space to finish. The height was becoming a bit challenging and my neck and shoulders were basically numb from working above my head for so many days in a row, but I was somewhat excited for a new challenge: adding a row of vents across the top to help introduce a bit of air flow up there – which was also recommended by our framing guy during our remove-the-insulation conversation.

Bead 20 Vent

At last, all of the ceiling boards were in. I guess technically it’s not a “beadboard” ceiling since our planks don’t have the bead design engraved into them – they just lock together to create that look. We’re glad we went with a simpler 6″ plank because, given its size, we think a smaller bead detail might have looked a bit too busy up there.

Bead 21 After Close

Sadly our ceiling work is not quite done – but we’re in the home stretch. We just have to add trim around the edges, which will need to be caulked and painted. Plus, I want to go back and try to fill the many, many nail holes in the boards themselves before painting over the whole thing one last time for that protected-against-the-elements result (we figure one more coat over all the planks, now that they’re pieced together, will help keep moisture out of the seams).

Bead 22 After Far

Progress feels good. It’s almost like having the feeling in my arms again.

Sunroom Beforepic

Here’s what our to do list is looking like now:

  • Rip up the old carpeting (more on that here)
  • Remove the sliding doors and tracks to open things up (more on that here)
  • Convert outlets to outdoor-safe rain-proof ones with covers (more on that here)
  • Add fresh casing to the openings and caulk like crazy to waterproof everything (more on that here)
  • Demo the old ceiling in hopes of possibly lofting it (get a pro in here for advice) (more on that here)
  • Remove old beams, reinforce ceiling stability, and re-route electrical for two fans instead of one (more on that here)
  • Prime, paint, and install our beadboard ceiling
  • Add trim around the ceiling, caulk and paint that, and hang two ceiling fans
  • Repaint the columns & interior of the sunroom with white exterior paint (it’s currently cream)
  • Tile the floors (we bought something that’s outdoor safe and less slick than the glue-stained concrete here)
  • Get a rug, furniture, and maybe even add some outdoor curtains and lanterns/sconces?
  • Build an outdoor fireplace like this down the line

I think this puts us at more than halfway done, but we still have floor-tiling to check off before we’re really coasting towards the finish line. Did anyone else spend the last week priming and painting a whole lot of stuff? We also tackled Clara’s walls, ceiling, and closet, so it was quite possibly the most painting we’ve ever done in a week’s time. Plus Sherry conquered another area of blue trim, so we’ll be back with those details in a day or two.

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Comments

  1. Sarah says

    I kid you not, “In Your Eyes” is playing on my work radio as I was reading this!! I stopped reading at the reference, just to tell you this… okay, back to reading :)

    Reply

  3. romy says

    First I read the 2In you eyes” and I was automatically singing the song … then I drop down and oh no you didn’t! … John Cusack … it made me smile in a cold rainy and very, very, very grey day. Thanks!

    Reply

  4. Laurie says

    Love the new ceiling – the porch is going to be gorgeous! Can’t wait to see the new floor go in :)

    On another subject, with Christmas appearing on the horizon, I was wondering if you could update us on how you’re liking your Nest thermostat?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      So many people are asking for an update on that so we’ll have to do another post about it! In short: we LOVE it! Especially the monthly recaps where we learn how much we’re saving.

      xo
      s

  6. Lindsey says

    Wow, you guys! I love the option you ended up with – and that IS a lot of painting. I finished painting our guest bedroom…all that’s left is the ceiling…lol. Anyways, back to you, it’s going to look great once it’s done, and I’m looking forward to the next steps!

    Reply

  7. Lena says

    It is looking great! I really like the direction you guys have taken on removing the sunroom.

    I’m wondering about your vents though. I’m used to that when venting a roof area you have a cross flow of air. Ie one where it enters and one where it exits. For example the vents under the eaves draw in the air and then the ridge vents or those turbines exhaust the air. What did your framing guy say about just doing a single set of vents? Ie how will they work in the same sense, or is it for some other reason to have those?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Since there are a bunch of open channels up there, he said that one vent across all of those channels gave air a place to enter/exit/flow around in those 8″ of space between all of those joists (the key was just adding something so nothing got trapped and it all had a way to escape). He thought one continuous vent that spanned across the entire room was plenty since all of those channels could ventilate that way.

      xo
      s

  8. Crystal @ 29 Rue House says

    Wow guys! That definitely looked like a lot of hard work on your part…and all those painting sessions! In the past week I primed and painted our new built-in-by-us panty and yesterday I primed and sprayed a couple of nightstands in green. I think I have a bit of touchup to do tonight on the nightstands and on the wall around the built-in. It may take a while but eventually we’ll be done!

    Reply

  9. Emily says

    I would love to comment on your beautiful porch, but all I can focus on is your hilarious “Say Anything” reference… I was laughing for an hour!

    Reply

  14. Julie says

    Wow, it looks great! That process looks insanely tiring though. I can relate, we just put hardwood bamboo flooring in this weekend in 2 days. As we were bringing our wood home from Lumber Liquidators I kept picturing the hilarious sketch of John doing the same!

    Reply

  16. Dianne says

    Wow- impressive! Love the blue color choice and horizontal individual bead boards. Just curious as to what your choice of wood filler will be. You sprayed Both the oil primer and latex paint? If you used the sprayer for the oil primer, what did you use to clean your sprayer? I end up buying too many cans of the oil primer-Kilz, but am hesitant to use the oil based primer in my sprayer – thinking it may never recover.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We actually used water-based primer by Kilz (Kilz Premium). There are tons of good ones on the market now that oil is banned in California, and it works just as well but cleans up easier. Hope it helps!

      xo
      s

  17. MonW says

    Good catch on the insulation!
    I was painting. Of my thrift store lamps, one is done in Hammered Brown with highlights of European Gold Rub ‘n Buff, and the other was a major setback. Other one was Colonial Red painted wood and I added the gloss topcoat which clouded the whole lamp into a pinky grainy shade of nothing. So need to re-sand the failure off, repaint with red, and seal with with a newly-purchased gloss in 100F weather with humidity well above 50%. And rain possible.
    The Hammered Brown lamp is now in use, found the shade for it at Tuesday Morning this weekend. Was well-worth the work done on it. It has a slight lurch from certain angles, but we still like it.

    We did find a Craig’s list full headboard + footboard and rails, and *slats* this weekend! In worse shape than first glance and veneer issues, so, much sanding, fixing, priming and painting.
    From the bigger ReStore north of us (well worth the drive), a reproduction dry sink (copper-lined!) for the future landing pad. Lots of priming and sanding and painting in my future and a week of possible rain.

    Reply

  19. Ally says

    Holy Moly!!
    I was having sympathetic neck and back pains just reading your post.
    What an amazing transformation! What an outstanding amount of work!
    Your creativity + dedication is tremendous.
    And Lloyd Dobler approves.

    Reply

  21. Robin O says

    What!? This is amazing. It looks awesome!
    You guys amaze me… I get that this is both of your full-time jobs, but still…. How do you get all these projects completed AND write long detailed blog posts about them so quickly? Crazytown.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw thanks Robin! We worked a lot in the evenings and over the weekend this week, which isn’t always ideal, but it’s nice to bust out some big projects like this that way.

      xo
      s

  25. Peggy McKee says

    Your contractor is correct that insulation should not be in contact with the plywood roof. However, there are solutions to this problem–one is a corrugated channel that is nailed to the plywood to provide a means of air flow. Another is wooden spacers nailed to the plywood–again creating a channel.

    BTW, the insulation was in contact with the roofing plywood for as many years as the porch stood–were the porch roof shingles more deteriorated than those of the rest of the house?

    If it had been my porch, I think I would have looked into the corrugated channels or wood spacers. But of course, that might be wasted effort & money. Keep us posted on what happens.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Peggy! We’ll definitely keep you posted! The insulation actually wasn’t in contact with the roofing plywood before since there was a drop ceiling where it was stapled, so there was tons of ventilation room above that area in the big open triangle on top of it (you can see that better here).

      xo
      s

  26. Wendy @ New Moms Talk says

    Wow! Super! Incredible!

    On a side note, thank you for all of your Habitat for Humanity ReStore chatter and love. We took my in-laws to one this weekend, and they both fell in mad love with it!

    My mother-in-law raved to everyone about it (and our purchases) all weekend long, and she’s trying to plan errands around the other ReStores in the area so she can visit them all!

    Reply

  27. Annie says

    You guys are super heroes…no joke.

    I’m so impressed you’re doing this. Could I just move in with you guys because I doubt I’ll ever get 1/100th of my ideas for DIYs done myself. I’m a great housecleaner and a great baker and I come with a copywriting husband with a great personality and a 9 year old who will some day be old enough to babysit! (major run on sentence)

    Seriously, I want to turn our little back deck into a porch like this. And though I know I’ll never do it myself it’s incredibly valuable to see all the steps involved. You guys are going to love using this space!

    Reply

  28. betty (the sweaty betty) says

    i looks SOOOO good as of right now! can’t wait to see the final project. I was a little nervous about the blue ceiling, but I think its light enough that it just brightens everything up a little!

    john cusack photobomb is the best.

    Reply

  30. REese says

    It’s gorgeous. Seriously. I never would have thought the amount of work that would go into something like this either. I’m tired just reading about it ;)

    Quick question: Those vents that were put in… is there any fear about critters or bugs (namely wasps…) getting in there and then setting up shop in the now open beams? Seems like a pretty awesome home if I were a hornet..and that would make the space pretty uncomfortable as a human. Thoughts? Is there a mesh screen or something on the back of the vents to prevent bugs from getting in there?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Great question! It’s hard to tell from the photos, but the vents are really small metal slits, sort of like blinds that are almost closed, so instead of having big hole-punched areas for ventilation, they’re really slim little slivers to keep pests from getting in. I think gnats or mosquitoes might be able to slip in since they’re so tiny, but hornets/wasps/bees are too large for them I think. They’re made for outdoor areas, so I bet their slim design/shape is meant to keep pests from getting into ceilings/walls where they’re used.

      xo
      s

  31. Penny Lynn says

    I am more reminded of Will Ferrell on SNL “Dude, I remember this bro, Derek Adkins, he was the COOLEST! You don’t even KNOW! …Adkins fell and he hit his head on the ground, but but it’s cool. They got him a van with a ramp that he drives with his teeth now, so ‘In your eyes, the light, the heat, in your eyes, I am complete!’ He LOVED that song! He LOVED that song!” Please tell me you have seen this.

    Reply

  34. veronica bellard says

    I have had a can of “In Your Eyes” sitting on my counter for almost 6 months. I chose it for my pantry because it’s under the stairs and super dark so I wanted to brighten it up. You’ve just inspired me to get off my butt and get my pantry painted already. Ps, your outdoor space is looking amazing.

    Reply

  35. Meg M says

    I love this project! I have been able to clearly see your vision from the start! I also had to stop a moment and really think about beadboard a little while back. I wanted to use beadboard horizontally to cover the walls of our bathroom. After a little research I learned those 4×8 panels are not water resistant and can easily warp in steamy places. Those were out. I also looked at the boards y’all ended up using, but I wanted a wider plank. So those were also out. We ended up buying 4×8 sheets of cabinet grade plywood (the 1/4″ kind) and used a router and a long straight edge to make our own panels. We had chosen an 8″ ‘plank’ size which ended up to be the perfect size to end each sheet on a ‘bead’, meaning we were able to stack the sheets without a noticeable seam. It ended up looking great and I’m happy we went the direction we did!

    Reply

  36. Karen W. says

    Really fantastic!! The time it took to do this project pales in comparison to the amount of time you guys will spend enjoying it!

    SUCH a great idea.

    Reply

  37. Alicia W. says

    Your ceiling looks gorgeous! And it the whole space looks so much bigger than it did before. I had heard a while ago that painting outdoor ceilings, eaves, etc. prevented wasps from making nests. I have always wondered if it was really true, but whether it is or not I love the blue!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I have heard that too! Something about how it looks like the sky so bugs fly up into it and hit themselves on it and say “dude, I’m outta here – this place is full of witchcraft and trickery!” – at least that’s how it was told to me. Haha!

      xo
      s

  38. Alan says

    Great choice on the planks, the ceiling looks great. I agree that beadboard probably would’ve looked too busy.

    You made the right choice to not go with beadboard, so why are you still calling it beadboard? You have a beautiful wood plank ceiling.

    Reply

  40. Sarah says

    John Cusack made my morning, I literally laughed out loud when I saw it, this is what makes your blog so special–cool projects, great info with a heaping side of silliness!
    Quick question, i thought you all were doing exposed rafters? This looks awesome, but I was thinking the rafters were supposed to stick out? Did I miss anything?
    Looks great either way!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We were always planning to have a flat planked/beadboard ceiling, so the rafters were just revealed during demo, but we always had plans to cover them up. We didn’t have any other way to secure the ceiling without nailing the ceiling boards into those joists. We think once two fans are added we’ll be happy there aren’t too many nooks and valleys up there to look busy (or have animals nesting in them) though!

      xo,
      s

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Since the entire facade of the house is unpainted brick, we’ll leave it for a seamless look. That way the covered area of the deck/porch (in there under the awning) will blend with the outside deck area nicely (where there’s also unpainted brick).

      xo
      s

  43. Karen says

    I recently moved into my fiancé’s 1830’s farmhouse in upstate NY. The covered porch ceiling is new plywood with nails poking down through. The rafters, posts, and other supports are half bare, half stubborn flaky paint. Anyway! This the the dog’s honest truth, I just learned about you guys last week, and just yesterday I started an awful paint-scrapping, kilz-priming project with a goal of painting all of that plywood blue! As I struggled with sore arms and nail scrapes and primer dripping all over, I kept you in mind for inspiration. Just now I read your porch ceiling post, omg! I might keep with my current plan (b/c I have zero talent beyond painting), but I’m thinkin’ I should do a little research just to see what our options are. Thanks for an AWESOME site, I’ll check in regularly b/c we have a LOT of work to do to whip the house into shape!

    Reply

  45. Angel says

    This is going to be so cool with outdoor furniture for everyday lounging etc BUT I keep seeing it as a really cool “pavilion” for parties, like the ones they have at the park. It will be cool to have such a flexible space. You won’t have to rent a tent if you want to have a party.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      That’s a fun idea! We used our last house’s carport like that, and having this in the back (and connected to the deck) will definitely make it handy for parties and stuff.

      xo
      s

  47. Leslie says

    I continue to be seriously impressed with you guys. Not only do you have fantastic ideas, your craftsmanship is outstanding. You never seem to cut corners.on a project.
    Question: what do you do to prevent or relieve the physical aches and pains that come from ceiling work? I find even painting them leads to a stiff and sore neck and shoulders.
    I really love the beadboard ceiling!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw thanks Leslie! Hot showers help! Also I’ll rub John’s neck and back to loosen him up and vice versa if either one of us is sore. We also drink pretty epic amounts of water and Gatorade to stay hydrated.

      xo
      s

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