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["Gloria Morris" <gloriamorris59 AT gmail.com>]

Ick. If you are talking about the spray-on acoustic ceiling coating that is
applied over drywall, I hate it. It is ugly. And, you are right: it flakes.

If you are going to drywall a ceiling, why not just "stomp" the ceiling as
your finish coating? It is easy to do with a stomping mop and some mud. It
looks decent, and it helps to disguise a multitude of imperfections in the
ceiling (the whole point of rough ceiling finishes). It does not require
fancy equipment. And it doesn't have little bits of stuff included in the
mud to fall off over the years.

Drywall is used because it is cheaper and less labor intensive than many
other wall and ceiling materials. If one has problems making a smooth
finish, one can make a rough "plaster" finish with drywall mud - a friend
has a rustic house with a rough mud coating over the entire wall and ceiling
surfaces, and it is actually quite charming. The whole point of the many
different ceiling textures you see over drywall is to hide the little
imperfections that gravity magnifies on a ceiling.

Since you seem to want to steer away from drywall, I have done it
differently in one house. On a previous house (a log house) I used 2x6 T&G
yellow pine as the floor decking for the second floor. I left that exposed
(and stained it) for the ceiling of the first floor, with exposed (and
stained) joists. I counter-sunk the screws used to install the T&G and used
hardwood pegs to fill the holes, and I sanded the resulting floor smooth. I
then finished the T&G as the floor for the upstairs. It was a very pretty,
rustic floor, and a very pretty, rustic ceiling. You have to give some
thought into installation of mechanicals if you go that route, with exposed
joists in the ceiling. It was NOT cheaper than drywall and a standard
subfloor with carpet, as the finishes alone cost me quite a lot of money,
not to mention many, many hours to apply them. It was not a low labor
endeavor. (What is, other than pitching a tent or buying something already
built?)

Gloria


On 12/12/06, VAN DELL JORDAN <vdjor AT yahoo.com> wrote:
> Has anyone had experience with spray on acoustic
> ceilings?.. I'm not impressed but I wonder if anyone
> else has a different point of view.
> The main reason I don't like is because if you stomp
> your foot little bits sometimes fall.  I think that is
> inherent to the material, rather than bad
> installation, but there may be a way of doing
> something to make that more stable.
> As the question is solo building materials I'm
> wondering if some kind of spray on plaster might be
> very handy, simple, and quick.
> Van Dell