Plywood or MDF to make a tented ceiling?

[Feltwell]

A vote for plywood from me. Plasterboard I reckon will be too heavy, and unless you build a substantial frame behind it so it can be fixed at regular intervals to it with screws, it will eventually sag.

You can actually bend plasterboard by leaving it outside overnight, a trick a plasterer told me. We made a wooden frame for a curved section of wall at my parents old house, laid it down outside with the 3/8" plasterboard on top, and hey presto by the morning the moisture in the air had made the plasterboard damp enough to bend and adopt the shape of the frame.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

For the avoidance of doubt, the intended effect, I believe, is:

 

[jocelyn plummer]

LOvely project Joce-- you do pick 'em!!! I have never done a tented ceiling but my initial thought was battens, then I thought, as somebody has suggested, of the bottom of a boat, how do they do that shape--- heating and bending wood I suppose--- not a clue, BUT one of the showcases in woburn abbey antiques centre has a fabulous tented ceiling-- stripes and rosettes, it's been there for sometime, ever since an ambitious dealer decided to create the effect as a back drop.All I can say is the old cliche, 'where there is a will, there's a way'-- keep us posted!!

 

[worms]

Have you thought of using spray glue to attach the fabric to a card/paper backing?

No, Joce, there's no chance of the glue oozing through the fabric, even something as fine as chiffon, that's the beauty of it. You spray a fine mist of the glue on to one surface (the backing) and let it dry out a bit until it feels tacky, like sticky-backed plastic and the like. Then you lay the fabric on the backing and it sticks where it touches.

I've got an unused spray can of the stuff in the garage somewhere, bought to sort the headlining in the (dear departed) Saab and never used. I got it in a car spares place, but I'm sure it is more readily available in fabric shops. I'd offer to send it down to you but its been there so long it is probably not worth having.

 

[worms]

Chris hates this, I think because it's too frilly and ruched although he will say he hates it because he thinks it messy and cobweb trapping between the folds.

http://www.gnbespoke.co.uk/tented.htm

I'm with Chris on this (and I'm amazed that you are getting interior design ideas from a company based in Glasgow of all places!) but that example probably shows the easiest way to do it: Oversized sheet tacked at the edges, fabric-covered disk attached to ceiling in middle, then the fiddly bit of sorting some pleats. I think the example looks plain wrong, but would accept that it might look better if the walls were also covered to complete the tent effect or with your striped fabric, no pleats and the excess taken up by a single larger fold in each corner.

 

[Feltwell]

Chris hates this, I think because it's too frilly and ruched although he will say he hates it because he thinks it messy and cobweb trapping between the folds.

http://www.gnbespoke.co.uk/tented.htm

I'm with Chris on this.

I'm another one who sides with Chris I'm afraid. Looks very 70's - 1970's that is - I can just see Abigail's Party enjoying their fondue & Blue Nun under that in their kaftans!

 

[JoceAndChris]

For the avoidance of doubt, the intended effect, I believe, is:

Yes, that's it. But unlikely we'll do the over head canopies as they'd block the light. The joins are cleverly covered by braid.Thanks for posting Gareth.

I'd offer to send it down to you but its been there so long it is probably not worth having.

You are very sweet, but no need to do that. Just send down a prayer the whole thing doesn't collapse on our heads and that will be very kind.

Mad? Of course it's mad. Wonderfully mad!

Thank you so much for the vote of support, let's hope it works out!

Plasterboard

I read these helpful replies out to Chris last night and he wasn't a bit keen on plasterboard, I think because he's put up a plasterboard ceiling before and found it very heavy and tricky. I'd almost rather we made the whole thing out of cardboard but he thinks that might get damp and sag in funny places (although it isn't a damp room) so I think it's going to be thin ply as others have suggested -but thank you to the people who suggested plaster board, time will tell if you are right!

I'm another one who sides with Chris I'm afraid. Looks very 70's - 1970's that is - I can just see Abigail's Party enjoying their fondue & Blue Nun under that in their kaftans!

I think I agree, it isn't very nice at all. A crisp apex or inverted pyramid is a much nicer shape, though as worms rightly says more tricky to make.

And a big thanks to Joss for her encouragement too, I wondered if with all her interior design experience she had done a tented ceiling. Somehow the thing will be put up!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Update

Making slow progress but thought you might like to see the ceiling construction taking shape. Poor old Chris has lost his job, job hunted, and found another, and started, in the interval since posting this thread, as well as putting up with me in a bad state. But if I've learned one thing during this project, it's that poor old husband needs a break and I won't ask him to work on the house, in a major way, again. He's willing and good but doesn't have the time. I have the time but not the strength or ability for something like this. Anyway:

From

To

More struts have got to go on and more panels cut to form the inverted pyramid. Then, somehow, fabric will be stapled up. Braid or rope will conceal the joins. Behind the panelling is the fibreglass loft insulation. Panels will be covered in thick bump, or interlining, and then fabric, on the ground. They'll then be lifted into place to form the walls. I think it's going to quite a warm room, especially as we have plabns to get on and do the bathroom extension behind the back wall of this room, meaning it will go from being a outside wall to an inside wall.

In the end he chose thinnest MDF for strength - I think it's all a bit over-engineered but had to let him have his way.

 

[plasticpigeon]

I'm looking forward to seeing it with the fabric on as it's hard to imagine from the pictures posted. I'm sure it will be fabulous just like the rest of your house!

 

[angrybird]

joce i'm sorry to hear about Chris loosing his job but so glad he has found a new one and I'm sorry to hear that you are going through a poorly spell again I hope you feel better soon x I love your idea about a tented ceiling, its going to look fabulous! I will wait with baited breath to see the next instalment
After all we all know renovation isn't a race its a labour of love.

Keep warm and keep those fantastic ideas flowing... I saw these and thought of you x

http://pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=tented+ceiling

much love
Jacqueline x

 

[Flyfisher]

In the end he chose thinnest MDF for strength - I think it's all a bit over-engineered but had to let him have his way.

Looking good Joce, but are you sure Chris used MDF in the end? It looks like thin plywood in those photos.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh gosh I'm not sure now, you've made me doubt! I'll ask him tonight. It seems very heavy but with all the struts and screws think it will hold, it has so far!

I'm looking forward to seeing it with the fabric on as it's hard to imagine from the pictures posted. I'm sure it will be fabulous just like the rest of your house!

How sweet of you, actually a lot of it is pretty ropey if you could see it but hopefully we'll get to it one day. I agree the room is impossible to imagine, with lots of discussion taking place between me and Chris where I try to find out how the pyramid will slot together and him getting exasperated that I don't understand! He has a very mathsy mind, just as well one of us does.

After all we all know renovation isn't a race its a labour of love.

So very true, and thank you for your kind words Jacqueline, and the wonderful link! Never seen so many tented ceilings grouped together, how fab! Don't think ours will look as good by a mile and I'm at that familiar stage of feeling silly for ever starting the project, but hopefully it will come together. Will post the end results, of course.

 

[Flyfisher]

Oh gosh I'm not sure now, you've made me doubt! I'll ask him tonight. It seems very heavy but with all the struts and screws think it will hold, it has so far!

I only mentioned it because it looks to me like there is graining on the boards and I've never seen MDF with veneer before.

I'm not suggesting it's a problem though, either way, and I'm sure Chris will have made a sturdy job of it all.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Very good detective work FF! Just had a ms from Chris to say it is indeed ply. The discussion raged for so long here that I grew thoroughly confused by the end of it. Anyway, I'm glad it's ply, as that's what everyone suggested. He is now saying that he might use MDF for the walls though, as there won't be such a worry about sagging.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Slowly making progress with the tent room, though it's much, much more work than could reasonably be imagined!

Problematic screwing wood to the walls as the walls here are so wonky. We've had to put cuts in the wood to allow the panels to, hopefully, move to the shape of the walls. There are two more walls to cover (cutting to size, measuring where the screw holes are to be, drilling and getting 1 piece up takes several hours). Then we'll order the bump and the top cloth. Then to unscrew the wooden sections and take them down, wrapping the fabric round the boards, gluing and stapling it in place. Then lift the cloth covered boards into position and screw back up.

I tried to persuade Chris to batten out the walls for fabric hanging as the professionals do but he refused on the grounds that he couldn't see how you subsequently affix a mirror or picture. I found a fabric hanger and picked his brains,he said all mirrors, pictures, radiators, etc, have to be planned in advance in order to get wood behind the cloth where screw holes would go. The nice thing about the way we've done it is you will be able to sit on the beds with your back against a solid fabric covered structure. And it will be warmer.

 

[Flyfisher]

I admire your tenacity Joce (and Chris' of course!). I initially wondered why you went to all the trouble of putting plywood against the walls as I imagined the 'tent' material would just be left to hang down, though I can see your point about having a solid wall for fixtures and fittings. But will that entirely practical construction lead to a slightly less authentic-looking final result? Wouldn't a real tent have floor standing mirrors and a bed with a huge headboard to lean against instead of having anything touching the actual material of the tent?

 

[JoceAndChris]

Very perceptive - yes - dilemmas we've turned over and over, endless discussions on those lines. A real tent would be as you say. But this is a room, with a window, door, fireplace and inbuilt cupboard next to the fireplace. Had we hung cloth on poles, how would we have dealt with that? A pole beneath the window? A window shaped hole in the cloth?

Then, Chris never wanted to use fabric as we have open fires in this room. The only way he'd use it was in the most unflappy way possible. I hope it won't spoil the illusion.

 

[Flyfisher]

Hmm. Not easy. Good point about not having flappy fabric near a fireplace though.

But if anyone can carry it off I'd bet you can. It's going to be so stunningly different that the illusion will overwhelm any nit-picking.

 

[vicky whitworth]

very good point about non flappy material next to fireplace. Watched grade II listed thatched cottage burned to ground outside Axminster yesterday. Someone's life destroyed in a few hours. Chimney fire. So, so sad. Fourth thatched place to go up over the weekend in the South-West. It's scary stuff. It goes so quick. Jose, look after yourselves.

 

[worms]

It's starting to take shape! Or at least, on my laptop it is... my iPad, on the other hand has the top picture upside down and I don't think that is quite the look you were going for!