I'm soon to put up a ceiling in a bathroom and am considering putting up a suspended ceiling (as seen in offices/shops - a metal frame with panels). There was a brief mention from dunc in the thread http://www.screwfix.com/talk/thread.jspa?forumID=21&threadID=7020&messageID=68967#68967 but no discussion about it. I'd like to use panels which allow light through and mount electric lighting in the void space above (it's a low ceiling - 2m - so this would avoid my having to wire lights within the room itself). The room is 1.5 wide by 2.4m long. Two questions: Does anyone know where to buy the kit in such small quantities? Is it a good/bad idea for a room containing a shower?
Hi , you should be able to buy whatever you need from CCF a trde supplier , they have branches all over the place so should serve you right. As for the practicalities, in a shower room situation normal tiles will discolour and become soggy within a few weeks, so better to go for a type which is made from fibreglass with a finish on it, wont sag and is very lightweight. I dont think having a light above the ceiling will look very appealing as you will see the tube through the prismatic diffuser, better to use the void and install some low voltage downlighters, they will look far better. hope this helps Nick
I can't remember who I bought the kit from, but I found them in yellow pages under ceilings-suspended. They all operate differently when selling. The ones I bought from would only sell a full pack of tiles, no individual ones. Others need a minimum length of angle steel etc. I also checked with some fitters as to how much they wanted. Most were asking for about 150 for a day's work. This was 6 years ago. In the end I did it all myself and it worked out okay. You can fit panels in the steel frames as narrow as 200 mm. So I just had glass cut to fit. Then I laid strip lights over the glass panels. Its not something people notice unless you point it out to them. The luminaire or light panels they try to sell you can cost 50-100 quid. So for about 100 quid I did the kitchen ceiling. It has worked fine for 6 years. Like sparkydude says you will need some plastic type panels as the fibre stuff will get wet.
Thanks for the info guys. Did either of you have problems with moisture moving into the ceiling void?