Metal Ceiling Panels

[Augus7us]

I need to buy some for my ceiling. I was going to get them from Menard's and I totaled them up and it was a bit more than I was anticipating.

So my question is this; I've never bought metal panels before, is there a better place to get them? A barn supply house or something?

My shop is 30x40 and I want white panels. It was $1330 for 3'x8' panels according to their website. If this is normal, then c'est la vie. But I didn't want to pay that if I could get them for $900 some place I'm not aware of. I did check CL and couldn't find anything worthwhile.

Thanks

-Clint

 

[stm317]

There are 2 common thicknesses available. Exterior barn siding, and thinner "liner panel". Liner panel is more commonly used on interior applications since it's cheaper and doesn't need to be all that thick.
Not sure what your cost per panel was, but I'm getting $17.71/ panel on Menards' site without entering my location. That's with 36"x96" panels, for an average cost around $0.74/sqft.

https://www.menards.com/main/skusum...secondaryMeas=36.0&pid=1444448673649&cid=5717


Don't know the details of your estimate, but based on what you've written it seems like your $1330 for 1200 sqft is $1.10/sqft. Maybe you're looking at the thicker exterior gauge? Prices of steel have gone up recently with market instability too.

You can also order custom lengths from Menards if you don't want as many seams between panels. You could order 15ft or 20ft long panels and just have one seam down the center.

 

[bullnerd]

My local building supply gets them from Metal Sales in PA.

Maybe you could look them up and find your local distributor.

I have a 30x40 also, trusses are 4' apart.

I ordered the panels 16'-2" , for a little overlap, and cut the 8' for the ends.

You can see some pics in my sig.

Good luck, worth the money to me, looks nice with the all white ceiling.

 

[finn]

Thr price of steel siding has skyrocketed with the imposition of tariffs. Menards price used to be $1.66/lf. Last I checked it was $2.60. Don’t know where it is now.

Just bought a few sheets from my local lumberyard. Metal Sales is their supplier, at over $3.00/lf

 

[bullnerd]

The price went up a while back, before any talk of Tariffs.

I bought some 2 yrs ago and it was up from the batch I bought before that.

Not saying it didn't go up more.

 

[finn]

The price went up a while back, before any talk of Tariffs.

I bought some 2 yrs ago and it was up from the batch I bought before that.

Not saying it didn't go up more.

So the retailers ate the costs the tariffs added to the raw steel?

I don’t think so.

Menards was under $2.00 at the end of last year.

 

[bullnerd]

The price went up a while back, before any talk of Tariffs.

I bought some 2 yrs ago and it was up from the batch I bought before that.

Not saying it didn't go up more.

 

[finn]

Local lumber yard will only guarantee prices on steel sheets for two weeks now.

 

[glider]

The panels I used came from here. It is running $1.70 per lin. foot.

https://www.midmichiganmetalsales.com/

 

[finn]

That’s a good price. White is $2.16 / lf at that place for the economy grade and $2.65 for the premium grade, both 29 gage.

If you can live with ivory for the ceiling, the clearance products are just a little more than the old (pre tariff) price at Menards.

I didn’t study the web site, but I assume those prices are fob their rolling plant in Central Michigan. The Menards prices are delivered to the store.

 

[mz44]

AB Martin in eastern PA, they serve the mid Atlantic, not sure if they would go to Ohio.
They make the panels, and will make to any length you want.
https://www.abmartin.net/

 

[Augus7us]

Thanks guys, stm317 was correct. I was looking at a different kind of panel on Menards website. I have those and the ones stm listed and there is a $550 savings! That is a lot better and I'd rather have something that weighs less on the ceiling.

Bullnerd, I took a look at your gallery thread again and posted a question.

-Clint

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

I know of 2 places that roll steel panels within 50 miles of me.
Buy direct from who ever is rolling/painting them locally.
Can get pretty much whatever length you want.

 

[Bob2112]

I agree with leafless - google metal roofing suppliers and get a couple quotes from nearby places. They will have a better selection of color, they will cut to the exact length you want and they will deliver no problem. Also, check your truss spans. The thin 29 gauge liner doesn't span as well as the heavier 26 gauge stuff. And for crazy people like me, I used 26 gauge PBR panels which are rated for 6 foot spans, but can certainly handle an interior (ie no wind loading) span of 10' with insulation on top.

 

[stm317]

I agree with leafless - google metal roofing suppliers and get a couple quotes from nearby places. They will have a better selection of color, they will cut to the exact length you want and they will deliver no problem.

I agree that people should shop around, but if there's a Menards near by these things aren't a concern. They do custom lengths in 1" increments and offer delivery as well. For me, it's not really worth it to drive an hour each way to the custom steel place and hope they deliver in my area when there's a Menards 20 minutes away that definitely delivers here.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Thr price of steel siding has skyrocketed with the imposition of tariffs. Menards price used to be $1.66/lf. Last I checked it was $2.60. Don’t know where it is now.

Just bought a few sheets from my local lumberyard. Metal Sales is their supplier, at over $3.00/lf

The price went up a while back, before any talk of Tariffs.

I bought some 2 yrs ago and it was up from the batch I bought before that.

Not saying it didn't go up more.

So the retailers ate the costs the tariffs added to the raw steel?

I don’t think so.

Mrs. LS6 works for Skyline Steel, one of the biggest steel companies in the US. The cost of building material steel went up because of the Mexico Wall projects that were so heavily promoted, not because of the tarrifs.

Tommy

 

[NUTTSGT]

Clint, these guys should be fairly local to you.

http://www.countrymetalsllc.com/

 

[NUTTSGT]

If you order from Menard's, it'll come out of Holiday City, Ohio.

Unless something is going on, you'll have custom ordered panels in a few days. I ordered mine on a Sunday afternoon and was picking them up on Wednesday.

 

[Bob2112]

I agree that people should shop around, but if there's a Menards near by these things aren't a concern. They do custom lengths in 1" increments and offer delivery as well. For me, it's not really worth it to drive an hour each way to the custom steel place and hope they deliver in my area when there's a Menards 20 minutes away that definitely delivers here.

Yea, that makes sense. I never actually went to the metal place. I just called them up and they delivered the metal a few days later.

 

[plout99]

Try grabers oak flooring in glenford oh there southeast of Newark. There is also H&M metal sales in St Louisville OH, Pine lane metals in Butler OH. If you don't mind driving some there are many Amish owned metal shops in Knox and Holmes county that cut to the inch and are very reasonable compared to any of the big box stores.

 

[mister honey]

Augus7us,

Since you are in central Ohio, you mighty contact Higgins Roofing in Hillsboro, Ohio.

They buy coiled steel stock and roll form their own panels.

I used their steel panels for the walls & ceiling in my shop and their standing seam material on a barn roof... good folks.

Mike

 

[finn]

Mrs. LS6 works for Skyline Steel, one of the biggest steel companies in the US. The cost of building material steel went up because of the Mexico Wall projects that were so heavily promoted, not because of the tarrifs.

Tommy

Revisionist history.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Revisionist history.

How so? The price of steel went up LONG before the tarrifs were ever mentioned.

Tommy

 

[Augus7us]

Hey Guys, forgot to circle back and say thanks for all the advice.

I may try some of the panel places but I'm going to see what Menards can do for a bulk buy. I need a lot of lumber and electrical stuff also and I'm hoping that drops the price even more. Right now it is ~850 for the panels stm found on menards site. If I can get that closer to $700 I'd be real happy.

Thanks again

-Clint

 

[finn]

How so? The price of steel went up LONG before the tarrifs were ever mentioned.

Tommy

Nobody eats a 25% increase in the price of their raw material for long.

Steel panels were still $1.66/lf late last fall when I priced them, and this spring, when I bought some panels,the local yard (actually two of them) had a letter from their supplier, Metal Sales, stating that the price increases were directly tied to the tariffs.

You can spin it any way you want it if it makes you happy.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Hey Guys, forgot to circle back and say thanks for all the advice.

I may try some of the panel places but I'm going to see what Menards can do for a bulk buy. I need a lot of lumber and electrical stuff also and I'm hoping that drops the price even more. Right now it is ~850 for the panels stm found on menards site. If I can get that closer to $700 I'd be real happy.

Thanks again

-Clint

Don't buy anything until Sunday. New sales always start on Sunday, you may catch another 11% sale.

 

[Augus7us]

Even better, thanks Eric!

-Clint

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Nobody eats a 25% increase in the price of their raw material for long.

Steel panels were still $1.66/lf late last fall when I priced them, and this spring, when I bought some panels,the local yard (actually two of them) had a letter from their supplier, Metal Sales, stating that the price increases were directly tied to the tariffs.

You can spin it any way you want it if it makes you happy.

I'm not spinning anything. The prices "late last fall" had already been increased to what you saw, during the period I was talking about. The prices "this spring" may very well be a reaction to the tariffs. I never said the recent increases weren't. I said the prices went up before the tariffs. I was correct then and I still am correct now.
I was talking about the price increases that started 1-1/2 years ago when the President was pushing for The Wall along with all the other "make America great" projects and the undeniable upswing in the economy that spurred growth. That's when the pricing initially went up. My wife is in the business reporting (accounting) department for the steel company she works for. She told me multiple times how good that was for them and she got a really good bonus that year. It was simple supply and demand, no tariffs had even been tabled at that time.

I don't want to derail this thread anymore than I already have.

Tommy

 

[finn]

https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/WPU1079?amp%3bdata_tool=XGtable&output_view=data&include_graphs=true

Looks like we’re both right. Steel has been creeping up in cost since it cratered in the 2008 timeframe, but it shot towards the moon early this year when the first salvo of his trade war was shot with the steel import tariffs.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/WPU1079?amp%3bdata_tool=XGtable&output_view=data&include_graphs=true

Looks like we’re both right. Steel has been creeping up in cost since it cratered in the 2008 timeframe, but it shot towards the moon early this year when the first salvo of his trade war was shot with the steel import tariffs.

That definitely relates to the metal ceiling panels. IDK which chart to look at to track the wife's company. They make raw building materials like rebar, structural steel and a bunch of types of steel bulkheads for seawall and canal type use.

As the kids say, "We coo!"

Tommy

 

[MushCreek]

Have you ever noticed that when the price of a commodity goes up by 25%, the finished product goes up 50%?

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Have you ever noticed that when the price of a commodity goes up by 25%, the finished product goes up 50%?

I'm no economist, but wouldn't that extra 25% between the commodity price and the finished product be "profit"?

As my friend once said about his business, "This isn't a hobby. Nobody goes into business to make things for free".

Tommy

 

[2Big2Ride]

I'm no economist, but wouldn't that extra 25% between the commodity price and the finished product be "profit"?

As my friend once said about his business, "This isn't a hobby. Nobody goes into business to make things for free".

Tommy

Most likely, yes. I have worked with imports from different parts of the world and each $1.00 increase in cost, which includes tariffs, can easily result in the end price going up $1.50 to $5.00 depending on the touches or processes that are inbetween the material/product getting to the end point. That markup is what it takes to cover overhead, cost of capital, and deliver a profit. Delivering a profit is why a business is a business.

 

[finn]

Sometimes a business will hold the line as commodity prices rise in order to remain competitive. At some point, they have to increase retail prices to remain profitable.

It would make sense that they look at the trajectory and economic predictor tools out there to make a pricing step that seems extreme, but the alternative, daily spot pricing of your product, based on actual material and labor costs, would be unmanageable.

In other words, you eat the cost for a while, but then play catch up, and build in your price increase based on where costs seem to be headed. You don’t stay in business by looking in the rear view mirror.

How would you feel if every time you went into McDonald’s the price of a Big Mac fluctuated based on the wholesale price of beef in Omaha, or the price of wheat for the bun changed on the Chicago board of trade?

 

[callcoy]

I recently completed my 50' x 60' x 14' shop with 29 ga metal as discussed by the OP, my cost was $1.70 ln. ft.

With the ceiling 14' up, my panels 8' 4" long and me being 76 years old, I needed a game plan that would allow me to hold the panels in place while I screwed them into the battens I had placed on 2' centers. I like things neat and done correctly, I had garage sale purchase of a laser that cast a long beam across a vertical wall. I made a 90 degree mount for it, set it on the walk boards of the rolling scaffolding. The first course took a while as I laid out screw placement pattern on the vertical wall interception with the ceiling. The beam set on the layout indicator mark cast a pattern across the panel for a easy and true screw pattern. every course there after was just a matter of lining up with the previous line of screws.

Do not assume the wall you work away from is perpendicular to the 90 degree wall or that it is straight. Mine is pole barn construction and it had a couple of waves to it. You have to establish a true 90 degree corner to start from and a straight wall or your ceiling will wave at you. I used a snap line and square corresponding corners to measure back to the starting wall. Measurements every few feet gave me the amount of wave in the wall. I found that I could hide this by using J molding to hide the difference. Using the high measurements of the "wave" I struck a straight line to set the other edge of the panels to, keeping everything straight.

To avoid scaring your panel when your screw gun slips off the screw head while trying to drill thru the metal, I used a long 1/8" punch ground to a sharp point to pierce the metal, really fast and easy, working overhead and trying to drill all those holes takes effort.

While I am on my soap box, I should mention that I used LED lighting. I experimented with 2 and 4 tube fluorescent tubes against 2 tube LED's, much brighter light from the LED's. I used the std. fluorescent fixtures but only 2 tubes instead of 4. You can buy LED's, 25 tubes for less than $100.00 delivered that use the std. ballast fixture. If for some reason you have fixtures with bad ballasts, the LED's for those is close to $10.00 each delivered.