Metal sheet garage ceiling

[andyvh1959]

Anyone got pictures (I know, dumb question) of their garage ceiling finished with metal sheets? I am thinking of that for the vaulted ceiling in my 24x28 garage build project. Sheets are light, easy to install, prefinished. But what about noise, echos with a shop stereo, mounting lights, ceiling outlets, etc? Just use coated screws if color to match the white sheets?

My garage has a gable roof front to back with a front and rear hip, each of different pitch. The scissor trusses are on 24" centers, with 6" batt insulation installed Given the choices per square foot I think metal sheeting may be the best overall.

 

[cvairwerks]

Unless you drop the megabucks for perforated sheeting, it will echo and be quite noisy. Perforated aluminum sheeting runs about 5-7$ a square foot. The big problem with it, is that it gets dirty and you can't really wash it very well, unless you care to get everything behind it wet.

We've got our hangar walls covered in the steel version, from about the 1' level to the roof, which is between 25 and 35 feet, depending on the hangar. Even with the hangar doors open on both ends, it's noisy in there and unless you are within about 10 feet of someone, you can't have a conversation without raising your voice level. The photo in the link is one of our hangars. The wall behind the black cabinets is perforated steel sound control panel.
https://s30121.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Lockheed-Martin-F-35.jpeg

I wouldn't have bare metals walls or ceilings in my shop.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Seems everyone has a different experience. I was expecting my ceiling to amplify noise but I really can't tell. I like it. My joists were five feet on centers. There is spray in cellulose insulation above which may help the noise but the few weeks we had the ceiling in with no insulation there was no problem.

It is 16 ft high.

 

[readhead]

I have installed a lot of liner in metal buildings. It is just another hard surface like OSB or drywall. Some think it is less noisy because of the ribs. The perforated material is for noise control. In combination with dense fiberglass it absorbs everything. I lined a couple of jet engine test cells and you had to shout into the other persons ear to communicate.

 

[harley jim]

My neighbor has his vaulted ceiling done in white metal and it's nice. No echo or any problems, I wish mine was white metal. I'll see if I can go get a pic tomorrow you'll love it.

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[andyvh1959]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm no sound engineer, my training and career is in mechanical engineering. But let's see if this makes sense. In a tall structure, especially a narrow aspect ratio of width to height, a sound wave going up in the space has room to expand, and lower in frequency. A lower frequency is more difficult to attenuate than a higher frequency, so it will reflect and transmit more or the original sound. More reflection and less attenuation means more noise. So to me a taller narrow volume with reflective metal makes it more difficult to attenuate the sound waves, and echoes much more, than does a lower/wider volume with reflective metal. I'll have fiberglass batt insulation above the metal panels in direct contact with the metal. so I'm assuming the sound reflection may not be an issue, hopefully. the side walls in my shop are 7/16" OSB with batt insulation behind the wall sheeting.

When I see pictures of a sound proofing room the ceiling is lower, and the room dimensions are largely square, and the room is wider in both directions than it is high. Does this correlate with what others have in their work spaces?

 

[BORING HOP YARD]

Heres mine, I also have fiberglass batt above the panels, no sound reflection that I can tell, I do have music playing in he shop 95 percent of the time

 

[harley jim]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm no sound engineer, my training and career is in mechanical engineering. But let's see if this makes sense. In a tall structure, especially a narrow aspect ratio of width to height, a sound wave going up in the space has room to expand, and lower in frequency. A lower frequency is more difficult to attenuate than a higher frequency, so it will reflect and transmit more or the original sound. More reflection and less attenuation means more noise. So to me a taller narrow volume with reflective metal makes it more difficult to attenuate the sound waves, and echoes much more, than does a lower/wider volume with reflective metal. I'll have fiberglass batt insulation above the metal panels in direct contact with the metal. so I'm assuming the sound reflection may not be an issue, hopefully. the side walls in my shop are 7/16" OSB with batt insulation behind the wall sheeting.

When I see pictures of a sound proofing room the ceiling is lower, and the room dimensions are largely square, and the room is wider in both directions than it is high. Does this correlate with what others have in their work spaces?

I dont think anyone thinks about it, most people have already decided what they are doing before they get there. My neighbors thought process was it was clean and it was easy to install with no finishing or painting like with drywall. Put it up and done.
My thought process was that I had a drywall lift and my wife liked to paint so we bought 1/2" OSB and she painted it on the ground and I hung it. Came out nice for me.


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[andyvh1959]

Thanks again, and thanks for the pics. Pretty much decided I'll go with the metal sheet for the ceiling, in bright white. I just have to plan out the wiring and outlet placements on the trusses so the cutouts will be on the flats of the sheets. I will have an off-grid 12v solar system running the overhead LED shop lights. The LED lights may be higher grade LED strips or something like offroad foodlight LED light bars mounted to the ceiling.

 

[harley jim]

Finally got to Donnies and snapped a pic for you. Better late than never

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[andyvh1959]

Thanks. I was at a friend's shop Monday. He has metal sheets on the walls and on the ceiling and I didn't notice any tinny noise or disturbing echoes. So I am planning to use white finished metal sheets on the ceiling in my new shop.

 

[danny4327]

Did you have any suppliers in mind? I'm in the NE and looking to metal sheets as well but AFAIK I only have access to Lowes/HD

 

[Bopbop]

Go to youtube and do a search for RR Buildings. he has a lots of videos up and shows putting up the metal ceilings in them.
Danny4327, Have you tried doing a google search for metal roofing suppliers? In the southeast there are several people that will roll the panels for you at any length for a lot less than Lowes or HD. I have got galvalume from a locale supplier for $1.67 per foot and at lowes the same panel is $3.80 a foot.

 

[andyvh1959]

Menards sells metal panels in different lengths. For the pitch in my vaulted ceiling, the length from the wall to the peak is about 11'-9". So I'll need 12' panels and cut them to length. I'll also have to cut the panels for the front and rear hip sections. Each 4' x 12' section is $28.40, so I'll need at least eight sheets just for the main portion of the ceiling before I do the front and rear hip sections. Eight sheets would be $227.20, but no painting involved.

Menards also sells 7/16 OSB sheet at 145.13" length, for $15.12 per sheet. So I would need at least eight sheets for the main section of the ceiling, for $120.96. By the time I apply sealant and paint to OSB sheets I'll be spending about the same money. So to me using prefinished white metal sheets is the best overall choice.

 

[Bert_]

Menards sells metal panels in different lengths. For the pitch in my vaulted ceiling, the length from the wall to the peak is about 11'-9". So I'll need 12' panels and cut them to length. I'll also have to cut the panels for the front and rear hip sections. Each 4' x 12' section is $28.40, so I'll need at least eight sheets just for the main portion of the ceiling before I do the front and rear hip sections. Eight sheets would be $227.20, but no painting involved.

Menards also sells 7/16 OSB sheet at 145.13" length, for $15.12 per sheet. So I would need at least eight sheets for the main section of the ceiling, for $120.96. By the time I apply sealant and paint to OSB sheets I'll be spending about the same money. So to me using prefinished white metal sheets is the best overall choice.

Don't buy the stock ones. Order the length you want. They will cut them in inch increments.

Also not sure what you're looking at but most sheets are 36" wide

 

[andyvh1959]

Oh, I assumed the sheet width was 48" to match truss spacing. So the sheets overlap on some trusses and not on others, but the sheet metal screws joining the panels take care of that. I assume to rent a drywall sheet lift to get the panels up to the trusses. Great point to order the sheets to the length needed, minimize the cutting to the hip areas of the ceiling. Thanks.

 

[fizznizzy]

A big benefit of the metal sheets is their ability to span a 4' gap unlike drywall or plywood that would require 'purlins' depending on what your truss spacing is. When I bought my ceiling panels I got them in 8' 2" length to span 2 trusses and have a small overlap. They come in a standard width with 5 'ribs' so one will overlap - they should all overlap on one rib until you get to the edges.

I used brown coated screws since they were leftover form the side panels on the building and you can barely notice the color.

 

[andyvh1959]

How much width per panel is given to the overlap? Assuming each panel overlaps the next panel, I need to know the overlap to plan out my total panels quantity need. Then I need to decide if the panels run the depth (ribs front to back) or width (ribs 90 degrees to the garage centerline). Since my trusses are on 2' centers I'm leaning toward the panels ribs running front to back on the ceiling.

 

[Bert_]

How much width per panel is given to the overlap? Assuming each panel overlaps the next panel, I need to know the overlap to plan out my total panels quantity need. Then I need to decide if the panels run the depth (ribs front to back) or width (ribs 90 degrees to the garage centerline). Since my trusses are on 2' centers I'm leaning toward the panels ribs running front to back on the ceiling.

The ribs need to run perpendicular (90*) to the trusses. Otherwise the panel has no strength. If you want them to run with the trusses you will have to install strapping across the bottom of the trusses.

The overlap on the width is fixed, one rib lays over the previous one. The overlap on the length can be whatever you want. I would say a couple inches minimum.