Need some help with a pole barn ceiling!

[jlipper81]

Need some help guys and gals!

Just finished building a 50x100 pole barn.
Metal roof set on top of clear span 52 foot trusses 4' on center.

Long story, but in short got screwed by a contractor early on in this project and had to take over the job and finish it myself with some help.

Originally I speced out that I wanted to drywall the walls and ceiling..... however I ended up with a trusses that aren't designed to support drywall.

So.....I'm looking for other options to finish the ceiling that are lighter than drywall and look like a finished ceiling.

I have brainstormed a few ideas, but would like to hear from you guys....Any ideas??????

Thanks in advance

 

[MushCreek]

Liner panel, which is a light gauge metal roofing. You can get it in white, and they make J-channel to finish it nicely where it meets the wall. It's a bit more money than drywall, but much less work. You screw it in place, and you're done- no taping, mudding, sanding, or painting.

 

[b-boy]

I used galvanized panels.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Union-Corrugating-2-16-ft-x-12-ft-Corrugated-Metal-Roof-Panel/3317584

It came out pretty nice and was fairly inexpensive.

It was difficult to work with though. Especially 12-ft up in the air. I'd go with 8' lengths next time.

The biggest hassle was the lighting/electrical. I ended up screwing junction boxes directly to the ceiling panels to avoid having to cut large holes in the metal. Cutting this stuff with a 4" hole saw was not easy or fun.

 

[cosmo52]

I used the white ribbed panels 14 feet long My walls are 14 feet high. I used a drywall lift with an extention to get it up to the right height. Cut hole into the metal for light installation. I had a rolling scaffold next to the drywall lift to install the screws. It can be done off of a ladder but requires quite a few trips up and down

 

[jlipper81]

Did you guys insulate above these metal ceilings? If so, what kind and how much????

 

[zippyslug31]

Not your exact problem, but I had a similar puzzle to solve: for me I was trying to close off my internal workshop where the greater barn had 16' walls but I only wanted a 10' high ceiling workshop; I also wanted to run insulation above/around this workshop. I already had the 10' workshop walls built. The narrow dimension of the workshop was 30' and I really wanted to avoid having any roof supports in the way.

I just bought engineered I-beams and spanned them across the tops of the walls, 24" OC. From there I attached 1/4" CDX to the bottoms of the I-beam spans, thus making my ceiling. I went with the plywood since I needed something lightweight, yet strong enough to support the ceiling insulation. With the cavities created above the workshop ceiling, I ran my batts of insulation in them. The weight of the insulation and CDX was all reasonably low (sub 4k# IIRC) for the 30 or so I-beams I ran. There is zero downward deflection and I don't have anything adding weight over the workshop. It all worked great! Yes, it was a major hassle to attached the 40-some-odd sheets of 4x8 sheets of plywood to the bottom of the I-beams! Several thousand drywall screws later and it's strong as hell.

Hopefully my description makes sense.

Guess this is just my long-winded explanation to consider something that is both light enough, and STRONG enough to support your insulation.

 

[jlipper81]

I have come up with the following for potential "lightweight" ceiling options. Feel free to add others to this list. Please give me any experience you have with these:
- Linear metal/tin ceiling
- PVC Ceiling
- AgTuf
- TrussCore
- FRP
- Stretch fabric
(Google Velum designs)
- Shrink wrap
(Google Global Wrap)

 

[rburke65]

Everyone tries to skimp on the frequency or spacing of the trusses to save the money but it causes troubles down the road with your very issue. Not saying this is the result of your planning. I used a plastic vapor barrier, metal ceiling liner to my 24” centered trusses. Then blow in ..?..R-32 Fiberglas insulation.

 

[b-boy]

Did you guys insulate above these metal ceilings? If so, what kind and how much????

I used 24"x48" R-38 Faced Batts. I ran plastic strapping across the ceiling to create a support grid prior to putting up the metal.

I have R-21 on the walls. The internal temps are not too bad. A lot better than without the insulation.There's alt least a 20F difference between the floor and up in the rafters.

 

[b-boy]

I used the white ribbed panels 14 feet long My walls are 14 feet high. I used a drywall lift with an extention to get it up to the right height. Cut hole into the metal for light installation. I had a rolling scaffold next to the drywall lift to install the screws. It can be done off of a ladder but requires quite a few trips up and down

This is the same method I used.

I couldn't get an extension for my drywall lift, so I built a wooden platform on top of it to extend it an extra few inches.

 

[MushCreek]

When I do my shop, I'm going to staple up insulation netting and have cellulose blown in. Then I'll install the tin. I can't use batts because the ceiling joists are on 12" centers, and I've never seen batts for 12" spacing. I have 2x10's, so the cellulose should give me pretty good results if they fill it.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Liner panel, which is a light gauge metal roofing. You can get it in white, and they make J-channel to finish it nicely where it meets the wall. It's a bit more money than drywall, but much less work. You screw it in place, and you're done- no taping, mudding, sanding, or painting.

As far as I am concerned, hands down the best and easiest way to finish the ceiling.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Did you guys insulate above these metal ceilings? If so, what kind and how much????

What kind and how much, well is going to vary on where you live. Asking questions like this is why it helps to put a general location in your profile.



Myself, as much as I hate the stuff, it'd probably be blown in cellulose. ... that or fiberglass. However, being that I would be doing the work, there's a local place that makes it and planning on literally never getting back up in the attic space.

 

[bobj49f2]

My pole building is 30x50. We joined our truss with perpendicular 2x4s. We then screw the white corrugated panels. We had the sheets custom cut to fit the roof. Popped holes next to the 2x4s, mounted the power on the 2x4s and ran BX into the boxes. Blew in 12-14" of insulation on top.

It did help to have a scissors lift. I bought a lift for $1500 and will sell it once we have the building done. It costs over $100/day to rent one. The way I figure I save at least $1000 and didn't have to rush to get the job done. I also have a forklift which I could have rigged a platform for to use.

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[jlipper81]

- I'm located in Pennsylvania.
- R-30 is code for ceiling (was planning on blown in but have other ideas - depends on the final ceiling).
- As far as the poor planning, I specified drywall finish, the contractor screwed me and by the time I finally got a copy of the truss document, it was too late. So I'm now at this point trying to engineer a solution.

 

[jlipper81]

Here are some photos of the project: