ᐅ Drywall Construction: Sequence for Installing Suspended Ceiling and Partition Walls

Hello everyone,

We are currently in the middle of a major renovation of our recently purchased house.

Upstairs, the 1930s house had lattice battens under all ceilings and sloping roof sections, onto and between which the plaster was applied. We were not aware of this initially, but it became obvious when we pulled nails/screws out of the ceiling – half of the plaster came off with them.
Conclusion: plaster and lattice battens removed down to the exposed wooden beams.

Now we want to install a suspended ceiling using drywall and also build new drywall partition walls for a new floor plan. The question I have is: Should I first build the vertical walls for the new layout up to the exposed wooden beams and then install the suspended ceiling, or should I install the suspended ceiling first and then build the drywall walls up to the suspended ceiling?

The first option seems much more sensible and logical to me (stability and soundproofing) – but I want to double-check just to be sure I’m doing it right 😉 Thanks!

First walls, then ceiling.

This has acoustic and structural advantages.

Sure, first walls then ceiling.

Is there a place where we can see your project in detail? We have been renovating our house from 1921 since 2017. In 2023, new drywall ceilings will be installed, and one wall will be demolished and rebuilt with changes. However, this time it will be done by a professional; otherwise, we usually do almost everything ourselves.

And definitely do not cover the entire ceiling with heavy painting fleece wallpaper. In our apartment, the boards were only jointed with embedded fleece tape, and you can see every seam as a crack because the beam ceiling simply swings and moves too much.

Myrna_Loy schrieb:

And definitely avoid wallpapering the entire ceiling with heavy painter’s fleece. In our apartment, the panels were only taped at the joints with embedded fleece and filled, and you can see every seam as a crack because the beam ceiling vibrates and moves too much.

We don’t have that problem at all, even though we only filled the ceilings (without using joint fleece).

I will probably suspend the entire ceiling below the beams using thin OSB panels and then cover it with drywall to increase the load-bearing capacity of the ceilings (for example, if you want to hang something to sit on). I would have otherwise just filled, sanded, and painted the drywall ceilings white or applied a textured roller finish—but you make a good point about the cracks, I’ll have to think that over again…