Need input on 'faux' tin ceiling project, LONG!
 

We have suspended ceilings in our house, and I hate them. For reasons too numerous to go into, we can't just tear them down and put up framing and sheetrock for a 'regular' ceiling like 'normal' homes have. Our house is old, old, old, and we have no money AT ALL to spend buying lumber, sheetrock, insulation, rerouting ducts, etc. Plus, there is a large resort/amusement park/gated living community with hotels, shopping, dining, etc. beginning construction less than 1/2 mile from our area that will have an estimated 2+ million visitors a year and we will likely be taxed out of our home and end up moving to land we have in another state. However, I still want to do something about the horrible ceilings we have in the house currently. The dust they give off is horrendous. I am sick to death of years of dusting the entire house weekly to keep up. I don't like that we are breathing what the ceiling tiles give off either. They are ugly.

Ok, keep reading, I'm getting to it...

I found a box of those fake tin ceiling tiles, 1x1' square. They are Armstrong brand, made to look like old fashioned pressed tin ceiling tiles. I glued them together to make a 2x4 tile which fits perfectly into the existing 2x4 ceiling grid. I then got some heavy duty aluminum foil and laid it over the tile and using a folded washcloth, embossed the pattern of the tile onto the sheet of aluminum foil. This made a fake ceiling tile which looked pretty good. I then removed one of the old ceiling tiles and put some glue on it and carefully laid the foil over the tile and let it dry. When I put the tile back into place in the grid, it looks pretty good, except that the foil isn't adhered to the tile very well. Also, there were some spots where the raised embossed places had been pressed back down flat, I guess where the glue grabbed onto the foil and from me handling it when I was fitting it back into the ceiling grid.

Is there any way I can stiffen the aluminum foil so that the raised pattern won't get flattened? I tried a couple of different things I had around the house (brushed on Mod Podge and spray on fabric stiffener) and neither worked.

I know it sounds dopey, but the ones that are up there look pretty darn good, and making a fake tin ceiling out of aluminum foil is something I can afford. I can't afford real tin or anything like beadbord or sheetrock or anything else.

Does anyone have suggestions about what I can use to make the foil stiff that is REALLY super cheap? Like 10 or 20 bucks cheap?

Are you using the Heavy Duty Aluminum foil ? That is pretty good, certainly heavier than regular. sometimes it is pretty reasonable at the dollar G store.

no ideas for what to use unless it is the extra heavy aluminum foil.
my thought was on the 'glue'. Try using the spray on adhesive. Cheap and a can goes quite a ways. Spray it onto the tile you want to adhere the foil to, then center your foil.
I did the foil thing once years ago for a ceiling drop in a small nook. I did a reverse emboss though. I glued the foil on and then laid my good tile over it and embossed it very heavily so it indented even into the tiles. looked good too.

maybe something like plaster of parris.

Yea, I would make a mold and use plaster of paris.

Spray on contact cement should work pretty good.

I thought about using plaster of paris or something to fill in the back of the foil once I emboss it. But the problem would be---how? Once the pattern is raised and I remove the foil from the form, if I then lay the foil face down to fill the back of it, then that would flatten the foil and ruin the pattern. I tried with some flour and water paper mache. Too heavy and flattened the foil.

I used the 'heavy duty' kind of aluminum foil.

I am almost thinking I would need something to put on the front of the foil while it is still on the mold. If I could find something clear that would dry very stiff, I think it would help keep the raised pattern from being crushed.

Make a 2x4 frame with a bottom. Fill with plaster of paris. Spray the Armstrong tile with release agent. Imprint in plaster of paris till hardened to create a negative. Spray negative with release agent. Fill with great stuff expanding foam then glue alum. foil on with contact cement when removed.

form the foil to the negative first, then use the back fill , wich im thinking that the expanding foam would be the ticket. light and tuff. no need for release agents as the foil wont stick to the negative. though 2 part foam kits are cheaper then cans of greatstuff.

maybe use a high pressure air jet to form the foil in the negative?

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the suggestions. Gives me a lot to think about. Problem is also very limited money, as in practically none. Just fishing for extremely low cost options.

There is faux tin ceiling wallpaper sold at Lowes and Home Depot, Amazon also sells it but it looks like it's out of stock right now.

I used the faux beadboard wallpaper in our powder room, it was very thick and pretty easy to work with. I ordered mine from Home Depot.com, but the one at Lowes was $15 a double roll and in stock in the store. Paintable, so you could make it any color you want.

Karen C

What about a punched tin panel instead of the raised panel? Spray adhesive onto your existing ceiling panel, smooth your tin foil over it and let it dry. You could probably even use cheaper, thinner tinfoil. Once it is good and dry, use an awl or knitting needle, or something, to "punch" your pattern. I'm sure you could find some neat patterns googling tin-punch. Maybe use a screwdriver for a punch in some areas (for elongated holes). Once it is done, maybe daub some black shoepolish or paint over it and then wipe it off to give it a bit of an "old" appearance.

Just thoughts....

I would get some of the heavy duty reastreraunt grade foil at Costco(its thicker than the store stuff, use a double layer of foil spray adhesived together, and use spray adhesive to adhere to to the ceiling.. You could also try making a relief mold from plaster of paris, them press the aluminum into that and while its still in the mold you could fill it with paper mache, etc.

use cheap spray paint REAL THICK on the back of the foil before you glue it onto the tiles. It should stiffen it up a bit and several coats could even fill in some of the texturing.

What about just spray painting the ceiling tiles as they are??? That'd seal in the dust, I'd think.

Wonderful ideas, I appreciate them! I like the thought of a punched tin ceiling, that idea hadn't occured to me. That's a definite possibility. Also the idea of using two layers of foil. I had tried two layers of what I had, but it still wasn't quite stiff enough. I think I'm going to have to try to find foil that is different. My brother said Reynolds still makes a thick heavy duty foil.

I looked at the vinyl wallpaper stuff, but the width would be about 2.5 inches too narrow and would mean I'd have to do a lot of cutting. Unfortunately, it's too expensive. I'd spend hundreds if I did the whole house like I'm thinking about doing.

right now, I just have a few done in my sewing room as an experiment, and I like the way it looks.

Also, the tiles that are up now are OLD, and icky and they just look industrial or something and I don't want to paint them. I'd rather put in a bit of work and a tiny bit of money and have a different look. My decor is I guess a mix of colonial, federal, and country prim, and while the tin-look tiles don't go with those time periods at all, I really like the way they look in combination with those themes.

You guys have some awesome ideas. My brain is just stuck trying to figure out possibilities, and I appreciate so much your help.

I have to go to the store tomorrow, so I'll try to find some heavier foil. Maybe if this works I'll take a picture or two sometime and post it here.

Combining several idea already posted...

Make an opposite mold like blooba posted. Put the heavy duty foil on the mold, and rub/burnish it to get best details. Use newspaper and flour/water paste to build up a layer, sort of like a piñata on the back side. Make a screen, or find something porous that you can put the foil/newspaper on. You put a board on top of the mold with the foil/paper. Flip over onto the screen or drying rack. Quickly pull the board that is now on the bottom out. (or put the drying rack on top of the foil/paper/mold, and flip) Repeat.

I don't know how well the flour paste will stick to the foil. You may have to try wallpaper paste. Still fairly cheap. If you can get some thin sticks cheaply, you could embed them in the paper to provide support for the foil/paper.

Another option is Elmers white glue and paper. A bit more expensive, but might stick better.

Another idea is to fill in the back with something, and then glue to the old tiles.


Michael

Good heavens to betsy........I would just slap a thick coat of kilz over the whole ceiling, then paint it some nice color. That would seal in the chips and also you could faux finish some paint if you want......all that work with foil sounds like too much in a hosue you are not going to stay in........good luck

Yeah, good luck to you too. Thanks for that tidbit of advice. Not.

Meanwhile does have a point.

Plaster is very inexpensive, and actually pretty easy to repair. Why not just remove the drop ceiling, repair the plaster, and paint?

It seems like a cheaper alternative than the foil panels, could aid your resale value, and may be easier.

How about putting a piece of old fabric on the back, say a old sheet cut up. Like paper mache. with glue or something that will get hard like paper mache. PS. this is a wounderful idea you have doing this,quite inventive.

I've seen that stuff done on a ceiling...didn't look bad at all...

I'm just impressed with your creativity!! :clap:

Why not just spray paint the tiles with silver paint? I would think it would be cheaper then buying foil.

Hmmmm....that leads to another thought. What about taking down one of the old tiles, dipping string in glue and arranging it on the tile in a pattern, maybe string and yarns of different thicknesses for variety. Maybe some round pieces of paper (1 or 2") in a pattern, etc.... and then spraypaint the entire thing silver. Would give it dimension, and still seal in all the nasties.

I love the idea of making punch patterns in the aluminum foil and covering the ceiling tiles. I've got ugly one foot square tiles, but I don't know how to go about taking a few down because there are no grids and they seem to be locked together. Also there is blow in insulation up there and I'm guessing it would come raining down if I was able to take any of them down. Any ideas.

Melba, you've got the kind that is nailed right in place. Can you cut foil EXACTLY the size of one tile (well, I guess you could do how ever many tiles would fit without piecing....for instance, a 75' roll, as long as it was at least 12" wide, would do the entire strip of tiles!). Anyway..... cut the foil exactly the size you need. Glue it in place and press down the edges well. Then do the tin punching (albeit over your head).

You might try cutting a piece of styrofoam the exact size of one tile, laying the foil on it to punch it, and then gluing that piece of tinfoil to the ceiling tile, but I'd be afraid you'd lose your "punch" when you tried to glue it. I think you're almost going to have to glue it first. Oh wait..... (I'm thinking as I type, can you tell???)....what if you cut sheets of cardboard to size, covered that with foil, punched and burnished it...and then glued the foil-covered cardboard to the ceiling? It'd even give it a bit of dimension that way.

Hmmmmm......

Thanks for the ideas cc-rider. We were putting up thin wood that came 14 sq ft to a pack for $7.99 at Lowes. Did the main rooms and bathrooms but still have the bedrooms and hall to do. It has been a couple of years and when we went back to Lowe's the stuff has almost doubled in price! I tried that tile looking wall paper and found it really hard to work with couldn't get it to stick to the tile that is up there. It was supposed to be self stick, but guess it needed glue too. I might be able to deal with one foot square tiles, though.

What if you cut that embossed tile-looking wallpaper into foot squares and glue that to each tile already on the ceiling? And then paint the entire ceiling.

That might be a good idea. I returned all I bought to Lowes except the roll I'd opened, so I'd have to buy more. I bought mine a few years ago and wouldn't you know, I saw some on their clearance rack last fall for I think $3.99 a roll. I remembered I'd paid a lot more, but couldn't think of any use for it.