What ceiling, if any, is above you basement layout?

Wow Roger!! You gotta really love trains to dig out a basement for them.

Great Work. As far as never being finished, I don't believe anyone ever has a truly "FINISHED" layout. Thanks, Good Luck.

Our house's basement was fully finished when we bought it. The train room looks nice with a light oak paneling. The rec room has that 70's looking dark timber tudor style finish, but that's another story.

Above about 10 of the tiles where there are no wires, ducts, or plumbing, I have train boxes filling the joist cavities. I've got two cheapie light fixtures for the room.

Here are two of the ceiling tiles I replaced after a leak in my master bath's shower drain. It was about $100 for the two boxes of tiles needed and a few hours making the cuts. Full uncut tiles will never, ever get damaged

I ended up having to replace about 15 tiles including all of them in the half bath which is the door to the left. Only four of them in the bath were damaged, but there were only 8 in the room and they were very different looking tiles. One of the tiles got so wet, the weight of it bent the main t brace, so I had to straighten it and add an extra wire. 

J White

Roger is a reincarnated John Allen....and he is getting very close to finishing his layout.  It is really something to see!

On my layout, I was fortunate enough to have it specially built as a second floor above my garage.  I have 10.5 foot ceilings which were finished out with OSB and painted flat black.  My wife managed a photography studio and suggested that I would be glad I painted the ceiling flat black which at the time I thought was wrong but as it turns out she was right (don't tell her that since she is right most of the time!). 

Alan

Please explain "adding a few extra courses of block".   Ron B.

I would think a drop ceiling would work best, if you want a finished look, as you can get at the pipes, etc.

Like Alan, our layout is on a second floor so I can't give you a parallel to what I did.

i  have drop tiles.  i love it but have had it all my life.  that and when i have to find a wire or a pipe it makes my life much easer for me.  

My wife stapled black material she bought in bolts from fabric store to the ceiling. Came out very nice actually. It was a nice surprise. She did 30x30 basement in a few hours. 

My 1889 house has a cellar with pipes that could dent your head. I have a small "S" layout down there (the other ones are upstairs), and I have a plastic tarp stretched over the ceiling in that area to catch any bits of plaster. So far, so good after 4 years.

Drop ceiling.   It was there with the finished basement when we purchased the house. If I were to finish the basement I would have done a flat black sprayed.

There's way too much running along my ceiling for sheetrock so it's a drop ceiling for me.

We are moving in a month or less and new house has unfinished basement. I'm with Norm earlier in the thread, would have paid extra for an unfinished basement. Ceilings will remain open & unfinished, probably not even paint. I like the open access to all the pipes & wiring and if you ever want to change something it can easily be accessed. Probably going to seal the floor with some kind of clear, non glossy concrete sealer and that will probably be it. Not sure about walls yet, they are concrete also, may just seal or possibly paint, no drywall anywhere.

I had the builder add an extra course of cement blocks so the I had a high ceiling then I put in a drop ceiling which still give me a lot of headroom.  In another house I had no finished ceiling and the layout would get dirty from stuff falling out of the joists over the years.

I copied off CSX AL and it looks great. The dark ceiling brings your full attention to the layout.

Roger, that IS the ideal railroad:  one that's never 'finished'.

     Hoppy

The ceiling over my layout is pink fiberglass and floor joists. I have no plan to put up any other ceiling.

A completely unfinished ceiling (open joists) will allow dust to sift down onto the layout.  It will come from seams in the subfloor above and from the joints between joists and floorboards.  I also sprayed a thick coat of flat black on my open joists, wires, etc. (protecting any water shut off valves with masking tape beforehand) and have been very happy.  The paint serves to seal up the cracks where dust originates.  I have very little dust in the basement at all.  You DEFINITELY want to seal or paint any and all exposed concrete as that stuff sheds dust forever.

I have an unfinished ceiling, but the walls have paneling. I think it was done that way for tax purposes. Technically, if the room is unfinished it can't be considered as living space for ascesment. I did however put in drop lighting and a few elect circuits. Didn't want to get too much into it as it would take away time from layout building.

Guys,

I was fortunate enough to purchase a house with a fully finished basement with a white painted textured ceiling with high hats mounted every few feet. However the lights in the high hats give off too much heat. I must replace them with low wattage bulbs that don't give off that much heat! Thanks for reminding me!

Mike Maurice

I go with drywall, finished and painted to look like sky: two colors of blue with hints of clouds.  I looked at black ceilings, but chose this approach for two reasons:

It gives the layout room a bright airy look.  Sort of like being outdoors watching trains. 

You can take low angle photos, and not worry about the black ceiling getting in the photo:

I installed a drywall bulkhead to cover the duct work and drain pipes.  The remaining half I installed a drop ceiling with minimal drop.  I used cheap shop florescent lights installed between the rafters and used the plastic panels to allow the light through.  Under the bulkhead I installed track lighting which covers one side of the layout.

I just completed my trainroom (now I have a room and no layout....yet!) and used this product. Very lightweight, three dimensional look. It won't be the best for sound deadening, but, if needed, I might put a light layer of thin insulation above the tiles.

http://www.ceilume.com/

  I have drywall ceiling in my basement,but thank goodness I haven't started on a permanent layout yet because I recently have been having an issue with my insulated duct work overhead dripping condensation on to it causing the drywall to get damp and chipping out 

 I wish it was a drop ceiling design instead of the drywall,easier access to utilities .

My old house has this problem with dust through the floor, one we are moving to is brand new and has tongue & groove plywood with tongue & groove hardwood floors on top of that with seams running 90 degrees to the direction of the plywood seams. It's all glued and nailed down. Don't think we will have the same dust problems with new house, so no ceiling paint or finish of any kind, just bare wood. Down the road if it ever does become a problem, will possibly consider a lift out ceiling.

So far I have talked to some manufacturers of concrete sealers to see which of their products would be suitable for my basement floor application. Was told by both to pour water on the floor. If water does not soak in, do not to use a sealer on it. They said the surface would have to be ground off to allow sealer to penetrate. Definitely don't want to grind off the nice smooth finish it has now.  However, if the water soaks in, one of their sealers could be used. Found that interesting. This part was a big surprise to me and possibly others as well. Maybe a good FYI, FWIW. Most of the manufacturers have an 800 number for technical questions on their websites somewhere. May call a couple more and compare notes.