Pulp Deck

Pulp Deck

As mentioned last week, the tongue and groove bead board had been delivered and it was time to get busy with the Pulp Deck ceiling close-in. And that’s exactly what happened!

First up, not sure how to describe it, but every day that we installed a new section of the bead board, it kind of felt like it was already there. As in, the style we had picked was such a natural fit for the previously installed PVC trim pieces, that it all ended up just looking seamless, like it was meant to be. Each day it continued to grow in size until we reached the end yesterday (at least for the main “kitchen area” covered section, also being the largest amount of square footage required to be covered) and then, there it was…..a finished ceiling!

Notice I said “finished ceiling”. If you look close at the adjacent pic you’ll notice that the ceiling fan is no longer hanging where it was and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of holes for the recessed lighting (remember we had mounted the light templates previously). And in that, you would be correct. The ceiling fan went up a few weeks ago to be of use for the 4th of July gathering, it came in very handy, as we were in that “hazy, hot and humid” stretch of weather, which, inconveniently, we seem to be in again. Anyway, it was temporarily mounted using a 3/4” piece of the PVC trim board and an outlet box set for that 3/4” depth. Well….turns out the tongue and groove bead board is only 9/16” thick. What does that all mean? In short, the box would be extending itself out slightly proud of the finished ceiling and then the fan dome cover that goes over the box and electric connections would, in fact, not being able to mount flush to the ceiling, leaving it a bit hanging in the breeze with a gap space around it. Not on this watch! So, it all had to come down so we could reposition the electric box higher up, which we did. I should mention that the blades of the fan kind of get in the way, as well, when you are working around it so it all worked out just fine.

Last week we also mentioned that we had chosen a specific Halo recessed lighting fixture in part because it required a 6” hole in the ceiling, which we believed we could make with the readily available 6” hole saw. Turns out that was not the case. On a dry run with a sample piece in the garage, the hole saw grabbed the bead board and the drill went flying out of my hands! Attempted it again and while eventually it seemed I might get through, the thought of doing this upside down and at an angle on ceiling just did not look to be a prudent way to proceed. What to do? As we got to each ceiling template, we used the light provided cut-out template (6” circular piece of cardboard) and drew the outline directly onto the ceiling boards. Using a 3/8” drill bit, drilled holes around the circular shape drawn on ceiling and then, using a jigsaw, completed the cut around the circle. Mission accomplished.

At least for the first one! Decided to hold off until today to do the rest of them as it creates quite the mess of sawdust and figured one big cleanup better than multiple cleanups!

Progress pics below, see you next week!