How to install beadboard panels on a ceiling and why we’ll never do it again

The title of this post probably doesn’t give you too much confidence in our renovation abilities. Don’t get me wrong, the ceilings look very nice. We actually love them. It’s just that we would never, ever, do it again and would not wish this project on anyone. This seems a bit extreme even as I’m typing and rereading it, but so was the amount of time it took to complete this project. Like, seriously, it took most of the 21 days that we’ve actually worked on the Lake House. In this post, which feels like it’s taken nearly as long to write as it did to complete the project, I will break it all down for you- the good, the bad, and why we would go another route even though we’re happy with the end result. If you’re thinking, “Meghan, I don’t care, I’ve made up my mind, I’m doing this project!” then by all means, scroll down to the end for all of the materials, tools, and a step-by-step tutorial.

First, the good:

This is a relatively inexpensive way to spruce up a ceiling and give it character. Installing individual boards vs. panels is more time consuming and more expensive upfront, so if you’re looking to save a chunk of change, these panels are the way to do it. What you have to remember though, is that beadboard sheets are made for walls, not ceilings, and that’s what the next section- the bad- is all about.

Our ceilings are vaulted, so we bought a dry-wall lift which was the best decision and we split the cost with Matt’s brother who also plans to use the lift in the future- sharing is caring! We got ours from eBay, and seriously, it’s so worth it.

Installing the trim was easy and using a paint sprayer saved us some time. The paint sprayer was such a headache on the walls, but that’s for a different time. It was great for the ceilings, though! We have a lot of surface area when it comes to ceilings so I’m positive this saved us a ton of time. Same thing with the trim. Since we opted for chunky, Shaker-style moldings throughout the house, we could use really simple boards to trim the panels which saved us from having to mitre corners and saved us cash-money, baby!

It is exactly the look we wanted. It really gives the house that Nordic, cottage vibe. Also, the popcorn ceiling and the flat ceiling, for that matter, was awful, so this is a huge improvement!

Now, for the bad:

To start, the boys’ bedroom ceiling joists turned out to be 24″ on center. Not good. That means the ceiling was already sagging which created a bit of a challenge when keeping the seams tight as we put the boards up. We could also see the ceiling move every time we pushed the nailer into a panel– kind of disconcerting.

Next, we ran into a lot of weird angles that required the sheets to be cut with a coping saw. We literally cut puzzle pieces which took extra time in planning and execution.

Once the panels were up and secure, we had to do finishing work on the butt joints- the point where a sheet of paneling meets end to end rather than bead to bead. The seams from bead to bead were a breeze unlike the butt joints which required massive amounts of wood filling along with a great deal of sanding. Seriously, we repeated this step at least three times and we used about 5 tubes of wood filler and a few different sanders and sanding blocks (an orbital sander got the best results).

In general, installing the trim along the ceiling wasn’t terrible, until we ran into all of the angles that we encountered with the panels. Thankfully, we did not have to mitre any corners, as I mentioned above, because the walls in this house, particularly where we ripped out the closet, aren’t square. This step required even more wood filler, sanding, and caulk.

So. Much. Caulk. We used 10 tubes of caulk. TEN. It didn’t take that long but it was a little frustrating for us because we came up for a single day specifically to caulk but then ran out of it. If the closest home improvement store didn’t mean an hour roundtrip for us, we would have had time to finish.

And that right there is really the biggest reason we do not recommend this project- it is extremely time consuming. Living 2 hours away from this project limited the actual hands-on time we had to complete it and thus it dragged out for 21 days. That and the sanding. I hope I never have to sand a ceiling again. Sanding our floor boards has been meditative while sanding a ceiling is maddening.

But let’s all take a deep breath, laugh at the number of times I’ve typed the words “butt joint”, and admire the finished product:

It looks really nice and we really do love it even though I’ve been hating on the process. And wow, what an improvement from the popcorn ceilings and popping drywall nails:

At this point I’m sure I’ve made it abundantly clear that this project is tedious and extremely time consuming. While the sheets themselves go up rather quickly and easily (I mean, for the most part), the finishing steps take a long time. Having to fill all of the nail holes and the seams and the butt joints, then waiting for it all to dry, then having to sand everything, then having to repeat these steps when a joint isn’t even, or the filler falls out of the nail hole- it can be a vicious cycle. Having said that, I do think that there are types of rooms that are much better suited for this type of application and part of the difficulties that we ran into have to do with our particular house and ceilings. What follows is a list of Dos and Don’ts- and this is entirely our opinion based on our own unique experience. When it comes to DIY, you can do anything that your budget and your drive and your experience allows (and your safety!). By all means, if you don’t mind all of the steps, go for it! I think you’ll be happy with the end result.

Okay, so here are our recommendations…

DON’T use beadboard sheets on a ceiling that is sagging or has joists wider than 16″ on center. I can tell you first hand that the butt joints are much easier to make disappear on a ceiling when there are only 16 inches from one board to the next like our master vs. 24 inches like the boys’ bedroom. You also might not even notice your ceiling is sagging until you start putting the sheets of beadboard on it. That being said…

DO use beadboard sheets on a ceiling in a small area where butt joints will not be necessary. We are applying beadboard to the ceilings in two other rooms. It was going to be three, but after our experience upstairs, we are opting to use primed shiplap or something similar on our living room ceiling. We have one sheet up in the guest room which is a super small space- just 7′ x 10′- and the vaulted ceiling allows us to use three 8′ sheets that we can seam bead to bead, no butt joints required.

DON’T use beadboard sheets on a large surface-area ceiling that will create multiple exposed butt joints. While the end result looks very nice, we are fully aware that with expansion and contraction of the MDF, the woodfiller might crack and we’ll have to repeat the processes we hated so much in order to repair it. We’re also a little concerned what will happen when we need to replace the roof in 15 years or so. The more butt joints you have, the longer finishing takes and the more repairs you may have in the future.

DO use beadboard sheets on a large surface-area ceiling IF you can cover butt joints in a way that is aesthetically pleasing to you. We haven’t done this yet, but it’s in the works for our kitchen. I have a couple of theories why this will work- 1.) I’ve seen it in pictures and it looks really nice and 2.) This application is much more similar to the wall application of beadboard sheets which is truly the intention of this material. We plan to use the sheets we purchased for the living room on a flat, semi-coffered ceiling design in the kitchen. We’ll cut the sheets into 4′ x 4’s to create 10 squares and cover the seams and joints with 6″ to 8″ boards.

DON’T use beadboard sheets on a ceiling if you have a short timeline, you live a long distance away from your project, or you don’t have help. This is actually three different things not to do, but I really didn’t want to get too negative. I suppose that ship has sailed since I gave the post its title. Anyway, this project is time consuming- have I said that already? Haha, but it is. I’m sure it was compounded by the fact that we were working on two ceilings at once and trying to do some other projects, but the bottom line is, if you need a quick fix, this isn’t it. As I mentioned earlier, we live a little over 2 hours from our Lake House and so when we think in terms of days spent working, it’s not usually full days. If you live far away, it’s just going to make a time consuming project like this take even longer. Finally, please, we beg you, don’t do this project by yourself, especially if you’re trying to put up full sheets. It’s probably not safe and it will be infinitely more frustrating. The only instance that I could possibly, maybe see is if you have a drywall lift like we used and ceilings that aren’t sloped or overly high. Our project had both sloped and high ceilings. We also had low sloping ceilings where the drywall lift didn’t fit and it took three of us to get it secured to the ceiling. You want help for this project.

DO use beadboard sheets on a ceiling if you have plenty of time to complete your project, you’re not traveling to work on it, and you have help or hire it out. If you have the time, that’s awesome. If you’re really patient, that’s even better. And I envy you on both accounts! Lots of help also makes this doable. Matt and I did some on our own, but we did the more difficult parts with help from our parents. You can also pay someone to do it. I would caution that most contractors are going to try to talk you into beadboard planks on a ceiling instead of sheets and that’s because of the expansion and contraction. And also, these sheets are intended for walls, which we knew but we wanted to save money.

Still wanna do it? You’re a brave soul. Good luck and we hope the following tutorial helps!

You can also preview this project in 30 seconds or scroll ahead for the materials and tutorial:

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You will need:

Materials:

• 4′ x 8′ sheets of beadboard paneling
• Liquid Nails paneling adhesive
• 2″ finishing nails
• Wood filler
• 120 grit sandpaper
• 1″ x 2″ trim boards or another type of molding- cove is a popular choice
• Caulk
• Kilz bonding primer
• Paint of your choice; we used Delicate White by Pittsburgh Paints and Stains

Tools:

• Tape measure
• Ladder
• Drywall lift (optional, but it’s a big help), ours is a 16′ model instead of an 11′ model for our vaulted ceilings
• Pry bar
• Laser level (optional but very helpful for lining up the boards)
• 16-gauge finish nailer
• Caulk gun
• Hammer and nail punch
• Stud finder, but more likely a Stud Buddy
• Chalk line or laser level and tripod
• Circular saw
• Orbital sander and/or mouse sander
• Sanding block
• Putty knife
• Paint sprayer (optional but it made painting super fast- ours was from Harbor Freight, but if I bought it again, I would spend the extra $80 for the one I linked to save some headaches- I’ve heard good things about both the brand and this particular model. Yes, a quality paint sprayer and the right tip will make a difference, but it’s also how you use it)

Step One: Hire someone. Done! No? Okay, in that case…

Measure your space to determine how many sheets of beadboard you will need. If you have a flat ceiling, this is straight forward, but if your ceiling is vaulted or sloping, you’ll need to account for that in your measurements. Might as well get on the ladder and measure- you’ll need it soon anyway!

Step Two: Once you have your materials and tools gathered, the “fun” begins! Decide where you want to start your first sheet. We wanted the boards to run parallel to the peak- both ceilings are vaulted, one has a beam, one doesn’t. We chose to start against the lowest wall in the boys’ bedroom where there is a 2′-3′ clearance. In our bedroom, we started at the peak. Both starting places worked out just fine.

Step Three: Before you start getting nail and adhesive happy, make sure you know where the ceiling joists are because you need to nail your sheets into the joists. Our stud finder did not want to work upside-down. If we did it again- which we most likely will not- I would use a Stud Buddy instead, which is a super cool magnetic tool that finds nails in your studs and joists. Fortunately for us, the ceilings were so awful in this house that we could see the nails in the joists. Maybe ‘fortunately’ isn’t the right word. Regardless, we measured and used a laser on a tripod so we didn’t have to snap chalk lines. Tip: however you mark the joists, remember that you’re going to cover them with a sheet of panelling, which is why we opted for a laser. We also used a square and lightly marked lines with pencil when the laser was blocked.

Step Four: Now it’s time to get the boards on the ceiling. Use the Liquid Nails paneling adhesive and apply around the edges of the panel and then in an “S” pattern. Tip: Plan on one tube of adhesive per 4′ x 8′ sheet. Once it’s on, you have a 20-minute window to get it on the ceiling which you will find yourself very grateful for if your experience is anything like ours. Using a drywall lift or 2-3 people, hold the panel in place on the ceiling while another person uses the finish nailer to secure the sheet to the joists. We also opted to nail all around the edge to help hold the paneling while the adhesive cured. In addition, we left the drywall lift against each sheet for 30-60 minutes or more to keep the adhesive tight to the ceiling while it dried. Our space also required more… creative means of support during dry time.

Step Five: When you’re ready to add the next sheet, if your space is large and you’ll be unable to avoid butt joints, you’ll need to think about where the large and small beads are on the sheet (you’ll need to do this any time you’re placing sheets bead-to-bead even without butt joints). One end has a smaller bead and the other end has a larger bead. This helps create a seamless line when boards are laid side by side longways. When you have to lay the 4′ ends side by side, a butt joint is created and you want to make sure that you lay them factory edge-to-factory edge. We cut a sheet to fit the remainder of the uncovered ceiling, then used the remainder of the sheet we cut on the next section so that we had big bead against small bead and factory edge against factory edge. It will mess with your head for a minute but it will quickly make sense. I would advise that you double check before cutting each time. Tip: Cut boards on the back of the sheet to avoid chipping the front of the board.

Step Six: You’ve made it so far! And now you’re ready to relinquish your sanity wood fill and sand. All of the nail holes, bead seams, and butt joints will need at least one round of filling and sanding. I used my finger to apply the filler and I would advise sticking with that method for everything except the butt joints. For those, you might be able to apply a larger amount quicker with a putty knife. We mounded the wood filler on the nail holes- Tip: Before you fill the nail holes, take a hammer and nail punch to make sure all of the nail heads are sunk into the MDF (or get these- Matt LOVES them). When filling the bead seams, apply a generous amount of filler to your finger and spread it in and down along the beads. Then, use your finger or a damp sponge to remove the excess filler being careful not to remove too much. If you do this step well, you’ll save yourself from having more hand-sanding to do when you’re done. I have read tutorials on other blogs that use caulk for this step- it’s your call. We chose wood filler since it mimics wood. For the butt joints, be generous with the wood filler to really hide the seam and to give yourself an opportunity to sand it to an even height.

Step Seven: Once everything is dry, it’s time to sand. We used multiple methods- a sanding block, a mouse sander, an orbital sander, and even sandpaper folded over a putty knife. I think each method truly serves a different purpose. The sanding block is the method we used for places the mouse or orbital sander couldn’t reach because of the sloped ceilings OR when one or both sanders were occupied. The orbital sander was my favorite, made the fastest progress, and really smoothed out the butt joints. The mouse sander was okay, faster than a block, but I found it most useful to sand around the beads to keep their shape. To do this, I used the edge of the sander where big and little beads meet. For some places around the beads I used loose sandpaper folded over a putty knife, but once I discovered I could do, essentially, the same thing faster with edge of the power sander, I quickly abandoned that method. Tip: Do be careful sanding the beads with a mouse sander- it is very easy to flatten them if you hold the sander at the wrong angle.

Step Eight: Be prepared to repeat steps 6 and 7 until you’re satisfied or you can’t stand it anymore (I wish I was joking). The places that needed these steps again were generally the butt joints or any nail holes we either missed or where the filler popped out. Our strategy was to sand the butt joints and judge by feeling- actual touch- based on our theory that if you can’t feel it you won’t see it. For the most part, this was accurate. As far as we could help it, anyway. Our bedroom worked really well with 16″ on center joists, but there wasn’t much that could be done in the boys’ room with the 24″ on center joists.

Step Nine: Install trim using the finish nailer. We used 1″ x 2″ primed pine boards and nailed them to ceiling- the 2″ side on the ceiling. Did you miss wood-filling and sanding? Guess what!? You get to do it again! Fill the nail holes and the butt joints, let dry, and sand. We used a sanding block when we couldn’t fit a mouse sander.

Step 10: If you’ve made it this far, you’re almost done. It’s okay, you can do a happy dance. It’s time to caulk anywhere the trim meets the walls and the ceiling. Using the caulking gun, squeeze a line along the trim you’re sealing then use your finger to push it into the cracks and smooth it out along the trim. We had some very wide seams along the walls which is why we wound up using 9 tubes of caulk between both rooms. And there are some places I need to fix in our bedroom still, so our total will actually come to 10! You’ll also have to shove the caulk into the beads and then scrape any excess so it doesn’t obscure the beading. Likewise, make sure you wipe any caulk off of places you don’t want it. It doesn’t sand down and once it dries you’ll have to scrape it off of unwanted surfaces with a razor blade.

Step Eleven: Prime time! Seriously, don’t skip this step. Primer is super important, even if your paint has it as an all-in-one, do it anyway. It will give your paint job a longer life and if you go through all of this work, then priming is worth it. Plus, for better or worse, the primer will highlight any butt joints or seams that need another round of filling and sanding. If you’re satisfied with the way the primer looks, go ahead and paint! If you don’t like the way it looks yet, like us, go back to steps 6 and 7, prime again, then paint. For both painting and priming we chose to use a paint sprayer. Google paint sprayer techniques- that’s an entire subject on it’s own. Tip: When using a paint sprayer, apply many light coats and move lightening fast to avoid paint drips and runs. Our ceilings worked particularly well this way. We ran into trouble with the walls.

One other step that we didn’t have to do because we nearly gutted these rooms- if you have finished flooring and/or walls, cover them with drop cloths and plastic. Move any furniture that’s in the way. Adhesive will accidentally drop on the floor and so will caulk. Sanding will cover everything with dust and a paint sprayer will coat all the things even if you don’t want it to (you’ll be pulling it out of your hair 3 weeks later- true story), so cover what you don’t want painted or dusty or sticky.

Okay, just one more look at the finished ceilings in each room:

I want to take the time to congratulate you if you complete this project (and honestly, even if you read this entire post) especially on a large scale with many butt joints (have you giggled at that term as much as I have?)! Share your work with us- or better yet, your progress. We’d be happy to cheer you on 🙂

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