I am looking at finishing my garage. It is 30’x32’ and has 9’ ceilings. I am thinking about doing a white metal on the ceiling. Pros / cons of metal over sheetrock? I am working on the electrical right now and am trying to figure out how to rough in the lighting if I go metal. I know it should go on the flat spots of the metal but not sure where that would be until the ceiling goes up.
Metal will hold up better on the ceiling especially if the garage is unheated. It is best to do your electrical in conduit on the surface if it is metal. You can do it under but it takes a lot longer when you are installing the steel.
White steel “Liner” panels is what I would use.
Order it thru Menards and have it pre-cut to the size you need so there are no seems.
White steel “Liner” panels is what I would use.
Order it thru Menards and have it pre-cut to the size you need so there are no seems.
How would I lift a 30’ section at once?
The garage will be heated. I would like to install the electrical under the steel panels to keep a clean look.
A 30′ sheet is not that hard to lift you can split the garage in half and overlap the center seam too. Either way you will need an extra set of hands. Stack staging with wheels make the job much easier.
From what I have seen, a metal ceiling will echo a lot more than sheet rock.
As far as the electric goes, you can rough it in by leaveing extra wire looped near where you want your fixtures.
When you put up you tin, cut the hole in the tin where you want the light and set your box at that time, rather than before.
Or you can leave your coiled wire where you want your lights and use a cutin box after the ceiling is up.
Not sure on the price differance between sheetrock and tin, you may want to do a little math.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Eelpoutguy wrote:</div>
White steel “Liner” panels is what I would use.
Order it thru Menards and have it pre-cut to the size you need so there are no seems.How would I lift a 30’ section at once?
The garage will be heated. I would like to install the electrical under the steel panels to keep a clean look.
You have my #, plus I have a rolling scaffolding. 
If you will be heating the garage with a steel ceiling you should add a poly vapor barrier before installing the metal. It will slow air movement up through your insulation negating any R value.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Eelpoutguy wrote:</div>
White steel “Liner” panels is what I would use.
Order it thru Menards and have it pre-cut to the size you need so there are no seems.How would I lift a 30’ section at once?
The garage will be heated. I would like to install the electrical under the steel panels to keep a clean look.
9′ isn’t very high, so a little scaffolding or even ladders are helpful if you don’t have access to a forklift, lull, or some other lift. We will throw up steel by having one person per 10′. 30′, = 3 guys. If you’re messing around with hiding the electrical versus running it in conduit, there may be some more messing around needed.
Before ordering from Menards and promoting big box stores…call up your local lumberyard. We will order steel to the nearest 1″ and send a forklift, some tall ladders, or even our lull to help out free of charge to regular customers and contractors.
From what I have seen, a metal ceiling will echo a lot more than sheet rock.
If there is a bad echo that might bring me back to sheet rock. It might have a bad vibration sound when I am rocking out with the subwoofers. 
That would drive me nuts. 4 12” and 2 15” move a lot of air. So much that the saw dust will dance on my workbench.
Why metal? 99% of garages are sheetrocked.
Why metal? 99% of garages are sheetrocked.
Less expensive, if you want it to look finished.
Why metal? 99% of garages are sheetrocked.
It looks very nice, reflects light better (looks brighter in the shop), effortless to keep clean, and less expensive.
Learned something new today LOL
Why metal!? Wait you told me.
I have everything figured out to do the metal now. But I am worried about the noise and the panels vibrating where they butt together. If it is going to sound like my car trunk in high school I cant do it. The whole thing was Dyno Matted and still vibrated.
Country Western sounds good bouncing off that white sheet metal.
Heavy metal – not so much
I just ran a little test with my living room system and the metal soffits on the outside of my house sound horrible with the vibration. I can see the same thing happening with a metal ceiling.
Country Western sounds good bouncing off that white sheet metal.
Does it get more tinny, er, I mean twangy??
I just ran a little test with my living room system and the metal soffits on the outside of my house sound horrible with the vibration. I can see the same thing happening with a metal ceiling.
That’s because the metal soffits are barely stapled in place on the edges and move with the slightest fart turning themselves into 100 aluminum woofers. A lot different with solid sheets screwed every 16″. Still won’t help with the echo however.
If it helps my entire garage is 10ft ceilings with knockdown texture and painted with a bright white semigloss. It was bright as day without lights before everything got crammed in.
A sheetrock lift should would work for lifting panels.
Funny. I just bought a bunch of prorib from menards to use on my ceiling. It’s definitely not cheaper than rock at the current price. But it’s worth it. There was a few smaller 10-12’ pieces of white at the cottage grove menards on Rays list like 2 weeks ago for $2/ft. Cheap!
Just got the rock rock on the 1 wall that wasn’t done. So if anyone is interested in a small mud and tape job for 22’ of garage wall and above a garage door in the south metro, hit me up!
I have steel ceiling in my garage and would never use anything else for lights I placed outlets in the approximate places I wanted lights. Then hung 8 foot LED`s and just plug them in along with a ceiling fan. The outlets are controlled by different switches so I can turn on or off any of the lights. Or if I desire can add more lights or fans if needed. I have R30 in the ceiling and 6 inch walls and have never had the tin rattle or sound tinny from tunes.
have never had the tin rattle or sound tinny from tunes.
You need bigger / better speakers
I am going to go with the metal and just put some antivibration self-adhesive strips into the seams. I have some work to do.
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