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Garage Drop Ceiling

1725 Views 11 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  J-Man
This is kind of like the "Endless hallways" ceiling discussion thread.

I have built a drop ceiling frame (see link) and now pondering on how to cover it.

I have a roll of 20"x100" Black Plastic (easier to store but I bet it sags), I have a black 10x20ft EZ Pop Up Canopy Top Replacement (it's complicated), but also have my eye on Home Depot 10-Pack 4'x8' Corrugated Plastic Sheet for $140 (less sag but takes more storage space and have to paint it because the other colors are 2 times more expensive.).

Any one have any experience with the Home Depot Corrugated Plastic Sheets or have any other ideas?

I expect Kindo to recommend foam, bfjou812 to "make" me buy a new tool, and J-Man to suggest something that involves an oscilloscope :)

http://www.snydercentral.com/halloween/static_props/garage2018/garage2018.htm
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FOAM! USE FOAM!! lol! ;)

never seen that corrugated plastic sheet before. i know they never had it in store when i worked there. Looks like it would be a nice light weight way to go about it. However, the black plastic could work really well because of its size. its 10 x 20? if tight enough it probably wouldn't sag to much. And you could roll it up for next year. the plastic sheets are nice but as you say storage and you would have to attach each one. i would try the black plastic first then if it doesn't work out roll it back up and use it for something else no harm no foul. that canopy top is nice to because its the same size all ready as long as it flattens out. and its black. I would recommend a black tarp but there hard to find in black at least they were last year. i had to get a dark green one for my walk in. it works because you cant tell its green at night. Ill keep my thinking cap on and see if it comes up with anything else.
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I screwed up and posted inches instead of feet. HDX 20 ft. x 100 ft.black 6 mil plastic sheeting is what I'm trying first. I have most of a roll left over from a painting project.

I look at the corrugated plastic sheet aka plastic cardboard every time I go to HD. I have been building wooded prop storage boxes. Plastic cardboard would be much lighter. I wish Sterilite made huge prop size boxes.
What a brilliant solution! Smart thinking labeling each piece - I need to do that with my cemetery fence. Hopefully the black plastic works (especially since you have left over from another project). You could try using smaller plastic clamps to hold the plastic in place and keep it tighter if you're worried about it sagging.
If you have both tarp 'ends' start at the floor and go over the pipes you can weigh them down with a length of wood - or chucks of 4x4. If the top still sags, you can run a wood board vertical to your cross beams and then staple left over tarp to cover up that support board.

However, sometimes, a tarp sag looks GREAT in a haunt. I try to avoid square corners and neat looking lines.
A cold front has moved into North Texas and the temperature has dropped to the upper 90s which is the perfect temperature to resume playing around with this. Snap Clamps look promising. I wish Spider Hill had 1/2" pvc and emt fittings and arm and leg shaped pool noodles.

Orgarob is absolutely right that non-perfect looking stuff tends to work best. I'm starting to get interested in the black and red paint splatters on my canvas drop cloths.

I keep hoping that kindo will send me some "pity panels".

Side note: My drop ceiling has imprisoned my lawn trimmer. Oops!

Font Plastic


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I do a section of our walkthrough that is pvc pipe (for fog!) with a couple pieces of (donated) plastic lattice on top, then covered in black plastic. The lattice isn't quite wide enough, but I zip-tie it on and it doesn't sag much, and it provides good attachment points for both the plastic and the foam pipe insulation maze. Black zip ties, haunter's best friend. It does weigh quite a bit, so this needs sturdy support to the ground and good connections in the pvc - I have an elaborate system of the pvc frame up top supported by 4x4 posts from our permanent arbor, several shepherd's hooks, a clothes rack that also holds the fog machine, and a set of old wooden doors that form a "wall" at the end.

TLDR: plastic lattice
Chicken wire and black plastic?
Geez man, try to help a guy out and make his life a little easier.................
The only thing that I can think of would be to wrap some fishing line in a zig zag pattern from front to back for some support and lay the sheeting on top of that? The only other idea I had was use some thin plywood or as already suggested tension the sheeting. I do think the idea of the panels is a good one but sounds expensive. I'll be looking forward to see the finished product.
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Love the idea of FISHING line (he says thinking how he could incorporate that into his event this year)
follow up: Plastic Sheet and Snap Clamps worked great! Took about 15 minutes to set up a proof of concept (see bottom of link). Parked in it overnight.
note: I can't find black 1/2" Snap Clamps. Green and white is all I can find. I will be painting or dyeing them.

http://www.snydercentral.com/halloween/static_props/garage2018/garage2018.htm
I expect Kindo to recommend foam, bfjou812 to "make" me buy a new tool, and J-Man to suggest something that involves an oscilloscope :)

http://www.snydercentral.com/halloween/static_props/garage2018/garage2018.htm
Clearly an oscilloscope won't help for this but I'm thinking a Flux Capacitor might do the trick. ;)
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