Finished picture first!Starting point.Okay, so this is the starting point. Since installing a lowered ceiling with LED downlights in my kitchen, I've been wanting to do the same thing in my hallway. Those globe lamps are a) from IKEA, b) horrible 3) give shitty lighting in the hallway.There are some issues though, due to the electrical code in my country, I am not allowed to cover up the cable channels in the upper wall corners on both sides of the hallway. (As some of the wiring is 50 years old, I don't want to either!) so simply creating a fully lowered ceiling with supports anchored in the walls is not an applicable solution.Some people have everything moved under the floor, or embedded into the walls and such, but as I'm not a milliobillionaire, that isn't really on the table. The solution then, is to anchor the new ceiling in the old ceiling, making sure to hit enough studs to keep the ceiling from falling in on me. As this will be made from fir, and a bit of 10mm MDF, it won't be THAT heavy.First step.So, first step is getting the proper materials. The hallway is 1 meter wide, and 5 meters long. I want the new fake ceiling to be a floating ceiling, so they boards don't need to go to either end, and neither does the MDF.I had my local hardware store cut a 1220x2440 (4x8 for you americans) into two 610x2440 strips. This gives me a perfect dimension of 61x4880 when assembled. This is perfect as the 20cms of clearence on either sides leaves enough room to fix anything electrical in the cable channels. As for the fir supports, any wood will really do. The ones I've chosen here are normally mounted on studs, and then drywalling is mounted to them. They are 100x19mm. I bought enough to mount boards the full length of the ceiling, and then a few extra meters to help me lower the ceiling more than just 19mms.Why do this? Well. The LED downlights I have chosen need 63 mms of mounting depth. The MDF is 10mm, so I need to create a base that is more than 53 mms deep. This fir, being 19mm, is layered three times equaling 57mm, giving me a whopping 4 mms of air to spare above the downlights!General ceiling layout.This shows the general layout of the lowered ceiling. Full length boards through the hallway, and then crossbraces, with an addded 19mm spacer, for every 70-80 cms. If this was a double layered drywall ceiling, the spacing should be every 30cms, but as the MDF is much lighter, 70cms will do just fine. The most important part is making sure that the full length boards running down the ceiling are properly fastened. I used 5x90mm screws every 20-30cms going up into the old plastered ceiling. It might not sound like a lot, but is perfectly fine and to code when mounting stuff in these olds ceilings.The full length boards don't have to be centered in a narrow hallway like this, but if you start working on larger spaces, make sure to do a lot more measuring and reading the installation instructions for your product to make sure it is properly supported when on the ceiling. After putting in the crossbraces, I cut the MDF at the end to make it parallel with the angle of the doorway, and then mounted it into the crossbraces.It's very important to ensure that all connections between MDF sheets are supported by a crossbrace, otherwise cracks will appear when it is bondoed and painted, and it'll look like shit. Also, you can here see two of my favourite electronics. My Makita drill, and my Ubiquiti AP.Getting that corner right.This shows the other direction of the hallway, and the bane of this particular DIY job. The 130degree angle at the end, where the hallway angles towards my front door also need to be covered in MDF. Getting that angle right was reaaally tricky, and required me mounting the MDF board 4 times before I was happy with the dimensions. Working in 100 year old buildings will teach you, that the only level thing is the water in your glass. Everything else is crooked, one way or the other.Also here, you can see the cable channels that cannot be covered due to the electrical code. You can see the plug for the old lamps in the middle of the ceiling, between the boards. This is a bit of a grey area code wise. If you install a new ceiling, you either need to bring down the old installations, or make sure they can be accessed. I didn't want to create an access panel in my new ceiling, and it is still open to the sides, so I made sure to place one of the LED downlights right next to the plug, so it can be accessed by simply removing the LED downlight. This should be sufficient for any electrical work that needs to be done to it.Paint 'n' holes.Now we're getting somewhere. After installing the panels, I bondoed and sanded them, and then painted them with the same white as the ceiling behind. Then I measured where I wanted my LED downlights, and used a hole drill to make the five holes in the MDF board. This is always the scary step, having assembled everything, and then having to drill holes in it! Important notice, I skipped putting in the electrical wire before mounting the MDF, as I can easily put it in afterwards because the sides are open.If you for any reason believe that you won't be able to do this, it's important to put in all the wires you think you need before you close up the ceiling. Pulling a new wire through an already sealed and painted ceiling is a pain the bum. For the spacing, I tried a few different layouts, and ended up with this, with 85cms between the LED downlights. In my kitchen I have 70cms, but I don't need the same light density in my hallway. It's still probably overkill, but I can always install a lower lumen LED bulb, or a dampener on the circuit.Wiring.So, my favourite electrial supplier always sends along gummy bears with their orders. They have reasonable prices and next-day delivery. Top notch people. This is downlight rated silicone wire. Is it strictly necessary? No. Is it up to code? Yes.If for some reason, some fucknut ignores all the warnings on the downlights, and at some point in the future puts in 100w spots, using a downlight rated silicone wire will ensure that the wires don't start burning and heat up too much. It's 1 additional dollar a meter compared to normal installation wire, so you might as well get it to be up to code.Moar wiring.Pulled the wire through the MDF sheets. For my 5 meter hallway I got 8 meters of wire. You should always get plenty, as every single downlight will need a bit of additional wire so you can pull it out of the ceiling if needed.Downlights.Daxtor Downlights to match the ones in the kitchen, and Philips MASTER LED GU10 bulbs with an RA of 97. Ain't nobody got time for LEDs with shitty colour reproduction.Mental Insurance Policies.Yes, the breaker is off. This is just another mental insurance policy.Wiring up the downlights.This is how you wire up these downlights. You can daisychain as many as your cable can support. Make sure to use the strain relief when installing the cables. This is an IP21 rated downlight, so can't be used in the shower. Not a problem here though, I am not expecting heavy downpours in my hallway. The downlight is also "F" rated, which in my country means it can be installed directly into flammable material like MDF without risking a fire.First hookup.And so, finished pictures. This was just a quick hookup into the old receptable, and isn't up to code. As such, I've already disconnected it again, and one of my buddies who is a certified electrician will come by in a few days to double check the work and do the final hookup. I am really happy with the results, as it still feels like a lowered LED downlight ceiling, but still provides plenty of room to access the cabling.Last finished picture.Total budget spend was around 300 dollars including paint. Almost 200 dollars alone was spent on the downlights and LEDs. via /r/DIY https://ift.tt/2MwNXeQ
