Suspended ceilings – finishing building structures that are attached – suspended – to the main ceiling. They are used not only for decor, but for solving practical problems: to hide the wiring of cables or pipes, install lighting elements, improve sound insulation.
Structurally suspended ceilings can be:
• modular; • solid.
Modular suspended ceilings
• raster, or cassette, – their frame is made up of aluminum profiles on which plates (modules) are laid). The most popular module size is 60 x 60 cm. The disadvantage is a large weight of the structure, a decrease in the height of the ceiling by an average of 20 cm.
• rack-these are long (3-4 m) aluminum panels (rails) about 10 cm wide. Easily mounted even on curved complex surfaces, the ceiling height decreases by at least 4, a maximum of 20 cm. Perfectly suitable for little or not at all heated areas and rooms with high humidity (bathrooms);
• cellular, or lattice, is a more decorative variety of modular ones, since the shape of the openings between the rails of the frame can be the most diverse.
Whole suspended ceilings
• drywall – mounted from a solid drywall sheet. Ideal in order to hide the difficult to correctly defects in the base ceiling, hide engineering communications and wiring with a minimum loss of the height of the room – up to 5 cm. They are afraid of water, so they are not suitable for bathrooms;
• stretch-make various widths from PVC film. These are the most spectacular of the suspended ceilings, as their use makes it possible to realize the most exotic design solutions. The choice of type of suspended ceiling depends on the functions that will be entrusted to it.
