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I came across an intriguing concept in ceilings that I’ve never read
about before. It is the “stretch ceiling”, where a factory-made membrane
is stretched from wall to wall and snapped into a track around the
perimeter. It appears to have originated in France, but there are
a few dealers in the US for several manufacturers. A few producers are
Newmat (www.newmat.com), Barrisol (www.barrisolusa.com), and Extenzo
(www.constrade.com).
My questions are: How expensive is this stuff? How hard is it to take
it down to get at utilities above the ceiling, and then get the
ceiling back up? Do you have to have a certified installer, or does
anybody have a DIY system? How come I’ve never seen this in FHB :-)?
— Ralph
Replies
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Peraps I can explain. Ze resorn for zis type of seelyn oririzhinated frorm ze canopeed four postur bed.
In ze ehrly days, my palarse did not ave ze seelyns and ze stable boys would ide in ze raftairs and observe ze techneeks of my endeveaurs wis ze chembermaids.
I took to ze abit of carrying a pistole and firing upon ze rascals as I lay on my back, 'owever as my shoo ting is not all zat ahccurete, my roof was beginning to look like ze colander. It was zen zat I developed ze most brilliant an cunning plan and 'ad my tailor sew a canopy zat lay over my four poster bed.
Zis 'as sol ved ze problem of ze stable boys, 'owever I now 'ave ze problem of my wife admiring ze 'and stiching of ze canopy whilst I am endeavouring to pursue ozer activities.
*As you can see, it's good work if you can find it.
*Louis, it's nice to hear from ya! I thought the darned Alsacians caught you at the border!fv
*Ralph,From France, where most of the housing is masonry, this makes sense. Gives easy access to mechanicals, stops dust, lowers height to keep heated air closer to the occupants. In USA, where almost all houses are light frame, the product faces the following tough questions: Fire rating? Sound transmission? Ceiling light fixtures? Price? Why do I need this new product? Just some thoughts.Bill
*I saw this product in Atlanta about 10 years ago at the NHBA show.It was quite interesting to say the least. In a demo a guy put his hand up , grabbed a clinched fist of this stuf , pulled it down and cut a hunk of it out and with a heat gun mended it and you couldn't even see where it had been damaged.Looked liked a product geared more for commercial applications. Looked terribly expensive.As Bill said , why would one need it? I think (in a house) you can't beat a nicely finished drywall ceiling. As far as access, if the mechanicals are installed correctly , odds are you will never need access to them .DJ
*
I came across an intriguing concept in ceilings that I've never read
about before. It is the "stretch ceiling", where a factory-made membrane
is stretched from wall to wall and snapped into a track around the
perimeter. It appears to have originated in France, but there are
a few dealers in the US for several manufacturers. A few producers are
Newmat (www.newmat.com), Barrisol (www.barrisolusa.com), and Extenzo
(www.constrade.com).
My questions are: How expensive is this stuff? How hard is it to take
it down to get at utilities above the ceiling, and then get the
ceiling back up? Do you have to have a certified installer, or does
anybody have a DIY system? How come I've never seen this in FHB :-)?
-- Ralph