Installing a plank ceiling

We finally finished installing the wood plank ceiling in the master bedroom.  It looks so much better when it is complete than it did halfway through.  Not, just that it's done, but you don't notice the flaws once you have a uniform ceiling.  It is great how much this type of ceiling can cover up.  We had old ceiling light boxes, seams where old and new drywall met, and three different types of ceiling material underneath.  That has all disappeared now. 

I thought I would go ahead and record some tips that we learned along the way:

*  The biggest thing we learned has to do with the timing of nailing.  For the first half of the room we were using the nailgun to nail two nails at each ceiling joist - one near the tongue and one near the groove.  However, we sometimes had trouble getting the next piece to fit snugly.  We found that nailing the first board tight to the wall made it hard to wiggle the next board into place.We figured out that if we only nailed the first nail (for us the groove side) and left the leading edge free it would give more flexibility to fit the next board.  Then once we had the next board in place we nailed the previous board and the first nail in the new board.  It's hard to explain but a pretty simple process.  This change allowed us to move more quickly and with less frustration.

*  I read some online tutorials about installing wood planks and many of them suggested that you needed to install nailer boards or that you needed to glue each piece in addition to nailing.  We did not do either of these things.  I guess only time will tell whether our method will hold up.  I think it feels pretty sturdy just using 2 inch finish nails shot with a nailgun into each ceiling joist along that plank.

*  Generally you should try to have seams on a joist to provide stability.  We staggered the seams as much a possible to provide a random look, similar to wood flooring.  Every once in a while we allowed for a seam between the joists but we made sure that the tongue and groove fit snugly.

*  If you are going to paint the walls, especially a bright color, it is best to do that before installing the ceiling.  This is mainly true if you are not painting the plank ceiling.

*  Many of the pine planks that we used had knot holes in them.  In order to avoid the holes showing the ceiling underneath we taped black tape over the back of the hole.  This just makes them look like knots instead of knot holes.

*  Plan to put a piece of crown molding, even a small one, to cover the edges and give the wood a finished look.

I will be staining the ceiling next and may have some pointers after that.