TYPES OF BUILDING CEILING & THEIR APPLICATIONS
The ceiling of a building is where the roof have a demarcation with the inside, it serves to reduce heat during the sunny season or heat season. Also during the cold period the ceiling helps to inside of the building to remain worm, etc.
REASONS WHY BUILDINGS REQUIRE CEILING
Ø It prevents the movement of rodents like rats, bats, birds, etc. that has access to the roof of the building through small openings in the roof not to have access to the main building.
Ø It helps in keeping the building worm and maintain a stable temperature for a long time.
Ø It assists the roof to reduce heat during the sun or hot hours.
Ø It provides beauty to the building.
Ø In the case of the particles of the wood used in roofing falling off it prevents them from falling inside the building.
Ø The ceiling acts as a storage for some sensitive materials for security purpose against theft they are hidden inside the ceiling.
Ø It provides means to anchor ceiling fan, bulbs, etc. and also reduces the entrance of mosquitoes.
TYPES OF CEILING FOR BUILDING
There are many types of ceiling use in the building but we have the popular types made with asbestos, ceramics, and plastics.
THE ASBESTOS TYPE
This type was earlier used in Nigeria before the year 2000 when the plastic type became popular,–even the asbestos ceiling have many types and each cost according to its design and originality.
The best among them was the design with spotted holes in them mostly used in most complex and commercial institutions within those years.
While the cheapest among them is the type mostly used in residential houses having a square cut with each edge joined together with a slim flat wood also called (ceiling bat).
PROCESS OF HANGING IT
The process of hanging this type is to use small nails with wide head referred to as ’’copper nails+’’ to fix it to the wood used in the roofing located at the ceiling space provided by the carpenter. Ideally it is a carpenter that supposed to fix the ceilings.
The ceilings are brought by pieces and placed one after the other in the space provided then a small flat and slim wood known as and called ‘’ceiling baton’’ will be used to join each of them together. This process is repeated until all the ceilings are fixed.
THE ADVANTAGE OF ASBESTOS CEILING
Ø It is cheaper than other types.
Ø It cost little to have it fixed.
Ø To cut it to fill a particular space is easy.
Ø It does not fall off after fixing it.
Ø Asbestos do not burn when exposed to flames, hence low rate fire incidents.
THE DISADVANTAGE OF ASBESTOS CEILING
Ø It is light and brittle hence breaks very easily.
Ø It will require painting after fixing.
Ø It changes color and removes the painting when there is a water leakage in the roof falling on it.
THE PLASTIC TYPE OF CEILINGS
This type of ceiling is popularly called the PVC Ceiling, this is because it is made from plastic and as a result is able to have a great aesthetic than other types of ceiling with designs in the form of stars, flowers, shapes, and reflective object on its surface made it more unique in terms of beauty than others.
It has the soft type and the hard type with the hard types being costlier than the soft types.
And the hard types comes in 15 pieces in a bundle while the soft types comes in 10 pieces in a bundle both have their prices separately, the hard type which is made in Nigeria has a better advantage of not falling off than the soft types which are mostly imported from China.
The disadvantage it has is the cost per bundle which is about N14, 000 compared to the soft type which is about N6, 000.
THE ADVANTAGES OF PLASTIC CEILINGS
They come with beautiful designs and require no painting
Ø They are cheap and easy to fix
Ø They do not need much materials to be fixed except nails
Ø They provide more beauty to building than other types
THE DISADVANTAGES OF PLASTIC CEILINGS
Ø It easily catches fire hence easy to ignite fire through electric sparks
Ø After some time the ceiling will start falling off gradually and showing distorted shapes
Ø It requires an expert to fix it
THE CERAMICS TYPE OF CEILING
Just as the name implies, it is made up of ceramics like cement and sand and are cast into shapes then hanged on the ceiling spaces provided under the roofing of the building.
It is the type popularly referred to as P.O.P ceiling in Nigeria.
It is the most expensive among all the types of ceilings mentioned above, hence only the rich use in it in their building.
The designs vary according to the clients specification so the specialist just have to mold it with the designs while some are bought directly from the dealers it their desired designs.
THE ADVANTAGES OF CERAMIC CEILINGS
Ø The method of fixing this type is very easy but only requires the expert to do it.
Ø It has beauty than asbestos type do to the imprinted images in it while molding it.
Ø It does not allow fire breakout to penetrate into houses easily, hence very good choice for safety purpose.
Ø It does not have the record of falling off as the fixing is properly done anchoring it to the woods in the roofing.
Ø With the exception of painting it when the color has faded, it has the longest record of durability over other types.
THE DISADVANTAGES OF CERAMIC CEILINGS
Ø This type is the most costly among all other types.
Ø It is heavy to carry so the handling requires more than one person.
Ø It requires an expert to fix it, hence costs more for the builder.
Ø It cannot be cut into small space like other types, hence accurate measurement of the space the ceiling will be fixed is required.
