Fasten Ceiling Panels

The Problem

A sheet of drywall on a ceiling is heavy, unwieldy and directly overhead. Getting the first screws in normally takes two people: one holding the sheet flat to the joists, one fastening. Alone, you end up pressing the board up with your head or a shoulder while trying to drive a screw with both hands, which means you fasten fast and badly — screws where you can reach rather than where they belong, and a board that shifts as you work.

The Technique

Support poles are adjustable props that run floor to ceiling and hold the board up for you.

1. Cut and offer the sheet up as normal, getting it into position against the joists.
2. Set a pole under the board, extend it until it's bearing firmly, and lock it. Two poles for a full sheet, positioned so the board isn't sagging between them.
3. With the board held, fasten it properly — starting at the centre and working outward, screws where the layout calls for them, driven to the right depth.
4. Release the poles and move on.

The gain isn't only that you can work alone. It's that the board is held flat and still while you fasten, which is what a hand or a head doesn't do.

The Problem

A sheet of plasterboard on a ceiling has to be held flat against the framing while the first screws go in. The board is heavy, it's above your head, and it wants to hinge down at whichever corner isn't supported.

A panel lift is the right tool and takes up a room's worth of space to get in position. A second person is the traditional answer and isn't always there. A deadman prop holds the middle but leaves the edges free to drop.

The Technique

The bracket is a piece of timber cut to hook over the ceiling framing and catch the board.

1. Cut the bracket long enough to span two of the metal furring channels the boards screw to. Spanning two is what stops it rotating under load.
2. Cut or build up a rebate along one end deep enough to take the thickness of the board with a little clearance, so the edge drops in rather than having to be forced.
3. Fix the bracket so it hooks over the channels, then flips down into position.
4. Lift the board and set its edge into the rebate. The bracket now carries that corner.
5. Screw off the supported area, then lift the bracket clear and slide it along to the next pair of channels.

Why This Is a Metal-Ceiling Trick

The whole idea depends on the framing being a channel you can hook a bracket over from below. Timber joists give you nothing to hook — the equivalent would have to screw into the joist and leave holes, which is most of the reason this is worth building for a metal-framed ceiling and not worth copying onto a timber one.