How to glue foam ceiling tiles and different ways of laying

Styrofoam ceiling tiles are an inexpensive and quick way to give your ceiling surface an aesthetic and attractive look. Ceiling tiles can be glued to several types of adhesive mixtures, but there are also adhesives that are completely unsuitable for this, because they destroy the foam. We will tell you how to choose the right adhesive for gluing ceiling tiles. Before finishing work, the ceiling must be prepared so that significant defects do not interfere with the even fastening of the tiles and are not visible through the coating.

If you know how to properly glue ceiling tiles, you can make a beautiful and durable ceiling covering yourself.

Choosing an Adhesive for Styrofoam Ceiling Tile

Before gluing foam ceiling tiles, you need to choose the right adhesive.

When choosing an adhesive mixture, it should be borne in mind that it must meet the following characteristics:

• the adhesive composition should give a strong and reliable adhesion of the coating to the base;
• he must quickly seize;
• adhere well to the base ceiling;
• high viscosity of the adhesive will ensure quick fixation of the product;
• be safe for humans, that is, do not emit toxic fumes;
• it is good if the glue can be applied in a thin and thick layer (this will smooth out minor irregularities in the base).

Foam products are usually glued to a concrete surface, a drywall base, a draft plywood or chipboard ceiling. It is worth remembering that the adhesive mixture should not dissolve the foam, so give preference to mixtures without solvents such as white spirit, acetone and toluene.

The level of adhesion to the surface and the drying speed of the adhesive mixture are equally important. If the adhesion time is more than 30 seconds, then the adhesive is not suitable, because it is not very convenient to stand with your hands up and press the tile for a long time. But too fast coupling can be impractical, because then it will not be possible to correct the position of the element.

Important! Choose the adhesive and primer for the base ceiling based on the same components. They give a better grip to each other.

Styrofoam ceiling tiles can be glued using the following adhesive mixtures:

• PVA glue;
• universal mixtures without aggressive solvents;
• acrylic putty;
• melt;
• liquid Nails;
• mixtures based on gentle chemical solvents;
• compound.

Preparing the ceiling surface for gluing

Before gluing tiles to the ceiling, the base surface must be properly prepared. The beauty of the coating, its evenness and strength of adhesion to the base depend on this. You need to fasten the finish to an even and solid base without the old finish, so wallpaper, paint and other finishing materials will have to be removed from the ceiling. It is forbidden to stick the tile to the whitewash, so it is washed off.

Depending on the variety of the previous finishing material, different technologies for cleaning the base surface are used. Old chalk or lime whitewash is washed off with soapy water or water. Water-based paint or other interior paints are cleaned with a spatula. If the paint adheres very firmly to the ceiling, then special washes are used. To remove old wallpaper, the ceiling is moistened with water, and then the wallpaper is cleaned with a spatula.

After removing the finish, the surface must be primed. For this, deep penetration soil is used. If the ceiling is sufficiently even, then the preparatory work ends there. Otherwise, additional leveling is carried out with a putty mortar. After that, the surface is ground and again opened with a primer.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the mold. If there are areas on the ceiling affected by the fungus, then they must be additionally treated with copper sulphate (solution) or a special antiseptic composition. This treatment is repeated several times in order to protect against the formation of mold in the future, which can spoil the health of all the inhabitants of an apartment or house.

Tools and materials for work

For work, purchase the following materials and stock up on some tools.

You will need:

• ladder or small platform;
• tape measure, pencil, ruler;
• paint cord;
• primer for the base ceiling (antiseptic composition, if there is mold);
• a spatula will be needed if acrylic putty or glue for plasterboard is used for gluing (stock up on a wide and narrow notched trowel);
• stationery knife for cutting tiles;
• mounting gun, if you use liquid nails for gluing;
• ceiling tiles and skirting boards for it;
• suitable tile adhesive;
• white sealant.

Tiling schemes

If you are interested in how to glue ceiling tiles, there are different ways of laying on the ceiling.

The ceiling foam coating is laid in the following ways:

1. The easiest way to glue foam products in parallel rows along the walls. This method is used with even walls and the correct geometry of the room. The gluing of elements begins to lead from the center of the room, and the products in the extreme rows are cut in length and width.
2. Sticking with rhombuses suitable for rooms with irregular geometry. Diagonal gluing hides this lack of room. Before starting work, the layout of the room must be made. Find the center of the room by drawing diagonal lines from the corners on the ceiling. In some cases, it is better to find the central parts of the walls and get the center of the ceiling at the intersection of the lines.
3. Styrofoam products without a pattern can be glued with a seam offset. In this case, the end seam is shifted by half the width of the element of the previous row. Patterned tiles are not glued in this way, because there will be a mismatch of the pattern on the surface.

Ceiling markings

Before gluing the ceiling tiles, we mark the base surface. The breakdown is done taking into account that the dimensions of one element are 500x500 mm. Tiles can be started from the center of the room or from one of the walls. The first method is suitable if there is a chandelier in the center of the room. If the markup starts from one of the walls, then they usually choose the wall opposite the window.

To find the center of the room, a masking cord is pulled from the corners of the room and two diagonals are beaten off on the ceiling. The point where they intersect will be the center. Another way involves finding the midline of the walls. Then these marks are connected by lines on the ceiling and a center point is obtained at the point of their intersection.

Advice! Finding the center along the diagonal axes is more suitable for rooms with a regular square or rectangular shape. In rooms with an irregular or complex configuration, it is better to find the central points of the walls, and then connect them.

If the corners of the tiles converge in the center of the ceiling, then this markup is enough. Sometimes it is planned to glue a whole element in the center of the ceiling, that is, the central part of the ceiling surface will fall on the center of one tile. In this case, 25 cm (half of one element) are laid in two directions from the point obtained on the ceiling and lines are drawn. Within these lines, the first tile is glued.

Tile sticking

Now let's talk about how to glue the tiles on the ceiling. The method of applying tile adhesive depends on the choice of adhesive mixture. When using putty or cement mortar, the glue is applied pointwise so as not to additionally weigh down the coating. When using liquid nails or Titanium glue, the mixture is applied around the perimeter of the product and in the central part. Then the adhesive mixture is leveled with a spatula over the entire surface.

The sequence of gluing the foam board:

1. To begin with, close all windows and doors in the room to exclude drafts, which may not have the best effect on bond strength.
2. Then we apply the selected tile adhesive to one element and wait a couple of minutes to thicken the adhesive mixture. This will speed up the bonding time, which will save you from having to stand with your hands up for a long time.
3. After that, we apply the element smeared with glue to the ceiling and press it well over the entire surface.
4. Before gluing the next product, it is applied to the ceiling dry to see how well and correctly it will lie, and how its edges will fit with the adjacent plate.
5. The elements in the extreme rows are cut to the desired length and width and also glued.
6. After that, the seams between the individual plates are filled with white sealant. Then you can glue the ceiling plinths. If you planned to paint the ceiling, then after all these works, you can start applying interior paint.

When you know how to stick tiles on the ceiling, all that remains is to purchase all the necessary materials, stock up on tools and make a beautiful ceiling covering with your own hands. Pasting the ceiling does not take much time and does not require large expenses for the purchase of materials.