A Suspended Ceiling at last!

Still need more lights on the closer side of the layout

One of my dreams came true this past week as I finally had a suspended ceiling installed in my basement. I had been planning this since we moved in and obtained several quotes, but no contractor that I talked to really understood what I was trying to do. One wanted to sell me a full basement conversion, another couple heard what I wanted and decided the job was too small for their troubles. One guy really bought in that I just wanted a simple, clean ceiling and took the time to explore the problems in my basement that might cause him some trouble. We agreed to only put it up a ceiling in three-quarters of the basement, as the other quarter had too many low-hanging utility pipes.

The basement after 2 solid days of painting it all blue.

After coming to terms last fall, I had to wait until recently to get it done because of scheduling, funding, and other things. But, with the recent pandemic going on I reached out to him to see if he wanted to move up the job. Since I was home all day anyway, I didn't need to take off time for it. He readily agreed, and so last week he came over with his crew to put it up. There were of course problems, like not having a square wall in the place, plus the stores were all sold out of commercial grade ceiling tiles. But, we got through it. And he seemed somewhat impressed by my train layout (as much as is completed so far.) I could hear him talking with the other guys about his grandfather's layout.

The basement on closing day. I inspected here first.

The lights are great. The contractor selected recessed LED lights which are great for a couple of reasons. First, they are cheap and will last a long time (and supposedly save the earth because they use less energy). Second, they are adjustable in terms of what Kelvin level (light color) you want. And, LEDs won't fade your scenery like other types of lights. The brand we used is Utiilitech (#1500765) and the colors are 2700k, 3000k, 4000k, 5000k, and 6500k. After some experimentation and a lot of previous research online, I went with 3000k. They are nice and warm and sunny, and any more into the 4000k range looked too blue to me. Having blue walls might have amplified that. I think 3500k would be perfect, but oh well.

The basement during the Open House.

I am glad I did the ceiling now and held off on the scenery. Boy, it was really filthy up there and even after covering up the layout with protective paper and such I still had to do a lot of vacuuming. For those who decide to do it after a layout is installed I say that they are crazy! And speaking of crazy, what is with the weird pictures? The first is obviously how the layout looks now. It still needs things like backdrops, scenery, and a proper fascia. They will all come in time, now that I have the ceiling installed.