# Tongue & Groove Ceiling Question



## wyatt earp (Jul 16, 2008)

Tongue & Groove Ceiling

I am thinking about taking on this idea for a new house. It will be a vaulted ceiling in the living room. My question is; instead of buying tongue & groove lumber, can I buy 1'' x 6'' or 1'' x 4'' pine boards from Lowe's and use my router to make them tongue and groove?

I know it can be done, but what router bits do you recommend? I like the v-notch look for a ceiling, but any recommendations are welcome.

Also, using the lumber I mentioned, do I need to worry about any swelling in the wood or is it already kiln dried?

Does any of this sound like a bad idea?

Thanks for the help, Wyatt


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

wyatt... man, I'm sitting here, shaking my head to the point of giving myself a headache. then I realize you were not talking about a suspended ceiling...*whew!!!*....

I don't know about the "V" groove bit giving you enough contact between the boards in order to give you a good lock,,, however, I'm sure there are many more experienced woodworkers in here that can give you an educated yes/no answer. 

as for wood movement. All wood moves, all the time, Even after kiln drying. Some more so than others. Success of your idea would depend in large part on how you were planning on attaching the boards to the ceiling??? I can see when running the boards on a horizontal you could use the studs...perhaps even running then on the verticle, since the space between studs should more than prevent excess movement. I have see it done both ways in A frames and lodges, but how exactly, I can't say...

good luck...


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Wyatt

I would suggest you get your 1 x 6 lumber from a lumber yard but use the router bit set below, it's made just for that type of job,you can hide the brad nails in the socket  I would also suggest you pickup a 16 gage air nailer to put them in place..(for about 35.oo or so) from HF.

- Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

2 pc 1/2" SH V-Joint Tongue and Groove Router bit Set - eBay (item 140388534512 end time Apr-03-10 19:12:31 PDT)

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wyatt earp said:


> Tongue & Groove Ceiling
> 
> I am thinking about taking on this idea for a new house. It will be a vaulted ceiling in the living room. My question is; instead of buying tongue & groove lumber, can I buy 1'' x 6'' or 1'' x 4'' pine boards from Lowe's and use my router to make them tongue and groove?
> 
> ...


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## RStaron (Sep 25, 2009)

Hi Wyatt, It can be done. My uncle did just that with Oak boards. He ran them horizontally across the ceiling. When he put it up the humidity in the house was low, might have been during the winter. when the humidity went up the wood swelled so much he had to take out at least one board, but had to redo the whole ceiling. Don't put it to tight, leave room for the boards to expand. I would use a regular tongue and groove bit set and champher the edges to make the V look. If you use 1x6 boards I would put a V groove in the center of the board also. If you have to butt boards together to make a long run you might champher the ends that butt together, it might look neater, also it will hide any uneveness at the butt joint. Hope this helps.


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## RStaron (Sep 25, 2009)

+1 one BJ's post. Also put a finish on both sides of the boards before you put them up, this will help keep expansion to a minimum. My uncle's ceiling does look very nice.


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## vikingcraftsman (Mar 31, 2006)

I am thinking of doing the same thing. But my idea is to make small panels out of veneer plywood. Use the toungre and grove set I have.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

I'm surprised that you mention 1" Pine boards, whilst not having done such a job myself, a late friend of mine did a couple, using what we call lining boards, about 5.5" wide by 1/2" thick, nailed of course in the join making the nails invisible. Such boards are mass produced in a four sider and I cant imagine the economics of routing them oneself. These two shots show the outside and inside. I have over the years used these boards for the rear of Welsh dressers, and panels for blanket chests.


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## wyatt earp (Jul 16, 2008)

harrysin said:


> I'm surprised that you mention 1" Pine boards, whilst not having done such a job myself, a late friend of mine did a couple, using what we call lining boards, about 5.5" wide by 1/2" thick, nailed of course in the join making the nails invisible. Such boards are mass produced in a four sider and I cant imagine the economics of routing them oneself. These two shots show the outside and inside. I have over the years used these boards for the rear of Welsh dressers, and panels for blanket chests.


Hey thanks for the heads up. I'll have to look into that idea, maybe see if there is somewhere close to buy some.

I was thinking 1'' was a bit much but didn't know of anything I could buy that was smaller.

Thanks, Wyatt


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## BigJimAK (Mar 13, 2009)

harrysin said:


> I'm surprised that you mention 1" Pine boards, whilst not having done such a job myself, a late friend of mine did a couple, using what we call lining boards, about 5.5" wide by 1/2" thick, nailed of course in the join making the nails invisible. Such boards are mass produced in a four sider and I cant imagine the economics of routing them oneself. These two shots show the outside and inside. I have over the years used these boards for the rear of Welsh dressers, and panels for blanket chests.


Come on, Harry... a lot of what is done in WW isn't necessarily to minimize cost, but may be done to improve quality, appearance or the satisfaction of having done it yourself. 

:jester: Well that and ensuring the protection of the "chipboard tree" that cheap sh*t furnature is often manufactured from. Kinda like the laws that went in to preserve the wild "Naug"... animals whose skin was used to make Naugahyde! :jester:


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

Jim, you should know me by now, I'm a great believer in DIY, however, there are a lot of linear feet in a ceiling, plus Pine lining boards as purchased are all perfect, (you only choose the perfect ones from the rack) so the clever part of DIY is to know when to make and when to buy.


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## waynoe (Sep 29, 2004)

W yatt
I have some progects similar to what you are asking. I grooved the panels with 45 degree bit and where the panels were joined a used a 45 beveling bit, cut grooves in the mating edges and inserted spines this allowed for wood movement. I.M.H.O. I would just buy the tongue and groove material 1X4 or what ever size you like. Most celings are more than 8' long it would be difficult and time consuming to line up all the grooves.
Good luck.
Wayne


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