How to Add Shiplap to a Peaked Ceiling

~ Caitlin Lawniczak

Hot tubs. You either love them or you hate them. The previous owners of our house had a hot tub in the three seasons room and during the sale, they offered to leave the hot tub. We quickly declined that offer, despite many of our family and friends thinking we were nuts! Maybe we are! 🙂 We definitely fall into the “hate” category, though, when it comes to hot tubs (they’re gross!) and we certainly wanted to avoid having to haul it away ourselves.

Listing photo from 2016

After moving in, though, we discovered that we hadn’t avoided all of the hassles of a hot tub. Years of use had caused so much moisture damage to the walls and ceiling that the drywall tape under the joint compound was peeling off at just about every seam. The damage was so extensive that the idea of patching drywall and matching textures on such a large area was more than overwhelming. Our solution was to install shiplap on the ceiling to at least avoid re-taping the angled ceiling joints.

Shiplap Installation

Things you will need:

Steps to Install Shiplap:

  1. Mark the studs using a stud finder then snap a line from the wall to the peak of the ceiling, marking the location of each stud.
  2. Measure the distance between the peak of the ceiling and the wall. Divide that measurement by the board width plus the board gap to determine the number of rows required to span the wall to the peak.
  1. To not end with a tiny sliver of a board at the peak of the ceiling, take the fraction portion of the number of rows needed and add one. Divide that sum by 2 then multiply by the board width to get the width for both your starting and ending rows. The new total number of rows will be your original calculation rounded up to the next whole number, keeping in mind that 2 of those rows (the first and last) will not be the full board width.
  2. Determine the length of shiplap boards needed, knowing that each board needs to start and end on a stud and that the seams between boards should be staggered for each row – in our case, we had a pattern of seam locations that repeated every 4 rows.
  3. Start with your first row closest to the wall and work your way to the peak.
  4. The first row should be angled to sit tightly against the wall in order to avoid creating a gap that would need to be hidden by trim. To accomplish this, the first row should be cut down its length to match the angle made by the wall and ceiling. Find this angle using an angle finding tool. Adjust the pitch of the table saw blade to match this angle and position fence to allow for final width of board as determined above. Rip first row of boards.
  5. Secure the first row to the ceiling by shooting nails into the studs near the base of the ceiling first (location A). We found it was easier to slide the next row of shiplap into place if the previous row was not yet secured too close to the groove that would accept the next row.
  1. Slide the next row of shiplap into place and nail at locations B and C. Continue in this way until you reach the peak.
  2. Repeat these steps starting on the opposite wall until you reach the peak.
  3. Any error in spacing may create a gap in the peak of the ceiling between the last rows on each side of the room. We decided to add a non-structural center beam that would cover that gap and add a finishing touch to the peak.
  4. Cut the center beam to length (we used 2 boards to span the length of the room), then bevel the top of the boards using a table saw to match the peak of the ceiling. Lastly, nail the boards to the ceiling at the stud locations using framing nails and hammer.
  5. Fill all nail holes and the seam between the 2 boards of the center beam with wood filler then sand smooth.
  6. Paint ceiling.
Before & After

Ok so maybe a few other projects happened before that “after” picture was taken. 🙂 Despite the shiplap saving us a lot of drywall work, we still had quite a project replacing the joint tape on all the walls and then of course, retexturing and painting. We also removed all the blinds and the old trim and replaced the light fixture and outlets. We were all ready to install the new trim when we realized that if we ever planned on replacing our flooring, that it would make the most sense to do it before the new trim was installed. So, we made a last minute decision one weekend to put new flooring in (that’s normal, right?). We were able to find Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring by Lifeproof that we could lay right over the old tile, not to mention that it’s 100% waterproof, basically indestructible, and can withstand temperatures down to 0º F (ok, maybe we’re still pushing it with Wisconsin weather, but oh well!). And the hands-down best part?? It took 4 hours to install. Not kidding. We went from the very creatively designed tile floor to a wood plank look in a single afternoon. To put that in perspective, it took us an entire month (we work full time) to install our hardwood flooring that covers 1500 square feet, and we installed this 200 square foot room in less than half a day. What an amazing feeling to completely change a room in such a short time frame!

Besides the flooring and trim, we also spruced up the sliding doors by switching out the door handles, replacing the rollers and handles on the screen doors, and rebuilding all five 4′ x 8′ screens. See our previous post, Custom Window Well Covers for step-by-step instructions on replacing a screen. A couple things to consider when replacing a larger-scale screen are creating a large enough workspace and securing the frame to the workspace so that it remains square while installing the new screen.

Overall, we are extremely pleased with our remodeled three seasons room. We have spent so many afternoons sitting and talking with a cool beverage, enjoying the breeze from the open doors. For us, the screened in patio with seating (and a bar!) is much more idyllic than steaming away in a hot tub. Sorry to all you hot tub fans!

Thanks for reading!

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