Most people never choose a ceiling. They get drywall because that is what the house came with. But there are three realistic options, and in a basement or a room with a cracked old ceiling the obvious choice is not always the best one.
Drywall
Good for: almost any room where nothing above the ceiling needs to be reached again.
It is the cheapest in materials and the most expensive in time. Boarding, taping, three rounds of compound, sanding, priming, painting: a week in the room, and dust everywhere in the house despite the plastic. Once it is up, getting to a pipe or a junction box above it means cutting a hole and patching it afterwards.
Drop ceiling (the Armstrong-style grid)
Good for: basements, laundry rooms, anywhere with valves, cleanouts and wiring overhead.
Fast, no dust, and every square foot of it lifts out when a plumber needs to get up there. Modern tiles look far better than the stained office panels people picture. The trade-off is height: you lose a few inches, which matters in a basement that was tight to begin with.
Stretch ceiling
Good for: cracked, textured or uneven ceilings, rooms where you want new lighting without tearing anything out, and anyone who does not want to live in drywall dust.
A membrane is tensioned on a track around the room, below the existing ceiling. It comes out perfectly flat regardless of what is above it, the lighting is built into it rather than cut into it afterwards, and a plain room goes up in a day. Two to three days if there are light lines to wire in. It also holds water if something leaks upstairs, instead of soaking it up the way drywall does.
It is still unusual in Winnipeg, so most people have never been shown it as an option. There are photos of matte, gloss and light-line ceilings on our stretch ceilings page.
Quick comparison
| Drywall | Drop ceiling | Stretch | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time in the room | About a week | 1–2 days | 1–3 days |
| Dust | A lot | None | None |
| Access above | Cut and patch | Lift a tile | Refit a panel |
| Height lost | None | Several inches | A few centimetres |
| Hides a bad ceiling | No | Yes | Yes |
| Built-in lighting | Cut in afterwards | Panel lights | Designed in |
Working out quantities for any of the three? The ceiling calculator covers all of them.