Scaling new heights in ceiling designs

While you're busy thinking of new designs and colours for the walls of your home, there is one wall that is usually forgotten. The fifth wall or the ceiling is slowly becoming as important as any other design element.

You really do not have to go for the boring plain-coloured ceiling anymore or stare at the outdated popcorn ceiling. Instead of scrapping off that hideous popcorn ceiling you could simply install a layer of ceiling-grade gypsum board over it. It only lowers ceiling height by about half an inch.

The soft white or grey mineral consisting of hydrated calcium sulphate occurs chiefly in sedimentary deposits and is used to make plaster of Paris, fertilisers, and in the building industry.

Gypsum is not only easy to set up but can also be customized to any colour, design, shape, and theme.

Alfayo Muzembi of Gypsum Ceilings and Interiors says that since it is not distilled alone. It requires some work including lighting, moulding and other feature based on what the client wants.

“We do this in residential which make up to 80 per cent of our clients and hotels. Every client has his specified needs and design meaning we custom make,” he says.

Gypsum is not only limited to the ceilings, it can also be used to create a more multifunctional space with dry wall partitions.

“It is widely used in partitions and here we recommend a 12 millimetre thickness as opposed to the nine required for the ceilings,” he says.

Gypsum differs from other panel-type building products such as plywood, hardboard, and fibreboard because of its non-combustible core and paper facers.

“Gypsum wall board can create a continuous surface suitable for most types of interior decoration,” he says.

Its fire resistive nature makes it the most commonly used interior finish where this classification is required.

According to Muzembi, the prices depend on the clients’ needs.

The time limit also varies on the workload and it can go up to three weeks to have the final product. “It depends on the square meters or quantity of each particular project. A four-bedroom house that is 300 square metres for example can take three weeks to finish including painting and installation of light,” he says.

Jackson Kamau of Professional Floor Master and Innovation says the investment made on gypsum is not wasted when the client moves to a different home.

“We can have it detached and put back up in your new home. We can also make adjustments to have it look different depending on what the client desires,” says Kamau.

There are various designs to take up and Kamau says a client is given limited options to work with.

“The designs ranges from what you would typically see in a bar, hotel or even in a home. The colours and lightings are different in each of these situations,” he says.