Tray Ceiling on Extension

[Brad.UK]

Hi

I am looking for advise on a project I want to start for my bedroom. As this is my first post I will introduct myself. I am 22 and work in IT ( I still like to get my hands dirty) and have been doing DIY for about 2 years.

I want to add a tray to the border of my ceiling however I would like to have rope lighting in the tray aswell as my projector and projector screen. Because my room is in a extension I do not have access to all the lighting cables and after speaking to my friend who is a MT for the council he said running cables will be a huge pain and a lengthy process.

What I want to know is as I never done this before, would it be easier to rip the drywall from the ceiling and sort the wiring out and then buy new materials and insulation to add it back again? Would this also be expensive too?

I can't find much information on installing a tray ceiling from a amatuer perpective. If anyone could forward some info aswell that would be great!

Thanks

[Rich]

Hi Brad

I'm in I.T too, so I know what its like trying to run cables, but its actually fairly easy to do.

If you cut out a chunk of plasterboard, wide enough to get a drill into, the length of the cable run, say about 10" wide, you can then easily repair the ceiling once the cables are in place, or, even better, instead of running cables directly through the joists, fit some round trunking pipe in the joists that come out where needed, you will never have to tear down the ceiling again, just push/pull the cables in/out as needed.

I did this once when I learned to repair holes plasterboard, its really easy.

Even big holes can be repaired easily, just cut the board back to half way across the joist each side, and install a new peice of an exact fit, and re-skim that little peice :-)

Even getting a plasterer to re-skim a tiny peice, to blend it into the ceiling wont cost a lot at all.