Tongue and groove ceiling

[HandymanTodd]

I'm getting ready to put up some vee groove tongue and groove on a porch ceiling.  I have found a local shop who can mill it for me for 41 cents per lineal foot (any width).  I will take them my rough cut 1" thick white pine, they will plane it, rip it to width, and cut the vee t&g.  Is 41 cents/lnft a decent price (upstate NY)?  I usually make my own stuff, so this is new territory for me. 

What maximum width should I target?  Since it will be installed outdoors, the boards will be really moving with the seasons.  I plan to have a couple of different widths made up, but I thought that narrower would be better to help hide movement.  6" maximum?

Shouldn't the boards be milled so that the heartwood is on the good face, to hide cupping?

I plan to install with a nail gun, nailing through the tongue.  What's the best finish nailer for the job?  I have used a regular/straight gun for t&g before, but the tip on the gun is large and it's hard to get the nail where it belongs. Very awkward. Do the angle finish nailers work better for this job?  Is there an attachment or tip that can be used on a gun to make it easier?

Thanks in advance!

[Bill Gaiche]

Welcome aboard. There are several that have done what you are wanting. They will be able to get you up and running soon. bg

[Magicman]

Hello HandymanTodd, and Welcome to the Forestry Forum. 

Just curious, is that the total cost for kiln, plane, rip, plus T&G?


 


 


    
Here is a Poplar ceiling that I did.  The installation was as you described.


 
It has a Whitewash Pickling Stain.

[HandymanTodd]

$0.41 per lineal foot does NOT include kiln drying.  The only benefit that going through the kiln would add is setting the pitch. It will be installed in an exterior location, a screened in porch. Maybe I'm wrong.

$0.41/ Lnft includes planing, ripping, and vee t&g

[21incher]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum. I just put up a small ash t&g ceiling in a bathroom  and used my narrow crown stapler with 18 Ga. 1 1/2" staples. I took off the rubber tip and it nested nicely in the tongue and the head sunk enough so it was not visible.


 
It worked good for me and went up quick. HEP Sales advertises 1 x 6 pine t&g roofers for around 40 cents a foot in central NY.

[Larry]

I put up about 600 square foot of "V" panel T & G cedar on our porch.  Looked great right after I put it up...still does if you don't look close.  With seasonal wood movement there are some places where the tongue has worked out of the groove completely.  I'm embarrassed by it and plan on turning it into a board and bat ceiling soon. 

My tooling makes a 1/4" tongue.  Maybe I made a mistake installing it or the wood was too something.

In any case I won't ever put up T & G outside again.

I have put up a lot in interior closets and some on a ceiling.  It worked great with no problems at all.

I have Porter Cable 15 and 18 gauge finish nailers.  Either one can put nails into the tongue without showing.

[Don_Papenburg]

I have used 1x4 WRcedar . It has been about 7 and  5years now .It looks good yet .

[Bill R]

4" would be good for size to minimize the effects of some shrinkage. 16 gage nails 1.2 or 2" or staples would work to but I'd recomend galv. rgardless of your choice.