DIY Ranch Reno: Get Into the Groove

I have to credit House*Tweaking again for helping us to decide to do a tongue and groove ceiling. Since putting up 1"x6" pieces of wood sounded easier than putting up 4'x8' sheets of drywall, I figured that I could install it myself. (We'll see later because at the time of writing this, I still haven't put it up.)

White Tongue and Groove Vaulted Ceiling from House*Tweaking

We liked the idea of having a white ceiling since our hardwood floor was going to be pretty busy. I was worried about bleed-through staining of the knots if we used wood, so I looked into alternatives on-line. I stumbled upon ready-to-install, Dura-Groove 1x6 interior painted MDF tongue and groove paneling at Michigan PreStain. Medium-density fiberboard (MDF) is an engineered wood product made by breaking down hardwood or softwood residuals into wood fibers, often in a defibrator, combining it with wax and a resin binder, and forming panels by applying high temperature and pressure. MDF is generally denser than plywood.

I ended up ordering 1,472 lineal feet of the product, which came to $2,311.64. The price included a $295 shipping charge. The nice part is that it is pre-painted, so we won't have to worry about painting it, except for minor touch-ups, perhaps, after we install it.

I took a day off from work so that I could be there when the material was delivered. The UPS driver pulled up in front of my house and opened the back of his truck. The MDF was stacked up on a 16-foot palette. I asked him what the plan was for unloading it, and he said that he would cut the straps from the load and that I would have to unload it, piece-by-piece. Ugh. I want to say that it was about 1,700 pounds of material, and I had to remove each piece from the truck and lay it in my driveway. He told me that I had to take the palette, too. Great.