Porch Ceiling Finishing Question

[beatnavy]

On my old house I have three different porch ceilings that were done years ago with sheetrock/drywall, and now they really need to be redone as the paint is chipping and the seam tape has come out in most places. I've got a small one upstairs (~15 x 9), the main one on front of house (~40 x 10), and a carport (maybe 30 x 10). I was first going to tackle the smaller one first myself using an Azek or Azek type tongue and groove material that's pretty thin. Still trying to decide on how to refinish the other two.

I don't know what's under that drywall, but my initial thought was just to put the Azek on top of the drywall (e.g., leave the sheet rock in place.) My neighbor, whose opinion I value highly, said "No! You'll get mold on the drywall. Take it down and put plywood in its place." We DO live in a very humid area, but there's no sign of mold currently. I could see covering it up would reduce airflow and possible contribute to that.

I don't mind taking the drywall out and putting the plywood in if that's the best way to do it, but I wanted to get other opinions on whether that's necessary. This ceiling does connect to the attic above living space.

Thoughts?

[911_Dude]

Definitely ply, or anything but drywall. You can get it with some decorative design such as beadboard. Way lighter than drywall and no mudding/taping. You arms will thank you.

[scotricker]

oh, wait, the other kind of porch

[beatnavy]

Originally Posted by 911_Dude

Definitely ply, or anything but drywall. You can get it with some decorative design such as beadboard. Way lighter than drywall and no mudding/taping. You arms will thank you.

Ok, thanks for the help! Yeah, I ended up having time to run errands yesterday and ended up buying ply/sheathing and enough Azek to do the smaller porch. Today I got the drywall out and the ply up. Tomorrow it's laying the tongue and groove.

[drcoastline]

First- mold spores are ever present. Three things need are a food source, moisture and heat remove anyone and mold wont grow.

Is he saying plywood then Azek or just plywood?

You can remove the sheetrock and apply your replacement material directly to the joists.

[VINMAN]

Bead board (wainscot..) was always the long time standard for porch ceilings. I ve used tongue and grove pine, FRP, barnwood. All depends on the final look you want.

Sheetrock is a huge no no..


.

[cabmandone]

What does the rest of the house look like? It might be easier to suggest a material based on the exterior appearance. The easy material IMO is solid vinyl soffit material. But it really depends on what the home looks like and what product would best match the exterior.

[beatnavy]

I ended up buying the Azek PVC beadboard planks. This stuff: https://azekexteriors.com/products/specialty-items/beadboards/beadboard

It should match the house well, which is colonial in style with white siding and porch columns. I wanted to put the plywood up partially to provide additional sealing/insulating (I know, not much R-value), but mainly because I'm running the boards parallel to the joists in this specific application.

Hopefully I'll like this stuff and maybe use it on the other porches. Same neighbor I referenced used it for a recently renovated interior ceiling and he loves it.

Thanks for the input!

[Bill Douglas]

Oh, that's quite stylish.

It will be an enhancement to the place.