I am planning on putting a tin ceiling up in my north parlor. I would rather not lie on my back and nail all those tiles up. Anyone out there have experience with installing old-fashioned tin ceilings? Or have I lost my teeny little mind?

Go to antique ceilings.com. They have styrofoam ceiling panel that look just like the tin ones and are easily glued up. The tin ones are extremely sharp and kink easily

Some how I think the former Historic Preservation Officer might prefer the "old-fashioned" kind.

Installing them isn't so much difficult as painful. Holding stuff over my head for hours is a problem. I could do it. I just don't want to.

I found when I did the two in my house that it was far easier to put up sheet goods first, like plywood or OSB, as a backing rather than furring strips. I did them both ways, and the furring strips are a pain. With the OSB on the ceiling you can fasten the OSB to your joists where ever they may land, and then your tin ceiling on the grid you layout for it from the center of the room; the two systems don't have to line up at all. I also did mine with micro sized screws instead of nails. You can get them by the box at Steadman's. 1/2" long Phillips work well. I painted my ceilings, so before I did I put a dab of caulk on the screw heads to fill the little X.

This is one of those projects where my wife, who is addicted to home improvement and remodeling, would say, "I need to hire a boy."

Hire two teenagers, pay them ten bucks an hour, stand there drinking coffee while directing their every move, and you will be done in a tenth of the time if you did it yourself.

The directions show using drywall screws. My plaster is pretty solid so I was just going to fasten to it directly. Say, Chad, want to earn a few bucks as a consultant/supervisor this summer? I'm stripping the wallpaper, repairing the plaster, painting the walls and trim and refinishing the floor myself but I just hate to deal with that ceiling and its wallpaper.