Measuring straight lines is an important part of installing metal ceiling tiles, but it’s not always the easiest task to accomplish. If you’ve chosen the DIY approach to your metal ceiling tile installation, you’ll need to learn just how to measure a straight line in order to ensure a beautiful and stress-free installation. With the proper tools on hand and the right tips in mind, measuring a straight line on your ceiling will be much easier for you.
What you will need to measure a straight line on your ceiling is:
- Two stepladders
- Measuring tape
- Hammer
- Nail
- Pencil
- Framing square
- Chalk or laser chalk-line
The steps to properly measuring straight lines on your ceiling are the following:
- Stand on a step ladder in one corner of the room with your measuring tape, and have an assistant on a stepladder at the other end of the wall with the tang of the measuring tape. If you don’t have anyone to assist you, you may use a nail to hold the measuring tape tang while you measure.
- When taking the measurement of the ceiling, read the tape where the slight crease in the tape meets the corner of the ceiling and the wall. Next, you’ll want to divide this measurement by half as you move your stepladder to the center point of the ceiling to mark it with a light pencil. This marking process will be used to mark each of the 4 walls of the space.
- Between midpoints, you’ll want to draw a chalk line or use a laser chalk-line, effectively splitting the ceiling into 4 equal quadrants.
- Hold the framing square against the ceiling at the point where the 4 lines intersect. If the lines meet at a 90-degree angle, measure each straight line with your measuring tape. If the lines do not meet at a 90-degree angle, choose the longer line and create a new chalk line to frame the square on a shorter dimension so the lines become square to each other.
Quite simple, right?