Not all rooms are square

Note: The drawings are here to help you to understand.

This blog is going to explain the drawings, that we do here at Chelsea to help our customers installations run smoothly. Some apps may be able to make a drawing of your area, which may work great, if your room is a square or a rectangle, but how many rooms are like that? 

When sending a draw to us at Chelsea, it can be hand drawn and not to scale, but the measurement should be correct. That’s even more important if you are going to use Filler. That is the border around the perimeter of the room,

between the Faceplate (the main design) and the

Cornice.

The Filler isn’t always necessary with

6” or 12” designs, but is usually very necessary when

using a 2” design, because the embossment is deep

and even though the metal cornice is flexible when

going over a 2’ design, it is much better laying on top

of the Filler, which is less embossed.

To The Left: There is a 2' Design and another design can go where the 6 in a circle is. That is a judgement call when you get to that point, because sometimes it may hit the cornice. This also has a Molded Filler, which makes it look a little more fancy.

When installing the tin without Filler, I usually start on the longest wall and work my way off that to start with a full design, where it is most visible and then work my way to where it is less visible. 

Left: Start at straight wall and work down to hexigon wall.

Right: Start in the middle of the room. Sheet 3 goes up first.

I always start with the first row going completely across the room and work out from there.

With Filler I start in the center, but there are two centers. What, you say? Yes, there is a center between two design, but there may be a center in the middle of a design and I will show you where the chalk line should be struck. Example: If the room were 6’ wide, a chalk line down the middle puts 3’ on each side, but if the room is 5’ wide, the center would give you 2 1/2’ on each side. I would move the chalk line 6”, so that you have 3’ on one side and 2’ on the other. So you would have a full design on each end of the room, instead of a half of design on each end. It makes for less cutting and a better visual look.

I also add a 1/4”, as you can see in the diagram, because the sheets are 24 1/2” x 48 1/2” because of the overlap, so the sheets are a 1/4” bigger on each side and the chalk line is on the edge of the sheet, so I add 1/4” more. Other note, the dots on the chalk line age so you don’t have to use your eyes. Just put the sheet up against the nails for the first sheet, and it should be straight. After that you put one nail towards the back of the sheet on the chalk line and use the sheet already up as your other point. As seen with sheets 2 and 3. Sorry about the five lights in the center of the room and the drawing.

NOTE: If I started in the center, the bottom sheets 11 + would only be 18" instead of 24" and on top the 12" design, which is what the customer wanted, would also be 18",

I also number the sheets as I would install them, which is basically from the center and outward for each row. The numbers are on the drawing, not on the sheets themselves. I

also like to stagger the sheet from row to row (as in the room with the hexagon alcove, unless there is an even number of feet, in which case, I stagger every other row, but have one sheet run vertical at the end. Less labor of cutting a sheet. Seams away from the eyes, so as you get away from the center, you are most likely to underlap the sheets, than to overlap them. 

As I stated in the beginning of this blog, rooms may not be square or rectangle.

We number the drawings, so we can discuss them with you or your builder and there isn’t any charge for this service from Chelsea Decorative Metal Co. We always want to help our customers or possible future customers. So send us your diagrams. We also put quantities on the page and the price with the shipping charges if we have the address it is going to. We have a product you can look up to and people here, who will help you look up to it.