# Forum Home Renovation Cladding  DIY Timber feature panels on ceiling.

## solcom

I am looking at creating a similar look to below for the ceiling of my Alfresco using a veneer on marine ply. 
How is the look achieved to create the shadow line affect, are the individual panels secret nailed, special clips or are the panels just glued to a plywood base that has been painted black?

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## METRIX

We put strips of Meranti that has been sprayed black, you could use pine and undercoat / spray it in flat black, 42 x 18 will work. 
Put the black strips onto the ceiling joist first where you want them, this will show you where you need to insert some blocking.
Then batten the ceiling joists out the same amount to give you something to nail the ply sheets to. 
Don't space the battens to far or the sheets can warp, max 450mm, screw the non black battens up but pin the black sections with a finish gun, shoot the edges of the srtipp so you dont see any holes down the centre.
Glue and pin the sheets up with a finish gun, its like gyprock, the nails/ screws are only there to hold the sheet up until the glue goes off, don;t just pin them up or you may get a suprise one day when they fall off. 
Leave a 10mm gap between the sheets where the black is to create a Dd shadow line.
Lightly sand the sheets before putting them up, then patch the nail holes, give the patches a very light hand sand and coat, coat the edges of the sheets prior to putting them up 
You get the best finish using Marine or Structural ply but it's expensive as it has a Hardwood veneer, regular CD ply can also look good, you just need to check every sheet prior to purchase, as some can look very ordinary. 
Did one once, that was regular ply, it was stained with Intergrain Natural stain in Charcoal it looked fantastic. 
Be careful of the Chinese Structural Plywood, it's full of Formaldehyde E1, you don't want that in your house.

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