Tin Ceiling… Rusted!

The next time you visit just about any small town and wander around downtown, you'll probably pop into a store or two. Maybe an old general store or a stationery shop… maybe even an art gallery. And if the building it's housed in is of a certain age, you might just look up and notice the beautiful old tin ceiling it has. You'll notice the intricate pattern that's been stamped into it. It might almost seem too fancy for the ancient old brick building, and you know it's from a long-ago era. The very first home I bought had tin ceilings on the first floor and I thought they were gorgeous. Surely a sign that it was one of the oldest houses in the neighborhood. It turns out that's not necessarily so. And, it might not be the original ceilings either. A few weeks ago, I was at a pre-listing appointment in Keene. My friend's mom has passed and it's time to sell her home. When I stepped inside, I immediately took notice of the beautiful tin ceiling in the dining room. My friend and I got to talking about it. He, too, didn't realize that the beautifully patterned ceiling may not be original to the home. I gave him an abbreviated history of stamped tin ceilings as I knew it. According to "All About Tin Ceilings" by Thomas Baker at This Old House (thisoldhouse.com), stamped tin ceilings were first introduced right here in the U.S. in the 1880s. Originally invented in the 1860s, the first tin ceilings were made from iron, which was then dipped in tin. Later, steel replaced the iron and were known as steel ceilings. Once they too were dipped in tin to help slow down rusting, that's where the term "tin ceiling" became the common term they've since been known as. While I knew tin ceilings historically came after plaster ceilings, my first research years ago left me with the impression that tin ceilings came in vogue simply to cover up old, cracked plaster ceilings. While that was certainly one of the reasons, they quickly became popular, the desire to mimic the beautiful carved plaster ceilings of Europe was also a big motivation. Old world plaster craftsmanship was hard to come by in the U.S. and quite expensive. In the U.S. Victorian era of the mid 1800s through the 1920s, people still valued grandeur and intricate detailing in their architecture. Tin ceilings let them have it at a fraction of the cost. In another article I read, "The Story Behind Tin Ceiling Tiles" by Scott Sidler at thecraftsmanblog.com, I found it interesting that the introduction of ceiling tiles was somewhat controversial at the time. Another story of the haves and have-nots, architectural influencers of the time declared tin ceilings to be deceptive, cheap imitations of the real thing (plaster work) and were morally wrong. It was the Industrial Revolution, though, and those sentiments weren't about to stop the mass production of stamped tin ceiling panels and their distribution via railway across the country and into millions of homes. But then came World War II. Almost all tin ceiling panel production was shut down since the metal was needed for the war effort. After the war, tin ceilings had lost a bit of their luster… or maybe they just started to rust. In recent decades, there has been a growing new appreciation for the stamped tin architectural element and you can still buy new panels in traditional tin coated steel, aluminum, stainless steel, copper and various composite materials such as mineral fiber and PVC. Tin ceilings are usually made up of 2-by-2-foot panels of the super thin metal and there are a few installation techniques: nail-up, glue-up (direct mount,) lay-in (drop in) or interlocking screw-direct. There are usually three elements to the metal of a tin ceiling. The field panels cover the center of the ceiling and are where the main artistic stamped pattern sits. The filler is the low-profile area that creates a border around the field and the cornice is the transition from ceiling to wall. Tin-plated steel panels must be coated, or they will soon begin to rust. An oil-based polyurethane is good if you want to keep the metallic sheen. Otherwise, priming and painting will help preserve that beautiful, intricate ceiling for generations to come. A few years after I sold my first home, I heard a sad tale from the homeowners. They attempted to repaint what was last a nursery in the house, just off the dining room. When they began to roll the paint on, the whole tin ceiling crumbled. It had rusted from its unpainted backside. Tin ceiling… rusted!