Storage Limits For Suspended Ceiling Tiles

FlashJT

Hello all! I am working on a basement job where the homeowner purchased their ceiling tiles several months ago early in the project. During this time, the tiles have been sitting in their garage (in their original packaging).

Keeping in mind that we are in Minnesota, where we've seen several nights get to -25 to -30F, would keeping the tiles in the garage have damaged or degraded them in any way?

My initial thought would be NO, but a response from Armstrong says that they recommend storage temperatures above 32F. Anything lower would be considered "abnormal conditions" and could possibly impact the warranty on the tiles.

My concern is installing these tiles after they've been subjected to very low temperatures and having the ceiling look bad because of it....therefore making me look bad by association.

Has anyone had experience with cold storage of ceiling tiles before? Have the tiles been damaged by sitting in the garage or should they still be perfectly fine? If they have been damaged, to what extent? This is a new one for me so I'm not sure what to expect.

JT

Muddauber

Flash,
I'm a drywall & ceiling contractor.If you go to any commercial drywall supply you will find the ceiling tile stored in an unheated warehouse with the drywall.As long as it's stored on a dry,solid,flat surface it should be fine.

Kaiser

If Armstrong not will warranty the tiles I would explain the situation to the customer and have them sign something relieving you of responsibilty.

thom

Would be meaningless if he wrote his contract properly. There is no reason why anyone should expect a contractor to warranty materials provided by others.

dkillianjr

I don't see a problem and have never had any problems with storing tiles in the cold. My supplier stores them in an unheated warehouse. And like thom said I will not warrenty any materials the customer purchases!


Dave

FlashJT

Excellent. It was my assumption that no harm had been done, but I purchase my tiles exclusively from a supplier that stores them indoors, so I didn't want any surprises.

Warranty issues are not of concern. They are obviously not my problem. Even so, if the job looks bad as a result of of something the homeowner did, there is still the perception of poor quality work simply because it doesn't look like they expected. Not the end of the world, but also not a desirable situation either.

Thanks for the replies. I can sleep a little easier now