pipes interfering with drywall

[Lacustral]

I can't make a level lowered ceiling between the pipes and the heating ducts because the pipes go below the level of the heating ducts. I can just barely wedge 5/8" drywall between the drain pipe and the heating ducts, but it wouldn't be level. It would be tilted.

Laura

[Wgoodrich]

Find the lowest point of the pipes then build the ceiling level to that height ignoring the rise of the pipe as it travels across the ceiling. You will need to install ceiling joists then box around the heat duct and I beam then hang drywall to the ceiling and sides and bottom of the boxes you built.

Good Luck

Wg

[Lacustral]

Well thanks people. You really made a difference. I'll box around it, although it's going to be complicated - like 3 different-sized boxes joined together, it seems doable and it'll end up looking a lot better than what I was originally planning to do.
The previous owner really left me with a mess. He made a giant box around the whole thing that wasn't sealed - leaving something that passed a building code inspection because the inspector couldn't peer inside - but a disaster that was a giant rat/mouse warren, a collecting space for dust, a ceiling too low for anyone over medium height, and something that got in the way of a plumber working there. I originally took down the giant box because a big rat had died with a powerful stench, and I suspected it had died somewhere in there. So now I get to seal the gaps in the ceiling piecemeal, with a small box around the worst area.
Building boxes could be fun as well as work, like Legos for grownups.
Laura

[AllanJ]

A suspended ceiling is not going to be any more of a rat home than drywall right up against the joists.

How many or rather how few different levels (below the bottom edges of the joists) would you need or can you get away with for the new 5/8" drywall if you did not put the entire drywall ceiling back 18 inches below the joists the previous owner had it?

A recent ceiling job I did had a similar problem but was not over a garage so the ceiling did not need to be sealed. Three levels were needed, the predominant level was chosen 1-1/2 inches below joists to just cover some water pipes on the undersides of the joistts. This was convenient since sections of 2x2 could be used to make furring strips with fastened to the undersides of the joists, actually paralle to instead of across.

The second level needed was six inches below joist level, to box in a main drain pipe. For now that soffit is not built, the pipe is exposed with the 1-1/2 inch level ceiling panels just meeting the pipe.

The third level needed was 14 inches below joist level to box in the heating duct. For now this part is not built yet either, the duct is exposed.

Even after the ceiling is installed, the garage must remain heated to protect the pipes. The alternative is to have the ceiling low enough so insulation can go between it and the pipes and also space above the pipe up to the floor above and following the pathe of the pipe, as wide as it is high must be devoid of insulation.