# Above spline ceilings



## Lone Crapshooter (Nov 8, 2008)

Is it permissible to have junction boxes and conduit fittings above a spline ceiling ?
We are upgrading a fire alarm in a building that was built in the late 60's and it is poured concrete and masonry construction. Looking at the conduit we believe there are junction boxes somewhere . We have not been able to find them. Now we are thinking they might be above the spline ceiling.

LC


----------



## splatz (May 23, 2015)

Lone Crapshooter said:


> Is it permissible to have junction boxes and conduit fittings above a spline ceiling ?


No, I don't think so because conduit bodies and junction boxes are required to be accessible, but you can't get at them above a spline ceiling without "damaging the finish of the building," so they are not accessible.


----------



## joebanana (Dec 21, 2010)

A "concealed spline" ceiling? Or "glue-up"? They look the same, but one can really "F" up a bid. As long as you can run your stuff near the "access" tiles, shouldn't be a prob. But first locate the "key" tiles, there might only be one or two.


----------



## Signal1 (Feb 10, 2016)

joebanana said:


> A "concealed spline" ceiling? Or "glue-up"? They look the same, but one can really "F" up a bid. As long as you can run your stuff near the "access" tiles, shouldn't be a prob. But first locate the "key" tiles, there might only be one or two.


This^^

Buildings all over Boston have spline ceilings with miles of pipe and boxes up above. They were a fave for all the skyscrapers that went up in the 70's. 

Accessible? not really, but kinda.

They suck to get apart and back together, but it can be done without damage. 

Like Joe said you need to find the key areas, or make your own. You would need those little L/T-brackets they use, some extra tiles (if you can find them) and a sharp knife. 

At best keep a little bottle of that sneaker white **** handy, and some elmer's to glue the corners back on that your're gonna break off.


----------



## joebanana (Dec 21, 2010)

Signal1 said:


> This^^
> 
> Buildings all over Boston have spline ceilings with miles of pipe and boxes up above. They were a fave for all the skyscrapers that went up in the 70's.
> 
> ...


 I did a TI project a while back with bunches of Voice/Data drops all over the place, we just punched out the tiles where we needed to get to, and the builder had his ceiling guys do the repair at no charge to us.
I hate those things.


----------



## Signal1 (Feb 10, 2016)

joebanana said:


> I did a TI project a while back with bunches of Voice/Data drops all over the place, we just punched out the tiles where we needed to get to, and the builder had his ceiling guys do the repair at no charge to us.
> *I hate those things*.


Me too


----------



## nrp3 (Jan 24, 2009)

Are these the ones that are found largely in commercial buildings made of the rough crumbly stuff that gets in your eyes or the tiles sometimes found in resi?


----------



## joebanana (Dec 21, 2010)

nrp3 said:


> Are these the ones that are found largely in commercial buildings made of the rough crumbly stuff that gets in your eyes or the tiles sometimes found in resi?


12"X12" compressed asbestos that break by just looking at them, mostly in office settings, and have slots on all sides for metal strips that hold them together. Aka "puzzle tiles".


----------



## nrp3 (Jan 24, 2009)

I was wondering whether there was a fire rating associated with these as opposed to the conventional ceiling tile systems that we are accustomed to. I have one commercial space where one of these tough to deal with tile systems was taken out in favor of the more conventional tile system we're used to. I think they went to 2x2's, not that that probably matters much. This particular building was 1979 or so.


----------



## Tonedeaf (Nov 26, 2012)

be careful many of them spline ceiling tiles contain *asbestos*.


----------



## Awg-Dawg (Jan 23, 2007)

I would look above mechanical grills, 2x4 lights or closets.


----------



## Lone Crapshooter (Nov 8, 2008)

I want to thank everyone for their input.
After further research we found that the first hand station in each area of the building was fed with 1 1/4 conduit .There is a seperate 3/4 conduit run in parallel with the 1 1/4 that feds the bell circuit. Now to the best of our knowledge there are no junction boxes above the ceiling.
The origional install was done in 1968 and was a 120 volt system done at the time of construction. The new system will be state of the art addressable a big improvement.
Now we have other issues which I will post a question about in the General Discussion Area.
Thanks

LC


----------



## MTW (Aug 28, 2013)

Signal1 said:


> This^^
> 
> Buildings all over Boston have spline ceilings with miles of pipe and boxes up above. They were a fave for all the skyscrapers that went up in the 70's.


Boston.


----------

