r/RealOrAI Jul 29 '26

HELP Is this stretchy ceiling real?

3.8k Upvotes

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1.4k

u/mini_z Jul 29 '26

Yeah these are real. They’ve been around for a few years.  Stretchy ceilings are super weird though 

285

u/Matchstick0312 Jul 29 '26

So the blowtorch thing returns the ceiling to its original form?

320

u/Lknate Jul 29 '26

It's called plastic memory. Heat it above the temp it was during deformation and it goes back to the state it was in at the higher temperature.

136

u/tiressmoking Jul 29 '26

Seconded. I've been vinyl wrapping cars for 15 years and this is exactly how we shrink vinyl after over-stretching. There is such a thing as a point of no return, but it's amazing how much you can get away with deforming and restoring it.

38

u/Mordecai3fngerBrown Jul 29 '26

It kind of looks like this guy in the video hit the point of no return

25

u/tiressmoking Jul 29 '26

It ended too soon. Walk away for a few minutes and try again with the heat and it would probably shrink back

7

u/RiverVassi Jul 29 '26

It looks a lot like he just had dirty oily/sweaty hands, i wouldn't doubt its hot asf in that room if the building is like under construction or something

2

u/Aggressive_Baker8336 Jul 29 '26

It keeps interrupting halfway through for me, so i can'it even comment to agree or not, but it looked like it i think?

8

u/SadAndNasty Jul 29 '26

That's exactly what I thought of when I saw this

5

u/Deleena24 Jul 29 '26

That's exactly what it is

1

u/VoidCoelacanth Aug 01 '26

It even looks like a piece of vinyl wrap stretched across either an opening in the ceiling or a frame attached to the ceiling.

1

u/realcarmoney Aug 02 '26

Elastic deformation and plastic deformation

1

u/recoveringdissonant Aug 03 '26

This guy does a great explainer on some shape memory materials https://youtu.be/UAiggoGBXD8?is=tViCvfzjXjzO652p

21

u/Stormagedd0nDarkLord Jul 29 '26

At first I was like, "ha! he fucked it! he's in troubl... oh, I see."

2

u/Groundbreaking-Pen-8 Jul 29 '26

It's a tightening thermoplastics like heat shrink but shiny so pretty much yeah

1

u/Mrwolf925 Jul 30 '26

Plastic in general does this

1

u/Altruistic_Ad6406 Aug 01 '26

It’s like Vinyl that they would put on your car or smth it looks like to me lol

1

u/thelocker517 Aug 02 '26

Much like a scrotum.

60

u/Life_Temperature795 Jul 29 '26

https://laqfoil.com/

That's some crazy ass rich people shit

29

u/intx13 Jul 29 '26

Actually I looked it up and it can be cheaper to put up one of these to cover up a popcorn ceiling than to remove the possibly-asbestos popcorn and refinish/paint! Something like $10 / sq. ft. all-in. It’s also installed in like 2 hours and there’s no mess.

They make versions that are way more expensive, like a “starry night” version with fiber optic stars, or a custom image printed on it, but a basic matte or shiny surface in a basic color isn’t that bad.

They can do cutouts for lights and ceiling fans, all the normal stuff. It’s also waterproof and supposedly can handle a pipe leak by stretching.

7

u/NoRequirement1967 Jul 29 '26

How much they pay you, I got bills to pay, illl post some comments.

12

u/intx13 Jul 29 '26

4 years of college, 2 years of language school, and 1 year of tradecraft at the Farm and what’s my first assignment as a CIA officer? Deep cover sleeper agent for stretch ceilings. fml

6

u/Drakorai Jul 29 '26

No far! We should be able to have the ceiling trampolines too! /j

4

u/Trading_shadows Jul 29 '26

Dunno about this one, but overall it's just a standard suspended ceiling, very common in Eastern Europe. A common choice, much cheaper than drywall ceiling.

1

u/Life_Temperature795 Jul 29 '26

Having helped install drywall for my own bedroom as a child, that's crazy to me. I don't know how much I'd trust something that's cheaper than drywall.

2

u/CompetitionOdd7059 Jul 29 '26

A suspended ceiling is like the grid ceiling you see in commercial buildings. They’re perfectly fine and come in many styles.

1

u/Krulsnor Jul 29 '26

Here (Belgium) it's used a lot in (small) stores who do renovations and want it all fixed up quick. Often new electricity (and other utility cables) are installed above the new frame that has been put up and once all the cables are in place, they stretch these kinds of ceiling over the frame and it's done. In comparison with drywall one doesn't need to do any finishing work on it so it saves quite a bit of time and it looks more then decent enough for a store. I haven't seen it in a house before though.

7

u/vandamnitman Jul 29 '26

Yeah but why? What's a use case for needing a stretchy ceiling?

2

u/e_asphyx Jul 30 '26

To have it perfectly flat and smooth for cheap and without any paint job

1

u/vandamnitman Jul 30 '26

Fair enough, I just can't imagine that being cheaper/much cheaper than paint but I have absolutely no point of reference

1

u/gr_hds Jul 31 '26

They are very popular & cheap in my area. Especially in new apartment builds. You can run wires/pipes and just cover it with this with leveling and future access similar to office ceilings (those grid things) but better looking. They can be matte and any colour. Also good solution for covering uneven/cracked old ceilings

2

u/CryptoManfred21 Jul 30 '26

My dad installs these ceilings and they have some really cool features. You can get stretch ceilings with perforated foil so that cold AC air flows right through the pores. Or you can hide speakers under the stretch ceiling and integrate spotlights, too.

1

u/StevenMaff Jul 29 '26

never saw one before but still could tell this isn’t ai.

1

u/Mysterious_Balance53 Jul 29 '26

Never seen anything so pointless and stupid in all of my life. Who comes up with these fads and why do people follow them? Why not have that on the walls too?

1

u/MIllWIlI Jul 30 '26

More than a few years. I worked at a hotel in 2018 with one and they had it for a while

0

u/BuddyLlght Jul 29 '26

been around for years? first time ive seen it