ceiling beams

September 19th, 2011 0

we decided early on that we would love beams in the living/dining/kitchen half of the house and looked for salvage, rough-hewn or hand-hewn beams with little success locally. we did finally find a place with beautiful beams but they were almost $3000 and while not horrible for such a big architectural detail, not great when you’re trying to do a small budget. not willing to give up we decided to try new beams at a local lumbershop and got lucky. these beams are made from douglas rir, are 8×8 in size, and are nice and sturdy/heavy without being massive in weight like oak. (we didn’t want to stress the new frame as much as add additional roof support + pretty) and these were much, much more reasonable.. to the tune of $175 each with only 4 needed… no brainer! once the roof is finished and we get further along we’ll stain them, douglas fir takes stain really well and of any color you want. we’re waiting until we get the ceiling wood and floors installed before we decided what color to go with, probably something somewhat light but rich.

the beams are 16ft. long and weigh around 4-500 pounds, very doable for two strong people… being very careful! mostly he had to measure how he spaced them so that they all came out even and in a natural progression. the last section of roof was removed, leaving the beams to be cut down on the outside (our house is 14 ft wide, but it’s better and easier to get a little longer of a beam and adjust accordingly), the new sub roof to be installed, and then the grand finale of metal!! more roof fun this week.. stay tuned!