Am wanting to add decorative beams (at top of wall height) in a room with a cathedral ceiling – will use just for looks and for hanging pendant lights on one, so not load bearing. The span is 30 ft. Looking for the most cost effective method. Considered 2 x 6 or 8’s glued and nailed together with staggered end joints and then faced with hardwood, but thought the span might be too long for that to support it’s own weight. Wondered if a wood I beam construction (like a engineered floor joist of 2 x on top and bottom with osb center) then faced would work.
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
Listeners write in about continuing education, minisplit heat pumps, compact home shops, and building science.
Featured Video
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
Make a box beam with a 2X nailed to the roof structure and the rest should be 1X in whatever size you want.
For clarification, the beam won't be against the ceiling. This is a beam across the room at the top of the wall (9 foot above the floor) with a cathedral ceiling rising above it.
Whoops, my bad. I think your best bet would be a fake timber frame truss. My son has 3 of them in their FR for exactly the same reason and they look great but it took 2 highly skilled carpenters about a week to do each one.
It might be easier if you suspend from the ceiling. (with some narrow diameter cables)
I did this on a 16' span shed roof. I attached a 1x4 cleat to the roof. Where it was parallel with a rafter, I screwed directly in (used GRKs with a washer for extra contact). Where the cleat fell between rafters, I installed three ceiling fan mount boxes (the ends of the cleat could be fastened into structure at high and low side). I then built three sided box beams out of 1x material (we wanted about 5" height and about 5" width). I put a 45 on the edges, glued and nailed them together, then sanded, stained, polyed. Cut the right angle top/bottom and given it was humid summer, I cut them tight. They shrink about 3/16" at each end. In between top and bottom, perpendicular, I made smaller pieces so it really looks like purlins between top chords of a timber frame. It singlehandedly changed the appearance of this previously dull room, for a reasonable amount of time and money. You need a good, agile helper for the install to help. I was able to run fire sprinkler in three of the beams, too.
oops, I wrote that and took a picture, then saw your followup that you are doing something different.