Steps and expense to lower a cathedral or vaulted ceiling
Hi, we’re house hunting and seeing a lot of cathedral, vaulted and trey ceilings. We’re money, comfort and energy conscious and would want to lower a ridiculous one – and there are many out there. We’d like to understand how complicated and expensive it may be. We’re looking at homes around $200,000 so it may not be realistic to do this…
In most cases the walls are 8′ and we would like ceiling to be 9′ or 10′. Is it easier and/or cheaper to plan on 8′ ceiling and rest ceiling joists on the wall plates, or go higher and attach joists to rafters? In some cases the supply ducts are in the lower part of the sloped ceiling and perhaps we can put ceiling just above those? So would we need to drop electrical or re-wire? Extend ductwork or run new? Does it any make sense to leave existing ceiling in place? How is venting handled? Typically the joist span would be 13-15′, but in some cases much more. At what width would we be looking at lam beams? Some houses are very vaulted and have those 8′ partition walls. Can they be used for support?
OR
Is it possible to hang a grid from existing ceiling and screw drywall to that so it doesn’t look like an acoustical tile commerical ceiling?
Lots of questions and I’m not finding answers online. I would really appreciate your advice, or links to websites/videos. Thanks in advance!
Replies
There are suspended drywall ceiling systems. I installed a few when I was a commercial carpenter in the hall. Basically, you hang metal struts with ceiling wire and screw drywall to it. The metal framing keeps the weight down but you would still need to consult an engineer to approve the added dead load. I used the system in a house once. We needed mechanical chases for soil lines and hvac in an old house. The ceiling was 10’ originally and we dropped it to 8-6 which allowed plenty of room.
Consider a suspended ceiling.
thanks for sharing your experience! Did you use dropped ceiling because it was more economical, or more because you were comfortable with it in commercial jobs?
A little bit of both. I’ve also seen it done with metal studs and ceiling wires. I don’t think you can drop a ceiling 5’ with this system. Lowering a ceiling is always easier than raising a ceiling. All of the live loads should already be handled in existing building. You just have to account for the dead load of the framing and board for the new ceiling. There are plenty of engineered framing members than can be used for longer spans. Step one would be to get an engineer to specify something for a specific situation.
thanks