Project of the month summer:
How to add a tray ceiling to a
top floor room
Prologue
"This bedroom needs something"
I said to my wife on our final walk through of our new (1987 built) home.
We couldn't put a finger on it, but after waking the first day, I decided
it needed a ceiling fan in our bedroom. Problem was, there was no ceiling
fixture. "Well, maybe know would be a good time to tray the ceiling up"-
where the center ceiling is still flat, but raised from the perimeter of
the room. I knew it would be a sizeable project, so I told just enough
people of my plans (all of whom either got involved, or said I was nuts),
so they could hold me to the committment.
Background
Well, I finally got to use all
that physics from college (especially Statics). Vector analysis ensured
that the structural integrety of the new components was at least equal
to the original work. This is a dangerous area to play with, and
once altered there is no going back.
Design
The roof of the house is technically
a tall crawl space, constructed of 2x4 trusses. All I had to do was remove
a section of truss over the bedroom and replace it with a new higher one...12"
seemed reasonable, raising the room from 8' to 9', in an area about 9'x
11' (4 trusses effected). A 24" perimeter of the original ceiling
would be left in order to allow for adequate structural support at the
eves. Of course, the rafters weren't centered over the room, so a reasonable
amount of framing would have to be done prior to closing off the hole.
One "challenge" is that you never
want to remove a working truss... I built the new supports around
the existing rafters, and only after everything was secured and checked
(rechecked) the targeted sections were removed.
Basically, I constructed laminated
plywood risers that straddled the existing ceiling beam, and allowed new
crossbeams to sandwich the verticle truss members, which re-established
their retaining function.
The Problem
I did add torque to the system
that was nonexistent before; I cut out where the trusses used to come to
a point (forces balanced, L=0,T=0), and supported them away from the vertex
so there is now a moment arm between supports (up to 24", which means that
a 100# load force would have a 500ft-lb torque.
The Solution
The torque load was distributed
from what was once only a single 2x4 to (2) 2x6 beams, with almost 24"
of overlap onto the old rafters. The original triangular force pattern
was preserved.
Fortunately, the months of planning and consultation
payed off, and we ended up only losing the use of the room for 4 nights!
A Note on My theory for fastening important things:
"I use enough glue (A&L premium construction
adhesive) that I don't need screws and bolts, and enough other fasteners
that I don't need any glue."
Liability release:
I do not condone or recommend modifying premanufactured structural supports
without consulting the manufacturer and/or a qualified structural engineer.
This is what the ceiling was like before, looking towards
the entranceway.
This is what the crawl space looked like,
after shoveling the blown-in insulation out of the way.
The pre constructed risers are laying down at
the lower right.
This is a riser in place with the cross beams glued and
clamped,
waiting for the 5/16" bolts.
The original 2x4 can be seen still in use at
the bottom center of the picture
This is after the ceiling the new trauss supports were
in place
and the drywall was removed.
A line was drawn 24" from the walls around the
perimeter of the room,
and everything inside of it was tossed out the
window
The original truss rafters were then cut out flush to
the new rafters and risers.
Always looking for an excuse to use my favorite
power tool
View from above, showing the plywood "risers" and 2x6
cross beams.
The truss supports can be seen passing through
the cross beams, where they are secured (bolted and glued)
The framing and drywall are in place.
The last pieces of drywall go into place!
The Left pic shows the pink eave vents in place,
prior to the area being stuffed with insulation.
This view is from the bedroom doorway, prior to priming
Painting is done!
Now the crown molding could be installed,
which houses 200watts of "rope light" indirect
lighting.
Project time: 2 months @ 2-4 hrs per
day, most days, including new wall paint
Total cost: $300 for materials, $325 for fan
(Minka Aire Metropolis), remote, and rope lights
Next (Fall) project:
Venting the oven exhaust fan outside, instead
of the useless re-circulation setup that comes with many homes.
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This page last updated 11-30-99