Faux Wood Workshop

With the two halves of the main beam installed, I could start working the top half of each truss [Rafter Beams] that attached to the ceiling. This went a bit faster as I knew that each one would hook to the 2×4 pieces attached to ceiling beams under the drywall. I found each of these with the stud detector and again marked them with blue tape.

Here is another trick that may help you: mark with blue tape where the wood blocks are installed. Mark on each side and 1 ft from the center. In this way when the beam is mounted, you can tell where to drive the screws through the beam so that you always hit these blocks. Keep in mind as the beam is being installed, you lose visibility of where the wood blocks are and won’t know where to drive the screws. This shouldn’t be a big deal, but when you are standing on one foot, with a screw in your mouth, holding the beam up with the other and trying to get everything aligned, you will be glad for one less issue.

The trick with this portion of the beams was to make sure that the angle for how they fit in to the top beam was cut correctly. I used a large angle measure tool such that I could merely place it on the main beam and open it till it hit the ceiling, tighten it, and then carry it down to mark the line on the beam to be cut. You have to do this for each side of the beam. The cutting was done with a light circular saw and went quickly. Then it was up the ladder, press it tight with one arm and screw in with the other. This occasionally was harder than it sounds, but my lovely wife was a trooper and climbed the other side of the ladder and helped hold it up while I drilled, the dog barked and my little daughter wandered around below us, oblivious to the imminent danger above.

This process was repeated on the other side of the room. The trick on this part was making sure that they ended up the exact same length so that when you look up, they don’t look different.

The other sides of the top of the truss got ugly. First, the one to the west covered an old lamp fixture at the bottom of the stairs. I pulled the wires from the socket and ran another wire there so that I could use that power for the lighting that was attached to the side of the beam. Inevitably though I had to shut off power for the room to make these connections…..and then couldn’t see a dang thing. I ended up using a head mounted flashlight that worked out Ok.

The other leg of the truss butted up against a flat wall with no metal strap. This was a pain because I learned that even if the ladder would go in to a funky position on the stairs, the base of it was too wide to fit on the stairs! I finally ended up wrapping a throw rug around a 2×4 and bungee cable connecting it to the top of the ladder. I then closed up the ladder and tilted it over the stairs and it rested on the wall. I tied off the middle of the ladder to the stair railing so that it wouldn’t tip backwards and had my wife hold the feet of the bottom. Warning…..this is not an OSHA approved maneuver!

Now the top beam [Ridge Beam] was in, the top sides [Rafter Beams] of both trusses were in but now the of these needed to be cut flat and at the same height…even though they were 18 feet apart. I debated this for awhile and then picked a height that worked and gave ample clearance over the stairs. I measured for the height and then used a level with a laser in one end. Since I couldn’t be at both ends on the ladder at the same time, I placed several pieces of tape on one side of the room and then held my level up, turned on the laser and saw which piece of tape was closest. I kept moving these around until I could repeat the laser leveling and had each beam marked on both sides. I used a handheld jigsaw to cut these and laid a drop cloth below me for the dust on the floor. I still basically made a mess with sawdust as I cut these. By all means, wear goggles when doing this. This is usually being done above your head and once the dust falls in your eyes, you have a running saw in your hand and you are high on a ladder, so your options are limited…..

Now it was time for the main/ bottom cross beams [Collar Tie Beams]. As it turned out, the hole wasn’t big enough for me to get my hand in to attach a chain to the eyelets hidden in the center of the main beam. I had a small blade that cut a hole large enough to hook in a chain that reached 22 ft below. Each side of this beam had to be cut at an angle to align with the slanting roof. I used the same technique mentioned above, but now had to take length in to consideration. Again this needs to be done on both sides, but remember to measure a couple of times before cutting. You probably wont’t get a second chance. I stained these beams and then had to work the next issue…how do these attach to the chain in the middle? These were pretty heavy being full length long and I didn’t want to tear out the whole top center of the beam if it ripped. In the end I built a small frame of 2x4s inside the center and screwed it to both sides of the beam. In the center of the frame, I installed a large eyelet (pre-drilled hole) and attached a ring to it, then I attached an adjustable tensioner with eyelets on both ends. I had picked a chain and fittings that should support double the weight, but the last thing I wanted was for something unforeseen to break and have the beam come crashing down 20 ft. I took the conservative route and lifted the beam and hooked it to the chain so that it was suspended about a foot off the floor…….and let it hang there a couple of weeks until we came back up to the cabin. We have a network camera at the cabin so I was able to log on to the internet every few days and see if it had fallen or not…

In the end, it held up fine…and the excitement began! This is where the chain was a big help over a cable, as I was able to run a safety chain underneath the beam, grab the hook with the beam attached in one hand and climb the ladder. I hooked the beam up and adjusted it  every few feet while my wife steadied the beam from swaying with another guide rope. I could never have done this with a cable as it didn’t allow me to hook up to it every few feet like a chain does. In this way I slowly brought the main beam up to the top of the ladder. After getting it to the right height, I used the adjustable tensioner to hold it exactly as it needed to be, then I swung it in to position. Here I learned of a new problems. The beam opening at the top did not exactly match the mounted ceiling beam opening (where I cut it) at the bottom. Here I used a couple small pieces of plywood to slide inside over the seam and screwed it in. This forced both sides to be smooth at the seam and align perfectly. I did this on both sides at both ends and on both beams. The bottom beam to the east mounted to the wall.  There was a slight gap where it abutted the vertical wall, but I was very lucky and found some colored caulk that matched very well and this did the trick (but don’t ask how much caulk I had to use!)

Check back next week for the final part of this truss story!

This project had its genesis from a two story cabin with a wall of windows facing a great view of unspoiled National Forest. It is dedicated to my wife Cyndi who decided we needed it, and my Dad, a master craftsman that unfortunately suddenly passed away right at the start of the project. I built it in hopes to make them both proud.

The family room has a 22ft peaked ceiling with a stairs on one side, a fire stove, a ceiling fan in the middle, and the walls are made of drywall which is attached attached to studs. As I did my planning, Jeff at FauxWoodBeams.com was able to discern what I wanted to do very quickly with some sketches and was able to efficiently reduce the cost of my project. I ordered the beams unfinished and planned to stain them to match the wood on the stairs.

Overall, the goal was to fill in this dead-space, as well as continue the wood and rock theme that we used throughout the cabin. I was also in desperate need to add more light sources to the room since there were no ceiling lights installed and the room was dark, even with floor lamps on.

The biggest issue was the height of the ceiling. At 22 ft, it was almost impossible to even take measurements up there. I had originally planned on using scaffolding, but because of the tight quarters, tall ceiling, cost of renting the equipment, and that I could only work on this project when we went to the cabin (which was about once a month), renting scaffolding was doubly difficult, so I decided against it. I looked at some large ladders and again after talking to Jeff, decided that the Little Giant 17 ft ladder would work. They aren’t cheap but do condense smaller and can contort in to different shapes.

I made my orders and waited. They showed up in long skinny boxes, well protected, but took the whole length of my garage. One other note, don’t judge the beam weight by the box weight. The boxes are heavy because of the protective packaging, the beams are relatively light (but gets heavier the higher you have to haul them!)

First, I watched the videos on the web site that Jeff had; they were very good and gave me a sense of what I had to do. I started with the main cross beam, I was sure where this went so I installed it first thinking that it would be easy. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. First, the ladder was very high and seemed rickety until I got used to it. Second, the U of the beam fit in to the peak of the roof. This meant that the little mounting boards (I used 2×4 pieces) had to be mounted at the peak. Clearly, they stretched over the gap at the peak, so I needed much longer screws and had to hunt around to find something besides drywall to drill in to. I used a stud detector and it helped identify where the wood was underneath the drywall, but it was very slow. I put blue painters tape wherever I found a stud , which helped me build a picture of where everything was under the drywall. I used a chalk line to try and mark this, but it was pretty useless. With only one ladder I had to install a hook at one end then move the ladder and chalk line up to pluck it. In the end, the chalk line wasn’t much help, as you could just follow the peak of the roof. I put another 2×4 block on top of the ones I installed up there so that there was enough depth for the beams to mount to. (This involved pre-drilling the boards as well.) By The Way – use a rechargeable drill. A corded drill working from these heights will inevitably get caught on something. Use a tool belt with lots of pockets as well, it comes in handy. After mounting all the 2×4 blocks, I had to drill the bolts that would hold cables. This was Jeff’s idea, and it works well. When you have a truss, the bottom horizontal piece may have too much weight to be held on the ends which can cause it to sag as well as not stay mounted. Jeff indicated to use a cable to hold it up there. This worked perfect and had some other benefits as well, such as holding the electrical wires when they are snaked between the beams. I installed large eyelet bolts and made sure they were very deeply installed in to the ceiling wood frame. I had originally hooked some light steel cable to these, but that quickly didn’t work. I could never get the cable to tie off, even with special crimp connections, so I had no faith that they could hold all the weight. I abandoned that idea and just stuck a light chain with closeable snap links. This was a real key to the whole thing working as you will see later.

I installed the first half of the top beam by mounting one of the black beam straps to

a ceiling 2×4 block of wood on the end. These come from FauxWoodBeams.com and look like iron. I propped the beams up outside and gave them a quick stain and cut it to fit. I had one mistaken beam strap sent to us that was the wrong size. I shipped it back and they took care of it. These straps fit pretty tight, but will mold over time. I recommend you put them on part way and let them sit for a day before sliding them the rest of the way on.

The beams are light enough that I could carry one (actually 1/2 length) up carefully and slide it in to the far side, then strap and attach it in the center strap that I previously mounted. The advantage of the strap in the center was that I needed room to steal

power from the ceiling fan to run wires through all the other beams. Also, the beam doesn’t have to be full length (because it is hidden by the strap) which means that it doesn’t have to be cut perfect several times before installing. (You will quickly find that the roof isn’t exactly straight and neither is the ceiling.) After the first half was installed, the second half went easier, although there was a smoke detector in the way that I had to replace.

Check back next week for Part 2 of this truss story!