Faux Wood Workshop

No one can claim that making a coffered ceiling is quick and easy. Faux beams make the job a lot easier, but there’s an art to making each joint look good and stay tight. Here’s the best way to create perfect four-way mitered joints.

1. Carefully plan, measure and lay out the grid pattern of the coffers. Snap a chalk line on the ceiling along the center line of each beam to make a checkerboard with perfect right angles.

 

 

2. For each intersection on the checkerboard, make a crossed mounting block from two pieces of 2-by lumber. Rip each piece to the exact width of the inside of the beam, and make its length about three times its width. Screw and glue the two pieces together at right angles. Then anchor each crossed block to the ceiling aligned with the chalk marks.

 

3. Take time and care cutting and dry-fitting each beam. At each four-way intersection, miter each beam in a V using a precision miter saw.

4. Stain the mitered edges to match the finished beam. This helps hide any imperfections in the joinery.

5. Mount the beams to the blocks. To lock everything together as a single unit, use adhesive on every mating surface: the mitered edges, the inside of the beam where it slips over the mounting block, and the edges of the beam that touch the ceiling. Apply a light bead, slightly back from exposed edges to avoid squeeze-out. Screw through the sides of each beam into the mounting blocks as usual.

 

6. Carefully wipe away any excess adhesive that squeezes out.

 

7. Step back and admire the perfect joints that will stay that way for a long, long time.

It goes without saying that faux beams add a warm woody glow to your room. But they can also help add the glow of real light.

The hollow part of the beam is a great place to hide electric wires and route them to light fixtures mounted inside or on top. The three photos show three different ways of lighting up your beams.

Hiding uplights inside the hollow of the beam

The first photo shows suspended beams (attached only at their ends) with lights inside the hollow part, casting indirect light up at the ceiling. These could be fluorescent strips, rope lights, track lights — whatever gives the effect you want.

These beams are short and hefty, so they’re able to bear the weight of the light fixtures without additional support.

Mounting tracklights along the beam top

The second photo shows exposed tracklights along the top of a suspended beam. This is a much longer suspended beam than in the first photo, and it’s supported by doubled 2x6s inside the beam. (Our website explains how to install a long suspended beam.)

The tracklights, then, mount to the 2x6s — not to the beam itself. Because of this, you don’t need to worry about the weight or size of the fixtures.

Installing recessed lights in the beam bottom

The third photo shows recessed lights in the bottom of attached beams. You install them just as you would in a plaster or drywall ceiling. Our website gives detailed instructions for installing recessed lights .

Of course, you have to choose fixtures small enough to fit in the hollow part of the beam. And they must be rated “IC” for direct contact with insulation.

In this case the beam itself carries the weight of the fixtures, so it’s important to attach the beam securely to the ceiling. Be sure to use construction adhesive along the top edges — which also prevents stray light from escaping at the beam/ceiling joint.

Question: Can I hang stuff on a faux beam? Like a swag lamp or planter, or even a ceiling fan?

Answer: Only if you attach it to a solid anchor inside the beam.

Polyurethane beams are tough and durable, but they don’t have the holding power and rigidity to carry additional weight on their own.

It’s tempting to think of attaching a ceiling hook to the bottom of the beam with a toggle bolt, just as you would to a drywall ceiling, and hanging a plant or swag fixture on it. Resist the temptation.

The right time to think about hanging things from a beam is when you’re installing the beam. Imagine where you might eventually want to hang that planter or swag, and provide solid backing inside the beam at that location.

First attach a mounting block to the ceiling, screwed into a ceiling joist if possible. Then cut a backer block that just fits inside the beam, and screw that block to the side of the mounting block. Don’t forget to write down its location for later reference (“24.5 inches from the west wall”). Then you’ll be able to screw your ceiling hook through the beam and directly into that solid backer block.

What about permanent light fixtures or ceiling fans? Since they require electrical boxes, you need to plan and install them at the same time you install the beam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You’ll find complete instructions for mounting a chandelier or hanging light fixture on our website. For a ceiling fan, follow the same instructions, but make sure you attach the anchoring blocks directly to a wood joist and not just to the surface of the ceiling.

Whoever invented the butt joint should have called it something else if he didn’t want people making bad jokes and puns about it.

No matter. The point is that you might have several reasons for using butt joints between beams, and you need to plan them and dress them up so they look beautiful rather than ugly. I’m talking about butting the end of one beam against the end of another so the two look like one continuous beam. You might do this if:

- You can’t get a single beam long enough to span the distance
- Piecing beams together turns out to be cheaper than using one longer beam
- Handling a long beam is difficult in the space you have available

Whatever the reason, you can’t just squeeze the butts together and leave the joint exposed. Not even if you stain the ends before you install them, so that no raw polyurethane is accidentally exposed. No amount of care will hide the fact that you’ve got two beam ends hanging unsupported in midair. (If the joint rests on a post or another beam, that’s a different story.)

The solution is easy. Cover the butt joint with a strap. This preserves the illusion of a continuous beam and adds a nice decorative touch as well. It also requires extra planning, because you don’t want straps scattered randomly about. They need to line up nicely across a series of beams. So you have to plan joint locations carefully, and you might need to add straps where there are no butt joints for a consistent look.

Check out our straps page and our previous post about straps for more information.

The main reason you stain a piece of wood rather than painting it is to show off the wood’s natural features: its grain, its splits and checks, its knots. The knots can be especially interesting, peppered about in irregular shapes and patterns.

The goal is the same with a stained faux beam: Show off its best features, including its knots.

When you’re about to stain an unfinished faux beam, pay special attention to those knots. To make them stand out, make them a little darker than the other parts of the beam. You can do this in two ways:

- Before you stain the whole beam, paint each knot. Use a fine brush to paint over the pattern of the knot, emphasizing its features. Let the paint dry overnight, then stain the whole beam including the prepared knots.

- Don’t prepare the knots ahead, but go ahead and stain the whole beam. Then wipe off the excess stain everywhere on the beam except for the knots themselves. Or, without wiping, dab extra stain on the knots as the stain is starting to dry.

If you have short cutoffs left over from cutting the beams to length, experiment on these first to get the effect you like best.

 

 

 

 

 

As you may already know, you install faux beams by first attaching several wood blocks securely to the ceiling or wall, and then attaching the beam to the blocks. The blocks are inside the hollow beam, so they’re completely hidden.

What’s not completely hidden are the screws you drive through the sides of the beam into the blocks. You have to countersink them a little into the beam and then fill the holes with matching caulk or wood putty. Or do you?

If you’re like me, the first impulse you have when you need to screw something in place is to grab for a box of drywall screws. They’re cheap and they’re handy. But hold on. Using finish screws instead can make hole-filling easier or even eliminate it.

Finish screws, or trim screws, are flathead screws with smaller heads than normal. Some have Phillips heads, but the ones with Robertson square-drive heads are even better. It’s too easy to strip the smaller (#1) Phillips slots. If you don’t already have a square driver, you can pick one up where the screws are sold. Sometimes the box of screws includes a free driver bit.

Finish screws are also available in colors. If you can match the color of your beam closely enough, and the beam is high enough up that you can’t see the small screw heads from the floor, you might get away with not having to fill any holes.

If that little cheat won’t work, at least you’ll end up with smaller holes after you countersink the finish screws. Smaller holes are much quicker and easier to fill, and harder to see.

In this case, smaller is better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If one of the prefinished beams on our site suits your project to a T, you should definitely go ahead and order it. Staining a pile of unfinished beams is way down the list of things that most of us love to do. It’s messy, time-consuming, and (let’s face it) pretty boring.

But no prefinished beam can fit everyone’s needs and plans. You might want something more distinctive than a traditional walnut or pine color. And some of our beams are only available unfinished. With all the effort and expense you’re putting into your project, you want the result to be right — including the exact color of your beams.

If you’ve done much staining, you know colors can be hit-or-miss. You know the color on the lid of the can or the chart at the hardware store can only give a general idea of how the finish will actually look. And it’ll look different on polyurethane than on pine or oak or maple.

Thank goodness for free samples!

In case you don’t know: You can order a sample of any beam we sell. Order as many as you want, because they end up being free. It’s true: When you decide what you want, and place your order for the actual beams, you can deduct from the beam order every penny you paid for the samples. (Well, unless you went overboard and paid more for the samples than the whole cost of the beam order.)

That means you can order several samples of different beam styles, try out different stains and techniques on them, and see what you’re going to get before you commit to the Big Order. Let the stain dry completely before you reach any conclusions. And be sure to choose and apply finishes according to the instructions on our web site.

Sure, it takes some time and some fussing. But the results are worth the effort.

Timber, Raised Grain, Regal, Rustic, Woodland, et cetera, et cetera. Sometimes the choices are overwhelming. Where do you start? How can you home in on just the styles that suit your project?

Fortunately, if you know something about what you’re looking for, you don’t have to wade through page after page of descriptions and specs for each and every beam style. You can let the Beam Selector do the work for you.

Say your project design calls for one or more beams with an exposed end. The end doesn’t butt against a wall or against another beam, but hangs in the middle of somewhere exposed to view. Obviously you need to know which beam styles are available with a cap to close that exposed end.

It’s a perfect 1-2-3 job for the Beam Selector:

1. From any page on the website, click Beam Selector Tool.

2. Let your eye scan down to item 8, Available with closed ends, and choose Yes.

3. Click Search for Beams, and behold the results.

 

In 10 seconds you’ve narrowed your choices to Timber, Woodland, Sandblasted and Chalet. Not only that, but at a glance you can see essential specs for each style: shipping time, largest dimensions, number of sizes, number of sides, endcap availability (of course) and suitability for truss construction. Click any style to see the full details.

 

I always believe in letting the computer do as much of the grunt work as possible, so I can do the brain stuff.

One of the great features of faux wood beams is how easy they are to cut and shape. You don’t need specialized saws or blades. Heck, you could do the entire project with a paring knife if you had to.

You can cut the polyurethane beams with all the same tools you use to cut wood (plus one or two that you wouldn’t normally use for woodworking). Here are the most common options.

Important: As you know, saws cut things (including flesh and bone) and spew stuff everywhere (including your face and eyes). Use blade guards. Wear safety glasses. Stay alert.

Stationary Power Tools

A power miter saw (chop saw) is a great tool for making fast, perfect cuts. But that’s only if your saw is big enough for your beams. Even a big 12-inch sliding saw runs out of capacity when you’re working with larger beams.

 

A table saw lets you cut any beam to size, one side at a time. But you need skill and concentration to move a big beam smoothly through a small blade. You’ll need a steady-handed helper to support longer beams as you cut them. Use a miter gauge extension to help you hold the beam square as you cut it; a brief slip can make a nasty gouge in your smooth cut. If you do need to rip a beam to a smaller height, it’s the perfect tool for that chore.

 

A bandsaw can work well for trimming the end of a short beam, either square or at an angle. Trying to control a long beam would be a challenge.

 

 

Portable Power Tools

Bringing the saw to the beam is often easier than bringing the beam to the saw. The bigger the beam, the truer this is.

A circular saw works very well for straight, smooth beam cutting — especially a lightweight model that’s easy to handle. As with a table saw, you can cut any size beam by cutting each side individually. And for bulky beams it’s a better tool than a table saw, since the big beam can sit stationary while you handle the small saw. Use a Speed Square or similar tool to guide the saw for perfectly straight cuts.

 

A jigsaw is an exceptionally versatile tool for all kinds of beam cutting. You can use it to cut any size beam to length, using a wide blade and a Speed Square to help keep the cuts straight. Beyond that, you can use it for cuts that none of the other saws we’ve mentioned can do. Cut an irregular line to fit against a surface like brick or stone. Cut a hole to fit over an electrical box. Cut a notch to fit around an obstacle. If I had to choose just one do-it-all tool, I’d pick a jigsaw.

Hand Tools

But you don’t need lots of power to cut faux beams, and hand tools can do an excellent job without a lot of sweat.

A fine-tooth handsaw can cut a beam to size in short order. You can attack the cut in two ways. One is to start with the beam open-side-down on your work table, and cut straight through starting at a corner. This takes some skill in starting straight and following the lines around all three sides of the beam. The other approach is to start with the beam open-side-up. Cut through one leg of the U, then through the other leg from the other side, and finally through the third side, using the first cuts to guide the saw the rest of the way.

A hacksaw can also work well. It makes a smooth cut, and you might find its narrow blade easier to control than a handsaw. You work around its limited cut depth by proceeding from one side to the next around the beam. Use a fairly coarse blade (14-18 teeth per inch) for best cutting.

 

 

Sawing faux beams is really a piece of cake, any way you slice it.

You can learn a lot about the beam styles and colors you’re considering by looking closely at the photos on our website. Open two or three different product pages side by side and compare. Drag several of the closeups from your browser window to your desktop, then open them all in an image viewer so you can examine the differences. Make each one a desktop background and live with it for a while on your screen.

But if a picture is worth 1000 words, an actual sample is worth 10 times that. A photo can tell you just so much about the way a certain texture will look in person. And the glowing image on your computer screen can’t show you how a beam will look in the actual lighting conditions of your family room or bedroom.

 

The great thing about samples is that they’re free. Well, you have to pay a few bucks for them up front, but then you get your money back when you place an order for the beams you’ve picked (or corbels, or whatever). Order as many samples as you like, and then use the coupon you get with the samples to take their entire cost off your next order. You can order them from individual product pages or from the central Product Samples page.

Bonus tip: If you’re a builder or architect, you can order a whole kit of samples at no cost. See our website for ordering information.