Faux Wood Workshop

Making improvements to an antique home is a task that has to be handled with care. Those professionals and homeowners that have worked on older structures know that it can be a tenuous balancing act between keeping the house functional and upright while also preserving the integrity of the home’s design.

We received these photos from two customers who both own homes that are over 80 years old. While they’ve created these looks with the help of modern materials, their choices of faux wood beams blend seamlessly with the rest of the homes to maintain their original charm.

Kathy from Ellington, CT added Rustic Ceiling Beams and Barnboard ceiling panels to keep the authentic look of her 1778 Colonial intact.

 

 

 

 

Justin Nylander from Ormond Beach, FL wrote, “I proudly own a 1924 historic Spanish Revial home. We have been enjoying restoring it to it’s former glory…and with the additon of adding these wonderful and very realistic walnut stained faux wood beams to both the kitchen and dining room, the results are stunning…Looks like they were originally installed since 1924.”

 

There is a ton of information and knowledge out there on how to retrofit a house properly to minimize damage caused by natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes, especially in those areas right in the heart of the action like Southern California.

One consideration is a home’s ceiling beams. A real wooden beam that can weigh up to hundreds of pounds can be a somewhat ominous thing to have hanging over your head during an earthquake. Homeowners or builders may want to take their safety precautions a step further by choosing polyurethane wood for their ceiling beams rather than traditional wood. A typical faux wood beam weighs an average of 20 lbs, so if in the event of an earthquake or heavy winds strong enough to cause a beam to fall, the lightweight faux version would cause a lot less damage or chance of injury.

Tammy from Southern California sent in the photo of her beautifully finished kitchen and living rooms area with Timber faux wood beams and wrote, “The faux wood beams were the way to go for me. The first reason I looked into them was I live in So. Cal and I wasn’t sold on having a heavy wood beam on the ceiling and the chance of it not holding up in an earthquake…When the project was complete everyone complimented on how beautiful it was and no one even knew it was faux!”

When you butt one beam into the side of another one, you want the joint to be so tight that it’s invisible.

With smooth beams, you can just cut the butting beam square, and it should fit against the main beam without a problem. It’s a different story with rough, distressed beams.

Sure, you can cut the beam square, butt it to the main beam, and fill the gap with caulk. But you’re likely to have a lot of gap to fill, and the result can look messy and unprofessional.

To do it right, you should scribe the end of the butting beam to match the contours of the main beam. All you need is a simple circle-drawing compass and a jigsaw or coping saw.

1. Lay the beams together as shown in the photo, at the exact position where they’ll meet.

2. Spread the compass an inch or so. Hold it flat and slide it up along the beams as shown, so the point follows the surface of the main beam while the pencil draws a line on the butting beam. Do this all the way around the top and the other side.

3. Tilt the jigsaw shoe to an angle of 10-15 degrees, so that you’ll cut away more material toward the center of the beam and make a sharper outer edge. Carefully cut along the scribed line on all three sides of the beam. You can also use a coping saw.

4. Test fit the beam, and remove any high spots with a coarse file until you have a perfect fit.

5. Stain the cut end of the beam to prevent any possibility of raw polyurethane showing through a crack in the joint.

Now you’re ready to install the beams and have the satisfaction of seeing a perfectly invisible joint.

Corbels are beautiful architectural features that add class, flair and realism to your project. A corbel visually anchors the end of a beam so it looks solid and well supported.

But how do you know what size corbel to use? The answer depends on the kind of beam you’re using.

Suppose your beams have well-defined edges that are square and straight or just slightly rounded. These include our Raised Grain, Woodland and Sandblasted beams. In this case, choose corbels that are the same width as the beams or just slightly narrower.

The first photo shows a corbel slightly narrower than the beam it supports. An equal-width corbel would also look great with this beam.

On the other hand, suppose your beams have irregular edges that are distressed and significantly rounded. Our Timber beams are like this. In this case, choose corbels that are at least a couple of inches narrower than the beams. This lets the corbel rest against the flat part of the beam and avoid overlapping the rounded edges.

The second photo shows corbelsnarrow enough to rest against only the flat part of a heavily distresssed and rounded beam.

 

Modern homes may have the benefits of clean lines, wide open spaces and tall ceilings, yet you may yearn for a few touches of old world style – charming moldings, rough cut ceiling beams or detailed arches.

We’ve been following the progress of Jack McLauchlan from Moses Lake Washington as he has transformed his living room with various types of faux wood products. His most recent addition was a interior stairway arch that he created using Rough Sawn corbels and a leftover piece of faux wood beam from the previous year’s project.

 

The archway looks authentic and well done, especially next to the balcony-type openings to the left. The whole effect is practically Juliet-esque.

“My living room is quite an eye opener now, a far cry from the plain 22 foot wall and white ceiling that greeted us before,” Jack explained.
To read about how Jack started the living room project with Timber faux wood beams click here, and scroll down about a third of the page.

Below is one of the photos that he originally sent in. (You can see how the stairway arch looked before he added the beam and corbels).

We’ve heard he has plans to add a faux rock wall to the room next year, we can’t wait to see what he does next!

To wrap up our series of tips on coffered ceilings (see part 1  and part 2), let’s consider the elegant look of smooth-surface beams such as the ones in our Regal  and Regal 2 lines. When you use these pre-primed beams for a coffered ceiling, you’re looking for flawless joints that don’t show under the final coat of paint.

Here’s how you do it.

1. Follow the steps in part 1  for installing the beams using double-mitered joints. As you do — no matter how careful you are — you’ll find that not all your joints are perfect. Some joints will have small cracks. Some will be uneven, with one beam a little lower or higher than the others. These imperfections don’t show with rough, distressed beams, but they do with smooth beams.

2. Fill those inevitable cracks and irregularities with auto body filler. Apply it with a flexible putty knife, making each joint as smooth as you can. Then carefully sand the filler so each joint is silky smooth. Be careful not to sand down the surfaces of the beams themselves.

3. Prime the filled areas with the primer recommended by the manufacturer of your finish paint.

4. Apply the finish paint to all the beams.

5. Admire.

6. (Optional) Show off.

Last week’s tip was about coffered ceilings with four-way mitered joints. But mitering isn’t the only approach, and sometimes it won’t work. You just can’t form a nice, neat mitered joint between beams that are irregular, rounded and heavily distressed.

 

To make a coffered ceiling with irregular beams such as our Timber or Rustic styles, use the butt-joint method shown in the photos.

1. Choose the beam style you like, and order it in two different sizes. Order the larger beams to run along the entire length of the room, and the smaller beams to bridge the short spaces between the larger beams.

2. Install the large, long beams in the usual way, following the standard installation instructions . Be sure to use adhesive along the top edges.

3. Let the adhesive set for a day, so the large beams are fully stable before you start squeezing the smaller beam pieces between them.

4. Cut pieces of the smaller beams slightly oversize, to fit snugly between the larger beams, and install them following these tips:

• Usually you can install a single support block at the midpoint of each piece. Use more supports if the piece is longer than 5 feet or the ceiling isn’t quite flat.

• Do use adhesive along the top edges of each beam piece.

• Don’t apply adhesive to the ends of the small beam piece, because it will smear all over the large beam when you squeeze the small piece into place. The snug fit will keep the joint tight.

5. If needed, fill any gaps with matching caulk or filler.

Next week we’ll have one more look at coffered ceilings, with tips for using smooth, elegant, painted beams.

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.

There are many elements that need to come together to make a kitchen appear cozy and welcoming rather than utilitarian. Cupboards, flooring, lighting and countertops are just a few of the things that need to be considered for the heart of the home. But what about the ceiling?

 

 

Brenda and her family from Santa Rosa, CA installed Woodland faux wood ceiling beams in their kitchen as an “easy and a fun project to do together”. Brenda sent us these photos to show off the beautiful final result. Way to go!