1. Beams all twist and crack. As Dampness leaves the wooden, twisting and cracking can convert an desirable, ornamental ceiling beam into a twisted monstrosity. Wooden was all the moment alive, and had a incredibly superior humidity content material. The wooden made use of for constructing homes is all dried in a Kiln, for this reason names like KD Hem Fir, in which KD is Kiln Dried. It is prohibitively expensive to kiln dry significant beams, as the wood will twist and crack, at which stage it will will need to be ripped down all over again. The price is normally 2 or times that of a normal beam.
2. Beams have to have a construction engineered to aid them. When an architect builds a household, he could spec out coffered ceilings, massive wood headers, and all method of ornamental wooden beams. To assistance the pounds of these very significant chunks of wood, the architect will also need to layout the framework in a sturdier manner, to assistance the bodyweight. This implies bigger and additional highly-priced trusses, as well as more wood in the partitions, more bolts, etc… Lots of instances the preferred ceiling beam span simply cannot be attained with out danger of sagging ceilings and trusses, a quite costly challenge.
3. FOHC beams damage the natural environment. FOHC – Cost-free Of Heart Centre Beams are needed for beams of any size, as they are less vulnerable to twisting (while they do even now twist, just somewhat much less). In purchase to develop these substantial beams, extremely experienced trees will have to be utilised, as the beam requires to be slash from the tree with no any of the heart centre present. For a 12″ x 12″ x 16′ beam, pretty common, this necessitates use of trees that are 50 as well as years aged. Often these beams are harvested illegally in south American forests, wherever the elimination of the trees, the habitat of lots of of the indigenous species, harms the eco procedure beyond measure. The larger sized the beam required, the extra particular the beam was harvested illegally, in an unsustainable vogue, and with serious environmental ramifications.
4. Mildew and Rot. This 1 is a no brainer. Even if you do not stay in an arid local weather, there exists fantastic likely for the beam to grow to be broken. Rot and Mildew can set in with any beam, devastating the look, and creating mildew spores which are possibly dangerous to the overall health of you and your family members.
5. Fire Safety – wood beams provide fuel to any fireplace in your property. With sufficient wooden found in widespread locations all through your dwelling, a fire can spread with terrifying speed. Most building resources in your dwelling are considerably fireplace resistant, insulation, stucco, insulated wires, roof shingles, and many others… even wooden framed households are fire blocked to assist stop the hearth from traveling. Quite a few fires are not able to unfold speedy sufficient to melt away down houses. But this calculation is significantly altered by the presence of significant chunks of wooden.
Alternate options
There are numerous option alternatives for ornamental wooden ceiling beams. These products and solutions have not come to be as mainstream as they need to because of to varying high quality and supply. Polyurethane beams are the most effectively identified, and have gained a popularity for remaining fake hunting. Even the ideal polyurethane beam never seriously appears to be like a piece of wood, and is a disappointing substitution for a conventional beam.
The Box Beam is the most effective alternative. This is a ornamental beam that does not provide any structural function. It is manufactured from 3 parts of lumber glued jointly. As you might imagine, this is only an possibility for a learn craftsman, a skilled carpenter who is geared up for just this. This will not do the job for the do it yourselfer, as without the need of perfect procedure the last result will just appear like pieces of wooden caught with each other. Done ideal, a box beam is indistinguishable from a genuine beam, seamless and without having joints. It also is made up of blocking, which is a more way of avoiding fire hazard. Considering the fact that it is made from Kiln Dried Lumber, there is no possibility of a coffered ceiling manufactured with box beams seeking like a Tim Burton motion picture soon after a pair of a long time.