Vaulted ceiling

[timbobalob]

Hi all,

We've got a chalet style house, so the upstairs is mostly in the roof. There's a bit of a loft above our bedroom, but I'd like to open this up to a vaulted ceiling (taking out the green line in the image below)



I'd then be able to insulate the pitch of the roof, but I think I would need to extend the depth of the beams as to get a decent amount in there. I'm just wondering on how I can cover the rafters, as they're going to pretty run of the mill 60s rough sawn pine? I wondered about plasterboarding over each one and skimming, or planing flat (though this could obviously reduce the strength), but I'm not too sure.

Question is as well, is this really worth all of the work!?

Look forward to any feedback - thanks in advance

Tim

[Festive Ferg]

The ceiling joists don't form part of the roof structure do they??

[mgtony]

If you remove the green line, you wont have to worry about insulation because your house will most likely fall down and be totally open to the elements!

Get some expert advice before you go chopping at the ceiling.

[jeff m]

The ceiling joists are part of your A frame.
24" on centre ?
Depending on the size of the room that is a lot of plasterboarding and a LOT of corners that all need to be mudded and sanded.
Alternative might be to have then "encased" in either vinyl or ali trim, they make it in a few colours, some with mock grain too. this stuff is intended for external work though !

BUT, I assume you loft is just like mine full of seldom used stuff. You are going to have to store that elsewhere.

Is your wife going to toss her shoes to make space for it

So you could....I wouldn't (I hate work)

[timbobalob]

Ah - didn't explain myself that well...

I meant only to take the plasterboard down, leaving the A frame in situ!

It will be a fair bit of work to cover the rafters - I'm not sure they'd suit a light wash of paint either as I've seen in some conversions. I just keep thinking it could look good to have the open ceiling in the bedroom, with some accent spot lights up the roof line.

We're lucky in a sense that we only moved in 6 months ago, so there's not too much stuff up there!

The bedroom is needing all new built in wardrobes and re-skimming, so if we're going to do some more major work now's the time to do it! (I say now, but it won't be until this time next year as the kitchen is needing doing first...)

[anonymous-user]

hows about a photo?

[Globs]

timbobalob said:

I just keep thinking it could look good to have the open ceiling in the bedroom, with some accent spot lights up the roof line.

You may want to do this job in the spring... these days everything gets frozen.

[timbobalob]

MonkeyMatt said:

hows about a photo?

(excuse the bad MS paint edit!)

The two black lines running along the ceiling show the rough location of the rafters, and the vertical lines show where I plan to build the wardrobe out to, giving more room (hopefully almost walk-in - we're not that tall!)

To add a slight issue, there is a beam running in parallel to the ridge (shown in the photo) which may complicate opening the ceiling up... Maybe if I have a chat to a structural engineer I could build something so this can be removed.

P.S. check out the woodchip and colour combo! Needless to say we are redoing each room...

[Gav147]

The beam running parallel to your ridge would be a purlin, this is a major structural beam that adds support to your rafters and can not be removed. As others have posted the ceiling joists are also a key part to the structure of your roof. I really would consult a structural engineer before removing any beams from your roof.

[timbobalob]

Gav147 said:

The beam running parallel to your ridge would be a purlin, this is a major structural beam that adds support to your rafters and can not be removed. As others have posted the ceiling joists are also a key part to the structure of your roof. I really would consult a structural engineer before removing any beams from your roof.

Gotcha - thanks for confirming, I did wonder

I should add that this is really just testing the water at the moment, and would definitely be taking qualified advice before smashing the house apart!

I'm wondering if it's worth all of the work...

[Gav147]

I would ring a local architect with a look to having plans drawn up, s/he will be able to give you the best options that are available for what you are looking to do and maybe give you some alternative ideas. They will also advise of what is and what isn't possible without having to make severe structural changes. Also if you do make any significant structural changes to your house then you will have to inform building control which they will be able to advise you on.

[Globs]

I'd ring up a roofing truss firm, they may have some better ideas. I suspect at the end of the day it may be a case of putting a new roof on.

[russ_a]

I would also guess the roof structure currently fitted wont be very nice to look at.

[Globs]

russ_a said:

I would also guess the roof structure currently fitted wont be very nice to look at.

And by the time you'd faffed around from the inside with celotex etc. a new roof would be quicker and cheaper. Just don't try to fit a new roof in this weather..

[MrV]

Sounds to me like it is being made a bit over complicated for the Op now.

Personally if I was doing it

Strip off plasterboard

2x2 batten fixed to the existing roof joists

100mm kingspan/celotex in between roof joists

Plasterboard new vaulted ceiling and purlin

Hire a belt sander and sand original ceiling joists

Pay roofer to put some vented ridges in

Pay plasterer

OP what are you planning to do with the bedroom wall as it will at at the existing ceiling ?

[Globs]

MrV said:

2x2 batten fixed to the existing roof joists

100mm kingspan/celotex in between roof joists

Plasterboard new vaulted ceiling and purlin

Hire a belt sander and sand original ceiling joists

Do you mean rafters rather than joists?
Or am I mis-understanding the change the OP wants to do?

[MrV]

Globs said:

MrV said:

2x2 batten fixed to the existing rafters

100mm kingspan/celotex in between rafters

Plasterboard new vaulted ceiling and purlin

Hire a belt sander and sand original ceiling joists

Do you mean rafters rather than joists?
Or am I mis-understanding the change the OP wants to do?

I do indeed and amended to mean what I should have said

[Jonleeper]

In our extension we are doing exactly this to the major part of our new bedroom. In order to remove the joists from the equation the Hip rafters have been increased in size to 75mm x 200mm C24s and the rafters to 47mm x 150mm C24s. They are also heavily tied onto the wall plates and the collar is also 47mm x 150mm C24. (The original rafters are 40mm x 70mm for comparison) If your roof has not been designed with this change in mind you may well find that it is not sufficiently strong or rigid enough so the rafters might have to be changed. This is a major task and not one I would be considering just to gain a little height in a bedroom.

I don't want to put you off, ours will look great with a couple of velux windows etc, but it needs more than a little thought and professional advice before going ahead with it.

[timbobalob]

Globs said:

MrV said:

2x2 batten fixed to the existing roof joists

100mm kingspan/celotex in between roof joists

Plasterboard new vaulted ceiling and purlin

Hire a belt sander and sand original ceiling joists

Do you mean rafters rather than joists?
Or am I mis-understanding the change the OP wants to do?

I think to be fair, me using the term 'vaulted' was completely wrong and gave the incorrect impression of what I wanted to achieve!

Edited by timbobalob on Sunday 19th December 17:30

[timbobalob]

MrV said:

Sounds to me like it is being made a bit over complicated for the Op now.

Personally if I was doing it

Strip off plasterboard

2x2 batten fixed to the existing roof joists

100mm kingspan/celotex in between roof joists

Plasterboard new vaulted ceiling and purlin

Hire a belt sander and sand original ceiling joists

Pay roofer to put some vented ridges in

Pay plasterer

OP what are you planning to do with the bedroom wall as it will at at the existing ceiling ?

This was the kind of thing that I was thinking - what kind of gap should be left between the kingspan and the felt? Would it need an additional vapour barrier?

I was going to extend the wall up to meet the roof line and insulate on the other side into the loft.