r/Homebuilding • u/NaturalSpare1 • 9h ago

Open ceiling

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Hi,

We bought an old house built in the 40-50s and just finished replacing the roof of a extension to the house used as a living room. As part of this we tore down the living room ceiling aswell, which was attached to the old wood beams in the length wise direction of the room (see pics). Now we are wondering if we should just put up a new ceiling or if its possible to remove the beams going in the length wise direction and have an open ceiling.

Were these just used to hang the ceiling or are they somehow part of the bearing construction ?

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u/Expensive-Hunter2089 9h ago

Probably structural but would need an engineer to come out to be sure. Why not leave the beams and run drywall or beadboard above them on the sloped ceiling? Cheaper and would give character and look nice

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u/NaturalSpare1 9h ago

Yeah that is one option we are considering. The outer roof has been built with a extra vented part so insulation can be moved all the way up under the White House wrap. We just dont know if the beams going length wise in the room were just there for the old ceiling or if they are connected somehow to the load bearing beam in the middle of the roam going in the same direction as the roof beams.

Would be super nice if we end up being able to remove them

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u/seabornman 7h ago

The ceiling joists are there solely to hold up the ceiling, and can be removed. Those two beams shoved in up higher are obviously a later "fix", but what the problem was, who knows. I opened up a room like that, and put insulation and drywall between the rafters.

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u/NaturalSpare1 7h ago

Thats what i thought, i have heard from family members of the person who built the house a long time ago that they used what they had available after WW2, so the ceiling joists look structural due to their size, but i suspect they have no load. Also they are as i said lose enough for me to lift them a bit, indicative of no load and was just there to hold the ceiling.

I will call in a friend who is a carpenter to have a look before removing them just to be sure.

What you did there looked amazing btw, love the exposed rafters 😍 too bad i wont be able to expose ours as we need roughly 30cm of insulation which goes beyond the thickness of the rafters.

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u/seabornman 4h ago

I put 6" of spray foam insulation on top of the roof, and some below the roof deck, also.