Coffered Ceiling Framing
In this post you will learn
-A unique approach to framing out a coffered ceiling
Over the last few evenings, I’ve managed to squeeze in some office work. Not the typical office work one would expect, but the kind where I’m screwing 2×6′s to my ceiling. THAT sort of office work. As of today, the coffered ceiling framing is in place. Once I get the go-ahead from my local township to start the electrical work, I’ll be pulling cable through the walls.
Here’s how the office looks right now.
When the wiring is done, all of that wood will get covered in drywall and then wrapped in crown molding. If you’re new to our site, we’re going for a unique, drywalled coffered ceiling instead of one made from all hardwood. The framing wood method SHOULD end up being cheaper than an all-hardwood approach, but I’ll let you know once the room is all wrapped up.
Ultimately, depending on how this ceiling turns out, we’re looking to add a coffered ceiling in our family room and kitchen space. This is a warm-up of sorts for us. The family room and kitchen ceiling is about four times as large.
So let me rewind this project a bit and show you how this ceiling took shape.
We started with the soffit we’re installing above the built-ins. Aren’t soffits old fashioned? They certainly can be, but we’re hoping it gives our built-ins a bigger look. TBD. The soffits are just two 2×4 frames that we fastened to the wall. They extend out as far as the future cabinets taking into account that they’ll get covered in drywall.
So the soffits are JUST for the cabinets. With the framing for that completed, it was time to turn our attention to the coffered ceiling frame. I started by fastening a 2×6 at the top of the wall all the way around the room. The 2×6 was butted up against the ceiling.
To the 2×6, I nailed a 2″ wide strip of 2x wood to the very top and very bottom of the 2×6. This left a middle channel on the 2×6 that was 2.5″ wide. That’s the same width as a 2×3.
With this channel in place all the way around the room, I then used a chalk string to snap chalk lines to mark where the ceiling joists were located.
Knowing exactly where the joists are located makes fastening the longer beams to them much, MUCH easier than trying to guess or use a stud finder at a later point.
Next, I built two long “I-beams” that consisted of a 2×6 on the top and bottom with a 2×3 on edge sandwiched in the middle. I used construction adhesive (aka liquid nail) and my pneumatic nail gun to build them. These two long beams spanned the length of the entire room and were intentionally run perpendicular to the ceiling joists. I made the middle 2×3 section longer by a couple inches so it could be inserted into the channel that went around the room. It made installing these beams crazy easy. The beams just rested in the channel until I screwed them into the ceiling joists.
This whole channel system made the work a little heavier than I’d like, but it enabled me to put all that wood up by myself. I also used my SketchUp drawing to mark exactly where the beams needed to be located. Considering how hard it looks, this was surprisingly simple to do.
So what are the key takeaways from this post that you can use on your own project?
- Chalk lines are your friend
- Don’t be afraid to try a different approach to a common project
What home improvement project is next on your radar? Are you thinking about taking a different approach with a certain aspect of it?
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