subject: Wooden Box Beams – Advantages and installation [print this page] Wooden Box Beams Advantages and installation
Wooden box beams are a great way to really bring a room together. With our economy the way it is right now, people simply can't afford a new home, but wooden box beams can make your home feel new and luxurious! Box beams are nice to have in one's home because it brings the room together, and they are used to hide any lights, wiring, or sprinklers.
All wood was alive at one point or another, and over time all the moisture leave the wood. As a result if one was to have a wooden box beam it could, over time as the moisture leaves, crack or twist. This usually happen within 5 to 6 years.
Wooden box beams are more practical because they are lighter then solid wooden beams. Box beams are always better for your ceiling because it won't weigh it down the way solid beams do.
If you do get wooden box beams you might want to look into making the beams fire resistant. There's interior and exterior to a box beam. Fire resistant comes in by preventing the rapid progression of fire from the exterior to the interior. Fire resistant covers for the web elements and large wood flanges protect the interior of the beam, making the beams resist fire far better than a conventional beam.
Many people get reclaimed wooden box beams. Reclaimed wood is just wood that has already been used for another purpose and salvaged to reuse. By using the reclaimed wood, you would be helping the forests and the environment.
3 Steps To Install A Wooden Box Beam
1. Measure the room and decide where you would like you wooden box beam to go. Once you've done that next measure the length of the lumber needed, minus 1/8". Take a pencil and mark on the ceiling the width of the box beam. Then take the lumber and put it on the inside of the pencil marks you made earlier. A staple gun and screws work best when attaching the lumber.
2. Measure and cut the box beam to your needed length. You will need a grinder, so that you can grind the ends to match perfectly against the wall.
3. Fit the box beam to the lumber and nail it into place. If the beam does not fit, just do a little more grinding as necessary.
Things you will need:
Box Beams
Tape measure
Saw
Square
Finish Nail gun
Grind w/ sanding disc]
Screw gun
2x2 lumber
Please bear in mind these are instructions for do it yourselfers. For fully professional, real looking beams, there is no substitute for a licensed professional who specializes in the production and installation of box beams.
