my ceilingheight is 9′. roomsize is appr. 17′ x 26′. the boxes will be about 40″ square and the beams about 6″ wide and 4″ deep. in your opinion what looks better when the bottoms of the beams are flat (no shadowlines) or when the sides of the beams are lower (in pictures it’s usually about 1/2inch). will one look decide the installation? i have read a lot of articles about coffered ceiling,is builing plywoodboxes really worth the expense only to be covered up again by paintgrade material( i will use winsor one boards). i also like gary katz’s method of building hollow backing boxes but i am afraid my ceiling is too wavy, one final question , is the perimeter beam a full beam or a half beam? thanks for any imput and advice.
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I think the answer to your question has more to do with what fits with the style you're trying to mimic. Since you're using WO, you might like the built up crown - Classical Colonial - that has 4 pcs, and use 3 of them for the beams. That would give you, if you follow their install specs, a drop with a cove on it. Very nice look. But, back to the original statement. Thats not a look you want in a house with no other colonial trends going on.
Personal preference, from the installation standpoint, I prefer the overhang. I also prefer to have a dado plowed in the side member to house the bottom. Much cleaner look, gap free. Does not have to be deep, just wide enough (try clamping a beam together on the ceiling thats 20 feet long and the dado is too tight!)
If it were just a beam, I'd leave the sides long by enough to scribe them in, but I take that you're crowning the insides. So put your nailers up, stick a laser on the wall, and set the sides level at the bottom all the way across. If there's an eight difference in reveal below the crown from one box to the next, you'll be the only guy that knows.
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