I had planned on changing out the trim along the beams that run across my front room with vaulted ceiling and realized the previous owners covers the original beams with thin wood and just painted it. The support beams look great natural so I was hoping to tear all the paneling off if it is possible. The one side was done pretty bad so I just snapped off a piece to see what was there and I noticed there is a fairly large gap from where the beam goes across to the ceiling drywall. There is framing above it as well which I assume is needed due to the angle of the ceiling. Is this common and is all I need to do is rip down the paneling and put up nice molding to tie it all in?





Is there any structural reason they would cover the beams up with the paneling? The beam in the pic is 13"x6" and about 20ft long.

 

The paneling is just for aesthetics so you could remove it and cover the gap with a molding but a better choice would be to cover the entire beam [3 sides] with 1xs.

 

Were you planning on overlapping a wide stip of molding and painting it ceiling white, or extending the overall beam look to the top by also overlapping a 1x of the same wood for a complete rustic look? Is the beam cedar? Hard to tell in the pictures.

 

My original plan was to just replace the molding up at the top and bottom till I saw the actual beams under the current paneling. The beams have a nice look to them as they are so I was hoping I could just tear off the current paneling and keep the original beam look and just put some molding at the top to cover the gap and tie it into the ceiling nicely.

I'm not sure what the beam is made of, didn't really look at it to in depth but what would a large beam like this be made out of if not cedar? I had thought about covering the beams with a 1x but I would think I would run into issues trying to get everything lined up easily. The current paneling on there is thin and is pretty easy to manipulate and bend, and it also looks horrible.

 

Well the guy that did the panel job liked it. I was just thinking that if the beam was cedar it would be easier to match using a 1x piece and it might look better to have the same color right up to the ceiling board. If it is something like a red cedar it is easy to identify. Rather than go into details here, just find a piece at the home center and compare it. I was thinking cedar because of the color, and your location, and it seems that they often use very large cedar beams in the south more than up north, at least that is what I found in Texas.

 

I see you were talking about its natural wood color. The beams themselves actually look to have been painted or stained at one point before as they are more a darker brown which I like how it looks. You can see the grain of the wood pretty clear and with it being such a big piece I like the characteristics of it. I think i will price out re-covering with a nice 1x and just adding molding to the top and see what might be the best outcome. I'm guessing the previous owners might have covered it up so they didn't have to actually paint the beams white but who knows. There has been a lot of surprises with this house and many more to come.

 

Is it more common to actually cover the beams with a 1x the use the original beam and just use a molding at the top to tie into the ceiling? If i do just use molding to cover the gap should the molding match the ceiling color or the beams? Just curious, thanks

 

Often the beams are just rough framing lumber so they are covered with 1x's to dress them up. IMO if you just add a molding at the top - it should match the beam.