With all the drywall done it was time to start the finishing details and first up were the wood wrapped beams. Now had we opted to have the beams finished with drywall they’d already be done, but I wanted something a little nicer looking (aka more expensive) so it was going to take a bit more time. Luckily I know someone who can turn a pile of wood into something beautiful to look at!
To minimize the joint seams in the wood, Mace cut the boards on an angle and then biscuit jointed them together. Imagine little wood teeth coming out of one piece and getting inserted into holes in another piece. A biscuit joint adds strength to the joint so it doesn’t pull apart as easily, like a miter or butt joint could. He then glued and clamped to joint together for a tight seam.
Next he had to get the cladding mounted to the ladders he made when we framed out everything. He had to biscuit joint the longest runs once one was installed, you wouldn’t be able to pre-assemble the entire 23ft. span.
Here’s a close up of a piece installed against the ladder and you can see how he left a gap underneath. It doesn’t seem like a big deal but that depth will determine the reveal (or how set back from the edge) the under mounted piece will be. We wanted it to have somewhat of a coffered look so it wouldn’t be flush with the edges, so Mace did all the math and precision work to make sure the finished product looked great.
Here’s a shot of both sides of a beam installed with only the underside left. You can see the bottom of the ladders which give him a surface to nail the underside piece of wood into.
Next up was installing the underside piece. For the underside cladding he scarf jointed (which is cutting them on an angle so they lay on top of each other very tightly), glued, and nail them into place. Here’s a shot of the one beam completed.
And here are a couple more finished shots of both wood wrapped beams. In the last one you can see the reveal I mentioned earlier to get that coffered look. Such a big improvement (and worth the extra time and money :)) over the original paneled ones. So don’t start thinking he was working alone on this, I was down there too lending an extra hand when he needed it… or getting him a beer. And you can also tell I was priming the drywall and getting the ceiling painted.
In addition to the beams getting done, some other wood working was getting checked off the list too. We installed the door jambs for the slider and pocket door.
The window in the demoed half bath was framed got a new frame and sill. And the new basement windows and other larger window all received new sills as well. At this point were at month 5 (20 weeks) under construction.
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