Ceiling Modifications

Raising or vaulting a ceiling into the attic

A vaulted ceiling takes a room up into the attic space above so the ceiling follows the roofline. It can make a ranch bedroom or a family room feel far larger, but the work is structural. The ceiling joists in a typical gable roof do more than hold up drywall. They tie the bottoms of the rafters together so the roof does not push the walls outward. Remove them without a replacement and the walls can spread over time, which shows up as cracked plaster and a sagging ridge.

So the first step is understanding the roof. A structural engineer usually designs the change, often a structural ridge beam with posts carrying its load down to the foundation, or collar ties set high enough to leave the room open, depending on the span and the snow load. We also look at what lives in that attic now, like ductwork, bath fan vents, wiring and sometimes an air handler, all of which needs a new home before the ceiling goes up.

Raising only the center of a ceiling, as in a tray with a stepped middle, is a smaller version of the same thinking: what the joists do, what can be cut and what needs reinforcing.

Insulation and venting once the ceiling follows the roof

In a room with a flat ceiling, the insulation usually lies on the attic floor and the attic above is vented. When the ceiling moves up to the rafters, the insulation has to move with it, into rafter bays much shallower than an attic floor. That changes the whole approach. Either the rafter bays stay vented with baffles and insulation below them, or the assembly is sealed and insulated with a material suited to an unvented roof.

Many Massachusetts towns have adopted the stretch energy code, and the insulation and air-sealing requirements follow it. Sometimes meeting them means adding depth to the rafters so the required insulation fits. We work this out with the engineer and the building department before the ceiling comes down, because a vault that meets the framing requirements but leaks warm air into the roof is how ice dams get started on a New England house.

Ventilation and moisture are part of the same decision. A bath or kitchen fan near the vaulted room has to be ducted all the way outside, never into the rafter bays, and the vapor control in the assembly has to suit the insulation chosen. These details end up behind the drywall where nobody sees them, which is exactly why they get written into the scope and inspected before the ceiling is closed.

We open a small inspection area before committing to a plan, so you know what is up there.

Taking down a dropped ceiling

Suspended tile ceilings and low furred-down ceilings were common fixes in basements, kitchens and older commercial spaces. Taking one down can give back real height. It also shows whatever the dropped ceiling was put up to hide: an uneven plaster ceiling, a run of ductwork, plumbing from the floor above, or old water damage.

We open a small inspection area before committing to a plan, so you know what is up there. If the original plaster is sound, it may be repaired and skim coated. If it is not, we take it down and hang drywall. Ducts and pipes that hang below the joists may need rerouting or a soffit that looks planned rather than stuck on. In a house built before 1978, ceiling paint can contain lead and some older ceiling materials can contain asbestos, so testing comes before demolition and the work follows the handling rules that apply.

The height you gain back has to be usable. If a beam or main duct still hangs below the new ceiling line, we talk through whether to box it as a feature, shift the duct, or set the ceiling slightly lower across the whole room so it reads as one plane. You see those options before the old ceiling is in the dumpster.

Tray, coffered and beamed ceilings

A tray ceiling steps up in the center, usually with crown or a lighting cove at the step. A coffered ceiling divides the ceiling into a grid of recessed panels framed by beams. Exposed or added beams give a flat ceiling a structure you can see. All three look simple in a photo and depend on the room being laid out around them.

The grid of a coffered ceiling has to line up with the walls, windows and fireplace even when the room is slightly out of square, which most older rooms are. We lay it out on the ceiling in pencil first, adjust the spacing so the edge panels are not slivers, and work light fixtures into the grid rather than leaving them wherever they used to be. For beams, we check whether existing framing can be uncovered and finished or whether new boxed or solid beams go up as a finish element.

Trim profiles, panel moldings and cove details for these ceilings can be milled to match the rest of the house, which is covered on our custom millwork page.

Sagging plaster overhead

Plaster ceilings in older Massachusetts houses hang on wood lath by the plaster keys pushed between the strips. Over a century of water leaks, foot traffic above and seasonal movement, those keys break, and the ceiling starts to sag or crack in lines that follow the lath. A sagging section is a warning rather than a cosmetic problem, because a heavy piece can let go.

Depending on how much has come loose, plaster can be reattached with plaster washers and adhesive, covered with a layer of drywall fastened through to the joists, or taken down and replaced. We look from above and below where we can, find the leak or movement that caused it, and give you the options in plain terms. If a joist above turns out to be cracked or rotted, that becomes a structural repair, and we tell you so before anything is closed up.

Most sagging plaster we see traces back to water: an old ice dam, a bath upstairs, a failed piece of roof flashing. Repairing the ceiling without stopping the water means doing it twice, so the source gets fixed first.

See the rest of our structural work, or browse the gallery for rooms we have finished.