How To Design And Make Coffered Ceilings For Your Home

Learning how to make coffered ceilings is not hard; anyone that can use a hammer and operate a saw can do this. You can design an elaborate ceiling for your den or a simple ceiling for your bath. Below, you will find information on how to make coffered ceilings efficiently, easily and affordably.

Before you get started, you will first want to measure the length and width of the ceiling that you wish to work on. You will also want to decide what type of wood to use for your coffered ceiling. Learning how to make coffered ceilings is more than just hammering pieces of wood to your ceiling, you want your design to be attractive and pleasing to the eye and this means that the proper selection of wood should be of the utmost importance.

Designing Your Coffered Ceiling

Once you have your measurements, take a sheet of graph paper and draw a square where every small square represents one inch. If needed, tape additional sheets of graph paper together if you need more space.

Draw a square to fit the measurements of your ceiling, and calculate how many beams you will want to do down the length and width of your ceiling. Draw the beams on your graph paper, making sure that each square is even and that you take into account the width of the beams you have selected when drawing your measurements.

Also make sure to space your beams evenly across your ceiling. This may seem to be a simple way to learn how to make coffered ceilings, but it is accurate as long as your measurements are accurate.

As you are designing your coffered ceiling, make notes of the materials you will need to make your coffered ceiling. You will need to calculate the length of each beam, how many beams you will need to complete the design, how much paint or stain will be needed to complete the project and how many screws will be needed to secure the beams thoroughly.

You will also need the help of a friend that would like to learn how to make coffered ceilings. You and your friend can complete your ceiling, and then you can work on your friends ceiling.

Making Your Coffered Ceiling

You will first want to make your beams. Each beam will be 4 pieces of wood, top, bottom and two sides. Using just 3 pieces of wood create an open U shaped box leaving the bottom part off of the box for now.

Make enough U shaped beams to complete your coffered ceiling, using your graph drawing for guidance. Although this may sound hard, i is actually much easier than it sounds and you will see how easy it is as you continue to learn about how to make coffered ceilings.

Once you have your U shaped beams made, you will want to chalk your ceiling to ensure straight lines. Following your chalk lines, glue the tops of your U shaped boxes to the ceiling and then attach securely with 6-inch wood screws at the ceiling joists.

Next attach the bottoms to the U shaped boxes using glue and 6-inch wood screws.

Once your basic box beams are in place, you can then proceed to installing your ceiling tile. Learning how to make coffered ceilings that have elegant designs along the edges of the beams is also easy. Simply attach fancy molding to the tops of the beams along the ceiling, and along the bottoms of the beams, for a truly elegant look.