cathedral ceiling rough in question- Victoria's Cottage

[MikeT]

John (or PEG, or Glenn or Don)

I am trying to figure out how best to wire and plumb my house, and one question concerns the cathedral ceiling.  When you designed the VC with the 12' wall and the 12/12 roof pitch, did you have an idea in mind for the finished look of the great room--the living room area with a very high (20') cathedral ceiling?  I am trying to determine if I should be planning for a 42" ceiling fan?  Other lights in the ceiling?  I realize much of this is personal preference,  but as the original designer, did you have an idea in mind?

I love the big glulam and want to keep it exposed, but if I am going to have a ceiling fan to draw the warm air downward, should I will have to affix it to the beam if it is going to be centered in the room.  Then I have to figure out if/how I can hide the wire.

Any thoughts?

I am thinking that I will be using sconces lighting where the wire will run up the wall, but the ceiling is my concern at the moment.

Thanks,
mt

[glenn kangiser]

I think the fan is necessary to mix the air or it will stratify.  Seems you could center the wire on top of the beam to bring it from the wall.  There are tin channels made to cover it - that may not be something you want though. 

Just thinking out loud though ....don't pay attention to me...

[MikeT]

Thanks, Glenn.  I am trying to figure out a way to avoid and/or hide that.  I could talk to my engineer and see what he thinks about routing a channel,  but I should have thought a out that when it was on the ground.

mt

[Redoverfarm]

Mike I am not real sure what you have or what you are doing.  Is there a picture of that area.  You can hide just about anything if you put your mind to it.  That I know with my cabin.  Is there going to be T&G on the ceiling rafters.  If so you can run the wires along the rafter to the beam.  Then take a auger bit from the ctr of the beam at an angle to the sheeting at the rafter edge and snake the wire through.  Minimal intrusion and shouldn't jepordize the structural integerity.  Mount your box on the beam bottom and trim out. The wire can enter the bottom of the box.  Am I even on track or on left field about what you want to do?

Ok Mike I went back and looked at what your ridge beam is pictured.  Your rafter sit on top of your ridge.  Can you not just drill on the center straight up and run your wire up through to the top of your ridge (space of the rafter ends) and then down along one rafter. Once you get to the bottom of the rafter at the plate go in the direction you want as this will priobably be covered in that area anyway where the wall meets the ceiling. This would be the easiest unless you put a double roof and left the rafters exposed. If you will have a fan/light combo then a 14/3 or 12/3 to operate both.  3 way switches changes things a bit if you had that in mind.

[MountainDon]

I don't have any other bright ideas for the power connection to the fan, but I wonder if the 42" is an appropriate size? I don't know the dimensions of the room in question...

I borrowed this information from Energy Star dot gov

Room Dimensions     Suggested Fan Size
Up to 75 ft2            29 – 36"
76 – 144 ft2            36 – 42"
144 – 225 ft2          44"
225 – 400 ft2          50 – 54"

[MikeT]

Thanks, guys.  A couple of comments.

I hadn't thought about the angled augur idea, but I will look at that.  And I did think about the hold through to the top and running the wires along the top edge of the beam. 

As to the question of fan size, I was quoting the size of the fan from memory from a chart I had read that is similar to the one Don showed.  I mis-remembered.  The room size is 12x16, so it might need to be a 44" fan.

With the fan and the obligatory smoke alarm(s), I can't really think of anything else that will need to run off that ridge beam.  Can you?

[John Raabe]

Yes, I would see a large reversible fan with lighting modules mounted in the center of the space. For the background room lighting you might consider a light trough at the top of the sidewalls where it would throw a light wash up onto the cathedral ceiling. I like this better than the more standard can lights can that produce glare when you look up.

I tried to find a good image of a light trough that was simple to build but had to take a picture of this one that I built for my office.



Use electronic ballast florescents for quiet even light. (The old heavy transformer ballasts in mine buzz!) This uses double bulb shop lights turned upside down. You could do a slimmer frame with single tube lights (or even rope lights).

[MikeT]

Thanks, John.  Do you have the trough lights located about 2-3 feet below the top of the 12' wall?   Just trying to get a sense of scale

mt

[Redoverfarm]

Mike I have even seen the same idea where they mount a single tube in a rain gutter mounted about the same as the shelf.  It doesn't sound good but looks great.  Interesting conversation piece as well.

[MikeT]

The gutter idea is most interesting.  I could go high end and get a copper gutter or get something like a used gutter and paint it.  I like the price and the conversation element.  We'll see how my wife reacts to that idea....

mt

[John Raabe]

The gutter idea is a great one . One of the things I found looking for an image was several types of outdoor trough lights that are used for signage. Those have expensive sealed transparent covers that would not be needed for interior use - but they are about the size of a 1/2 round gutter.

When you use this kind of lighting it is normally placed close to or right at the top of the wall where the roof slope takes off. In my office I'm lighting the high end of a shed roof so the shelf is lower down the wall to get some light onto the ceiling.

[Micky]

I used something similar to what John suggested.  I put some rope lights and attached them to the top of the collar ties.

Currently, there are some outlets installed at the end of the beam to plug the lights in.  I'm planning to hard wire the lights later, but I don't think that will pass my final electrical inspection because the rope lights are not intended to be hard wired.  I figure I can do plain cover plates and paint them wood color so they are not as obvious.



It does give a nice ambient light, but not enough for the main light source.  However, as John pointed out, it makes a big difference by throwing light up onto the cathedral ceiling.

Also, you can put these on their own switch. They make nice night lights or just for ambiance.

[John Raabe]

Micky:

Nice job on the ceiling and those collar tie beam lights. Very handsome interpretation of that plan detail.

I have seen some commercial applications with strip lighting that can probably be hard wired but your idea using rope lights is probably more cost effective.

[lonelytree]

Micky,
   I might just steal that loft idea. I love it!

Mike