Five Things to Consider When Choosing Timber Ceiling Trusses for Your Home or Business

If you want to add a unique, luxurious look to a room in your home or business, you may want to consider adding timber trusses to the ceiling. While choosing the trusses, there are several ideas you should keep in mind. Take a look at these tips:

1. Opt for supportive beams on new buildings.

If you are still in the design process of your home or business, consider choosing a design that integrates timber trusses in both a decorative and a supportive role. Timber trusses can hold a variety of roof loads with a variety of unique pitches. However, if the building is already done, you can add trusses retroactively, and in this case, the trusses will be purely decorative.

2. Consider fake wood for decorative trusses.

If your ceiling trusses are not supporting your roof, they don't necessarily need to be made from timber. Instead, they can be made from a faux wood material. Typically some type of plastic or composite, this material tends to be more lightweight than timber, and that can make it easier to install. Additionally, faux wood doesn't need to be stained, sealed, painted or maintained like real wood, and it also can last longer in some situations.

3. Integrate meaningful timber.

However, in some cases, you may simply want the look of real timber. If you opt for real timber, consider integrating timber that is meaningful to you in some way or another. For example, consider timber that has been reclaimed from an old family home or barn. In lieu of repurposed timber, work with a timber professional to find the best type, colour and grain of wood for your project.

4. Work with a professional truss designer.

Whether you choose real timber or faux wood, work with a professional truss designer. Ideally, you want an expert who knows about a full range of truss designs from hammer beam to scissor, from king to queen, from straight to arched, and everything in between. These professionals can help you choose the style that will look the most natural with your room.

Even though you may be adding the trusses retroactively, you still want them to look like they are an integral part of your home or business's design. They should be professionally designed so that they perfectly align with the wall and the ceiling.

5. Choose hardware and joinery carefully.

Once you've worked with a truss designer to create the best design for your space, you need to consider hardware and joinery. If you don't want metal screws showing, you may want to opt for a company who can make the trusses with wooden pegs. In many cases, however, you also need steel plates to hold aspects of the trusses together. Pay attention to the finish and styles of those plates so that they work well in your space.