Elegant, ornate ceilings were once reserved for the homes of the very wealthy. Recently, however, ornamental ceiling treatments have become a standard feature in many custom homes.
Some of these improvements are so simple, said one Bakersfield builder, they can even be added to already existing homes by the do-it-yourselfer.
When J.R. Jones built his own home five years ago, he wanted each room to have its own “look.” To achieve that look, Jones decided to start at the top.
Each room in the Jones home was built with a different ceiling treatment. The design of the ceilings in the living and dining areas lend a more formal atmosphere to the rooms, while the ceilings in the bedrooms are more casual.
“I wanted something totally different than what you usually see in homes around town,” said Jones, owner of Josco Construction. “We had already framed the walls of the house when we decided to change the plans for all of the ceilings.”
A barrel ceiling in the entry way and a turret design in the dining room were only two of the changes that added extra months to the time it took to complete the building of the home. “Friends like to give us a bad time, saying we built the Taj Mahal here,” Jones said.
Local builder Gerald Congdon said he uses crown molding to give a finished look to the ceilings in the homes he builds. He also uses skylights and a “tray” ceiling treatment — a one-step design the width of a two-by-four, with convex or concave corners. “Typically in my homes, these tray ceilings are standard in all the guest bedrooms,” he said. “It’s in the formal dining room or master bedroom that I will do either a large tray ceiling or a combination tray and coffered ceiling. You’ll see a lot of builders doing that now.”
These designs can add anywhere from $100 to $4,000 to building costs, depending on the complexity of the design.
Jones said the stair-step cathedral ceiling in his living room added about $1,500 to the cost of the home.
“Each 1-foot-by-1-foot step is tied back into the pony walls,” Jones said. “It took extra time and money during the framing to build those steps.”
Also included in the ceiling treatments throughout the house are 75 canned, recessed lights.
“Fluorescent lighting doesn’t give a true light. It kind of dulls everything out,” Jones said. “Direct, soft lighting shows colors better and gives you a truer light.”
Some of the more extravagant ceiling treatments can add considerably to the cost, Congdon said.
“Anytime you do anything circular, you can count on the cost to jump because it’s so labor intensive,” he said. “Circular domes can add approximately $3,000 to $4,000 to the cost of new construction.”
Both builders said homeowners can save money by acting as their own contractors and by having the ceiling treatments done at the time of construction.
For existing homes, however, there are cost-effective methods for modernizing a ceiling that do-it-yourselfers can complete in a weekend, said Jones. To “add a little character” to his daughter’s bedroom, Jones started with three plywood circles of varying sizes. Screwing the circles together, from largest to smallest, he created a rounded pyramid, which he screwed into the joists in the ceiling’s center. After plastering them in and adding a coat of paint, he mounted a ceiling fan to the circles, completing the simple addition.
Jones said he used the same method in the guest bedroom to create a rectangle design.
“I started with 2-by-10s, dropped to 2-by-8s, then added 2-by-6s, which I screwed together, then to the ceiling,” he said. “The additions were easy, took about two days, and I found the materials while walking through Home Base one day.”
Jones said even a drab and dated acoustic ceiling can be modernized. “Acoustic is out. The new thing is an all plastered ceiling,” he said. “It’s a simple procedure to remove the old acoustic, down to the dry wall underneath.”
Jones uses a Hudson sprayer to first lightly soak the ceiling, then a 6-inch putty knife to scrape off the damp acoustic. A coat of plaster, followed by a coat of paint completes the procedure. He estimates the cost of a professional job on a 2,000-square-foot home in his area is between $1,200 to $1,500 and takes an average of three days to complete.
Al Bowser, assistant manager of Sandstone Ace Hardware and Lumber, said there are options for those who don’t want to go the professional route when replacing the acoustic ceiling.
“In some cases, the acoustic is too hard to scrape off, and in that case you could cover it,” Bowser said. “The homeowner could nail 4 foot by 8 foot by 3/8 of an inch drywall to the ceiling and finish it with crown molding.”
The installation of metal lath over the existing acoustic ceiling, Bowser said, is another option.
