Installing New Timber Beams a Step-by-Step Guide

Follow us as we renovate our 1840’s timber home where we will be installing and staining our new timber beams on our ceilings and staining our original timber beams to match. We will also be removing drywall ceilings in the kitchen, dining room and bathroom. In the upstairs we will be repairing plaster walls and ceilings.

Have you always wanted to renovate and live in a very old home? Have you always loved the elegant cottage style and vintage traditional decor? What about the look of timber beams.? Then come along with us as we hope to inspire and teach you a thing or two about installing new timber beams.

TIMBER BEAMS

When Don started removing the drywall ceiling in the kitchen, that is when we struck gold! Well not gold literally but, gold in our eyes none the less.

These historic beams were dusty, dirty, and full of cobwebs, but we LOVED them just the same! Finding those beams was going to change the whole look of our home. Suddenly I had the Cottage Beams I had always longed for and dreamt about.

Hint: We had a couple of existing rafters that had cracked and split (we think a big tree branch must have hit the roof at some point in time) Don re-enforced them with oak splints and structural screws.

Kitchen Timber Beams -Before

WE HAVE TIMBER BEAMS!!! WOW was that a SURPRISE! As you can guess that is how our blog and You Tube channel got their names. My husband had the crazy idea of vaulting the ceilings in our cottage. Here is where our story begins. Of course, it would only add on a month to the renovations and would cost about $2,000 more, he said.

Well, the final cost for vaulting the kitchen, dining room, and bathroom ceilings was more like $6,000 with equipment and materials and insulation.

Funny Story: Our home already had blown in insulation, so, we had to have the blown in insulation sucked out of our attic area, and then, blown back in again. Thank you Kousma Insulation.

The ceilings ended up taking about a year to complete. And we moved in about 3 1/2 years after we purchased our home! Yes….3 1/2 years, and so our story continues…

Removing Drywall Ceilings

Follow along with us as we remove drywall ceilings and do plaster repair to our ceilings and walls. You will also see how we are installing new timber beams throughout our home to match the existing timber beams.

Kitchen Beams After

After finding the original beams I knew we would be installing new timber beams throughout our timber home!

There were originally three wood species of beams in our home, white oak, red oak, poplar, and the structural beams we added were southern yellow pine, so 4 different color tones of wood. We stained them all dark so they would all look the same. The beams are so amazing, you can see the axe marks from the axes, the square holes they chiseled out, the circular holes for the wooden pegs. It is amazing what they did with such primitive tools!

Kitchen After

A kitchen is the “heart” of the home! When you walk in you should get that cozy cottage feeling. That is the feeling I get when I walk into my kitchen. From the white lace curtains that I thrifted, and the beautiful white shaker inset doors and drawer fronts that my husband built. (He was able to use the existing cabinet boxes on this wall.) On the other side of the kitchen, he built all new cabinets.

Kitchen Island

It goes without saying…I am in love with my farmhouse sink and French faucet! And I have to talk about the antique island legs that we trash picked, I mean “found” by the side of the road. I can never pass by a piece of wood “anything” on the curb. I am always thinking what I could re purpose it for. So many treasures to be found! Tell me I am not the only one?

Free Find: The antique legs on the island were originally bright red with wooden wheels (one of the wheels was broken so my island was lop sided for quite a while) attached to a round antique table that had been laminated red! I chalk painted the legs with black, and green chalk paint and used my favorite Rust-Oleum chalk paint in serenity blue for the last coat of paint, and then distressed it. We then purchased new wooden legs for the island.

Dining Room Before

The dining room was probably the best room in the house, new drywall ceilings and walls…but not for long! As you can see, we already installed the new French doors.

We removed the drywall ceiling in the Dining Room and got Busy!

Hint:

Because we were working in the attic area, we used a tamper and worked from above.

A tamper is used to flatten sand or a granular material, but we used it to tap on the drywall ceiling and knock it to the floor below. We just had to remove the screws from the joists.

Dining Room Beams Before

We purchased a drywall lift to raise the OSB up to the 14-foot ceiling area. The OSB was also going to be used as a temporary flooring for us to walk on while we renovated the attic ceiling area. We lifted it in between the old timber joists. These timber beams were much small than the ones in the kitchen, so we repurposed them in the bathroom ceiling area, and on the walls of the living room and master bedroom, to support the new 8 x 8 timber beams in those rooms.

Dining Room/Bathroom/Kitchen Area Ceiling

The only new ceilings in the whole house were in the Dining Room, Bathroom, and Kitchen Area. Don had to remove the drywall ceiling in all three areas. This was actually the fastest part of the whole ceiling renovation project.

There was so much work involved. We had to get the insulation sucked out. We had so many birds’ nests near the roof line area, the insulation guys spent so much time vacuuming that out as well. While we were knocking the old drywall ceiling s down, we found several old, cut and HOT knob and tube electrical wires that were just buried under the insulation! Has that happened to any of you as well?

There was a lot of knob and tube mixed with new wiring. It was quite a mess. So, we decided it would be a good idea just to replace all the old electrical wiring.

Kitchen and Bathroom Ceiling Area- in Process

You can actually see the old lock to our attic on the right of this picture. It was such a cute attic!

Funny Story:

I have only had two other attics. Our first home was a small 750 square foot bungalow, with no basement and a tiny attic. Storage is always an issue in a small home but, at least we had small closets in the kids’ bedrooms. And, we added a big closet upstairs for the master bedroom. right where the attic door is.

But now the attic door is behind all the clothes. So, you have to take out all of the clothes to open the 4-foot-tall door and crawl in. There was really not much room with the angled roof. I hated that closet! Do any of you have crazy attics you have to crawl in?

Our second home had a basement that was not usable, 2 sump pumps and it was always wet! But we had a small walk-in attic, which was nice, but it quickly filled up. It always seems so easy to fill up an empty space, but so hard to get rid of the stuff. Why is that?

Enough attic talk, it is time to get back to installing new timber beams!

The Beams are Here

The new 8 x 8 Solid Pine Timber Beams have arrived from Menard’s. We definitely specified delivery! They weigh about 200lbs each. Now what do we do with them? We won’t be ready for months to install them. We had a great solution. Let’s put them inside. The middle of the dining room and living room sounds good! Well, maybe not, but we had no other place for them to go. As you can guess, that was FUN!

Now we had to figure out how we were going to be installing new timber beams on some of the ceilings. Don had an inspirational idea, and he went to Harbor Freight and bought a cherry picker and a drywall lift.

I had no idea how this install was going to work, and wondered who would be hurt in the process. But it was so simple, easy, and yes safe using the tools he purchased. A drywall lift and a (engine) cherry picker. Who knew!

Hint: some beams are not made to hold a lot of weight; they have to be specified structural if you are going to use them for added support.

Dining Room in Process

As you can see on the porch it was fall so, I had the porch and door decorated even though we did not live there. Who knew that would go on for 3 more years. Have you ever decorated the porches of a home you were renovating, but not living in yet?

Dry Wall Lift

I can’t believe how handy the drywall lift was! We would have had to carry all the OSB up the stairs and into the attic area. It was really a life saver. Would you believe we also used it for installing new timber beams.

The dining room had new dry wall on the ceiling and the walls. When Don removed the drywall off the east wall of the dining room it had no insulation in it at all. Which is one of the many reasons this room was so cold!

Funny Story:

I had a few errands to run one day, and my husband removed the drywall in that area and added a vertical wood ship lap. He had me stain the new wall once it was installed. It has not been clear coated, so it would be easy to paint if we decide to do that at a later date. It is the only accent wall in the house. I am not a big fan of accent walls, unless it is wallpaper. How about you? The rest of the dining room walls are vertical rustic pine ship lap painted white.

I was wanting to go with a more elegant look in the dining room, but it did turn out well. More of a “rustic French look”, which is o.k. by me! Not my original idea, but sometimes plans change. Moral of the story: Never leave your house to run errands, unless your husband is coming with you.

Installing New Timber Beams

Now let’s get to installing new timber beams in the dining room!

I still can’t believe how easy this was. Once the beam was on the drywall lift our friend Eric helped shift it in place, while Don rolled the drywall lift into position.

Installing New Timber Beams-Drywall Lift

Hint:

We also used tie down straps to secure the beam to the drywall lift while installing the new timber beams.

These new beams are laid on top of the existing original timber beams and screwed with washer head structural screws 3/8″ x 12″. Then the hole is filled with a little yellow glue and a dowel rod cut to the correct depth and installed into the hole. Then the dowel is stained the beam color to seamlessly blend in. We actually stained the beams first, and then went back and added the dowel rod pieces and stained them afterward.

Dining Room

The dining room ceiling is finished, and the old and new beams have been stained! We still have to install the ship lap on the wall by the old attic door opening.

The great thing about not living in a house you are renovating is …not living in the house …at the same time you are renovating it. It is such a time saver to leave all your tools out and not to have to put them away. The thing other thing is that you don’t have to worry about the saw dust, and constant debris, after all it is a construction site. Our first house was always under construction the whole time we lived there. Does anyone else have a “handy” husband? Does your house always look like a construction zone? I can definitely relate.

Tools, Tools, Tools everywhere! That is what it is like renovating an entire home. You need a different tool for every situation. If you do not have the tool you need, then it is back to the store to get it. We went through so many cases of caulk, and canned foam for insulating. We had the insulation removed and then had it put back in! Trim nails, yellow glue, the list is endless. And of course, don’t forget all the 12-2 wire for an entire house.

Hint:

If you do not have the tools you need, you could rent them, or borrow them from a family member or neighbor. And if you would like to just own them outright Harbor Freight carries everything you could possibly need at a reasonable price.

Dining Room at Christmas- The New Timber Beams

Just look at the contrast between the beams and the white walls, so stunning! I washed the exposed chimney and then lightly chalk painted (using a feathering technique). I wanted the original brick shine through. Don and I purchased thinner brick for the bottom half of the exposed chimney. We will be installing the brick soon.

Hint:

If you vault your ceiling, you can get a taller tree!

It feels like you are stepping back in time when you see the hole where the pot belly stove used to be vented. I finally hung an antique picture over the hole, until we install the brick. Should have done that sooner!

Bathroom Before

I forgot how ugly this bathroom was! Who wants to see the shower when you first open the door? We completely changed the layout in the entire bathroom. The vanity is now where the shower was, and the shower is now where the vanity was. Don even moved the toilet over a few inches, and he has already knocked down the original drywall ceiling, it is definitely a big mess in there!

Bathroom After

Still need to add the custom gold frame to the antique mirror and find vintage sconces for the walls. There is always so many little things to do!

My husband made the vanity and the tall linen cabinet out of pine. We added pine legs to the bottom for a custom furniture look. I chalk painted and lightly distressed the cabinet. So super inexpensive!

I first painted the vanity white, and then I decided that I wanted to distress it, so then I had to paint it charcoal, and then paint it white again so that could distress it. I just hate to waste time and money. Has anyone ever re-painted a piece of furniture that they had just painted?

But you are here for the beams. We have three of the smaller dining room beams installed in the bathroom ceiling area. If you look you can see where the beams have been notched out. They are gorgeous! The bathroom ceiling is my favorite view in our timber home.

Bathroom Ceiling After

Those ceiling beams and window transoms (which were left over from a 1930’s home we worked on) say it all… and of course, a gigantic chandelier does not hurt! I kept asking my husband when I bought it, “Is this too much.! Kind of overkill, but I could not resist.

Living Room Before Installing New Timber Beams

What can I say about this living room…the ceiling was wallpapered and was actually pulling away from the lath and hanging down 3 inches. The center of the ceiling was sagging in the middle. It was a mess! The great thing about the ceiling is that the solution involved adding more TIMBER BEAMS…for support.

The house is a colonial in the front, but the time period is actually gothic revival. Hense the in and out trim around the windows. Sad to say I was not a fan of this style. Last but not least I have no words to describe the indoor/outdoor carpet that was not even nailed to the floor.

The seal around the oval glass on the front door was leaking, and there were several layers of wallpaper that had been painted over. on the ceilings and the walls.

We were able to re-plaster the 4 rooms in the colonial part of our home and save all the beautiful original plaster walls! The other bonus in the colonial part of our home was the large original tall baseboards, and the custom millwork in the master bedroom.

Living Room Ceiling Before

My husband purchased a cherry picker, and a drywall lift, and we got BUSY…

He had it all figured out in his mind. So, I just hoped for the best.

Living Room Ceiling-Installing New Timber Beams

Don made a homemade wooden scaffolding for each side of the beam. We added cement blocks to the top of the scaffolding to get the height we needed for the solid timber beams. The beams weigh about 200 lbs. each.

The cherry picker and the drywall lift were both purchased at Harbor Freight, they have the most amazing prices!

We used the cherry picker to get them on top of the scaffolding and cement blocks and then positioned the drywall lift underneath the beam to lift it the rest of the way up to the ceiling. Ingenious Right!

Installing new timber beams seemed like an insurmountable job. I was so worried he would get hurt, but surprisingly it was very easy.

Our friend Eric helped us with the beams in the dining room with the 14 ft. vaulted ceilings. But Don is installing new timber beams in the rest of the rooms basically by himself, with a little help from me. The machines did most of the work! If you have ever thought of installing solid timber cottage beams, now you know, it can easily be done. If you have any questions, we are here to help!

Living Room Mantel -Bookcases-Beams

My husband can build anything, but sometimes you find something on face book marketplace that you cannot resist. So, we drove about 2 hours and picked up this lovely painted antique mantel. One less thing for my husband to build, after all we had a whole house to renovate!

He built the area behind the mantel and made the top of the mantel look like one piece and added a hearth to the bottom. He also added a drop-down area for the sound bar. Per my suggestion, but something must have been lost in translation, because he did not make it as deep as I would have liked. My vision was to have it down and flush with the top of the mantle. I think he thought you might not be able to hear the sound. But who cares about sound from your sound bar when you are decorating a space?

Installing New Timber Beams-Fireplace Area

The support beam on the wall that is holding up the 8 x 8 large pine timber beam on the ceiling will eventually be hidden by the television and fireplace insert.

Living Room in Process

As a woman who loves to decorate, I just had to get a Frame TV! In the “old days” we usually hid our television in an armoire. Is there anyone else who does not love the look of a television in their decor? It just seems like a hideous eyesore! So, I planned the television area with the built-in bookcases and Don made my vision come to life!

I also do not like to see all the technology, such as DVD players, and phones…So I came up with the brilliant idea to hide all of the electronics in the bottom of the bookcases. We eventually added decorative metal screening that we spray painted black in place of the door panels that way the electronics would have air flow, decorative and functional!

Have you ever decorated a home you were not even living in yet? Well, we are just crazy like that! Now you can see why I love The Frame television. It is like jewelry for your television, and you get to display beautiful pieces of art at the same time. You can get inexpensive artwork for your television off of Etsy or pay for a subscription.

Living Room After-Hidden Wall Support Beam

The wall support beam is now hidden, and no one will ever know. Except for you.

The living room is all decorated for Fall, and we are starting to settle into our timber home. What a long journey it has been! We finally moved in on October 10, 2022. Three years and three months after we signed on the dotted line and received our key!

Still tweaking and defining my decorating style for this home. Every home is different, what worked in our old home, did not necessarily work in this home. As time goes by your styles change and evolve, and sometimes they go back to your original first love of antiques and vintage decor!

Future Project:

I stained and used rub n buff on beautiful trim pieces that we are turning into a vintage looking frame for our television, I am so excited to get the frame installed on our television. It is going to look amazing. The projects are never ending!

Master Bedroom Before

Another room with several layers of wallpaper to remove! The in and out trim has to be removed around the windows. But look at the gorgeous window trim under the window, and the extra tall baseboard. However, the ceilings in the master bedroom had the same issues as the living room ceiling.

Master Bedroom

My friend Debbie and I spent so much time in this room removing the many layers of wallpaper. I was very thankful for her help!

Don had to add seam tape and several coats of plaster to the bedroom walls, and then of course sanding and painting. I think you are seeing a pattern here, and you know what is next, Don is going to be installing new timber beams on the master bedroom ceiling.

Master Bedroom Ceiling-Installing New Timber Beams

Time to add more Beams…

Don is installing blocking to the ceiling. With an old timber home, you have to be creative when it comes to updating your electric. When you have beautiful plaster walls it is very difficult to run your electric in the existing walls. As you can see the electrical is running along the ceiling, with blocking in between. Don will be installing the pine ceiling boards in between the beams.

We spent so much time on things that you do not even see. besides the ceilings and timber beams. The electrical the plumbing the insulation.

Look closely at the above photo of the master bedroom you will notice that the baseboard in the corner is not painted. Don had to make a custom piece for that area. There had been another door in our master bedroom that led to the dining room. He had to add a large piece of drywall to cover the doorway opening and then plaster over it.

He did such an amazing job, if you look at the wall you would never know there had once been a door there.

Installing New Timber Beams-Walls-Millwork

The is the room that sold me on buying this home. The original millwork under the window is perfection. Don added the rest of the custom trim on the window, and you have a piece of ART!

As you can see, we were working late again. It is so dark in the country.

We finished the beams in this room, and now Don and I have to install the custom pine floors we made.

Master Bedroom After Installing New Timber Beams

Your Master Bedroom should be a place of rest! Cozy and comfortable…I am a sucker for white bedding, white down, comforter, white textured blankets, white pillow shams. Just add a pop of color with your seasonal throw pillows and soft velvet blanket.

Installing new timber beams on the ceilings just takes each room up to a new level. All I can say is “Stunning”! I am in love with my cottage beams!

Fun Story:

The big chandelier was free. It was missing the bottom. I had a wooden finial left over from an outdoor table umbrella. Add a silver electrical cover and the finial, and you have a complete chandelier.

Just a reminder of how far we have come. From delivery to installation, small steps along the way, some planning and a couple of tools and this major project is completed!

Grandkids Room

And the story continues… more wallpaper and bonus a border too! Time to get to work on the upstairs. This time I am calling in reinforcements. This is the grandkids room, so you probably already guessed what I am talking about.

Abbey and Maddie to the rescue! They both worked very hard on this room and got most of the wallpaper off.

After I scored the wallpaper and wet it. They went behind and scraped the loose wallpaper with a 6″ putty knife.

Then of course you have to go back and wet and scrape to remove the stubborn pieces.

Wall and Ceiling Repair

Don used several skim coats of all-purpose joint compound to do the ceiling and wall repairs. He used drywall joint tape and all-purpose joint compound for any large cracks on the ceilings and walls.

How to repair plaster walls and ceilings:

Step One

Use a 3″small drywall knife and add all-purpose joint compound to the cracked area. Spread it out about 3″ on each side of the crack. Including the crack. Apply enough all-purpose joint compound to be able to embed the drywall joint tape.

1. Day One: Apply drywall joint tape- and use the flat end of your 3″drywall knife to embed the tape into the first layer of all-purpose joint compound. Make sure that the tape is lying flat. Let this dry overnight! DO NOT add any more all-purpose joint compound over the newly embedded tape.
2. Day Two: Add enough all-purpose joint compound with the 3″ drywall knife on top of the repair area to cover the drywall seam tape liberally and flood out the repair area to about 8″.
3. Smooth with 8″drywall knife. Let dry overnight.
4. Day Three: Add enough all-purpose joint compound with the 3″ drywall knife on top of the repair area to flood out the repair area to about 10″.
5. Smooth with a 10″ drywall knife. Let dry overnight.
6. Depending on how your repair looks and how it is drying you may need to do this for a couple more days before you can finally sand.
7. Hint: If your plaster walls are loose you can drill 3/8th or 1/2-inch small holes and fill the holes with lock-tight power grab heavy duty construction adhesive. Then when it is dry, go over it with the all-purpose joint compound.
8. Hint: Put a fan in the room and aim it at the area of the wall that you are trying to dry. You want it to dry, but dry slowly overnight, so the fan does not have to be to close, just enough to circulate air in the room.

More Helpful Hints

If your crack is large you may need to use a 6″ drywall knife at first, and then an 8″ drywall knife, then a 10″ drywall knife, and lastly a 12″ drywall knife to flood out the all-purpose joint compound each time so that you will not have a wavy wall.

Helpful Video

I attached this video below to show you, his technique. This video is showing day 3 and 4 as you can see the original few coats have already dried.

I am not sure if I have any video of the plaster ceilings being taped and repaired, but it is basically the same as the wall repair.

Funny Video: Please excuse the sneezing…as you get to know me, you will realize that I have severe allergies, and I am always sneezing, just ask my family and friends! I was going to edit that part of the audio, but my husband thought that it was hilarious, and told me to leave it in.

Can any of my people with allergies relate?

Grandkids Room After

The original timber support beams have been exposed, cleaned with a wire brush, and stained. Long cottage curtains have been hung, and the antique four poster bed has been made with the vintage linens from the thrift store.

A close friend gave me this beautiful shabby chic quilt at the end of the bed that did not sell at her yard sale. It had several stains on it that she did not think would come out. After a ton of Awesome spray cleaner and a good washing the guilt was as good as new! She also gave me the vintage flat sheet with pink roses and a ruffle at the top…So sweet, and dainty!

Free:

My mother-in-law gave us the four-poster bed and dressers when she downsized. The shabby chic blanket at the end of the bed. The flat sheet with roses on it.

It is so nice to have a spare bedroom, and the extra dressers in this room give us plenty of storage since there is only one closet in our entire home.

Dressing Room-Office Before

What do you do when you have two small rooms? Knock out the wall and turn them into one large room!

I needed somewhere to store my clothes and also a place to keep all of our household paperwork and budgets.

So, that is exactly what I did.

The timber beams in the upstairs had all been covered with 1/4 wood boards, except for the grandkids room which had the 1/4′ boards and a wallpaper border to remove. You could probably guess that I was not a “big fan ” of the light blue walls and the red carpet.

At some point in time these two rooms were obviously only one big room. They ran the wall straight into the edge of the window trim. Once the wall was removed you can see that the flooring and ceiling had never been separated into two different rooms.

And just when you thought it could not get any worse, here you have yellow walls with green carpet!

Dressing Room -Process Shots

Three windows in a room make such a big difference. Now the light is just flooding in!

Don has repaired and replastered the ceilings and walls. Our friend Eric painted the ceiling and walls.

We uncovered the original support beams and scraped them with a wire brush and stained them. We relocated the electrical to the center of the room for my chandelier.

In this photo you can see that we have not yet replaced the original windows. It was hard to get a clear photo. The windows are so dirty!

Dressing Room-After

On top are my beautiful, stained support beams. I added this lovely chandelier and long cottage curtains, and my dressing room is complete.

Well almost…more decorating to come.

Thrift Find:

Chandelier $6.00 Good will

Victrola $10.00 yard sale

I do miss the original ‘wavy” glass windows. that were in the upstairs rooms. But the new ones with the grids are so easy to tilt in and clean, and bonus you can actually see out of them.

When we bought this house, I never thought we would be installing new timber beams. The thought never crossed my mind. Or that my husband would decide to vault the ceilings in the kitchen, dining room., and bathroom.

But what a difference that decision has truly made. I can’t imagine our home looking any other way.

I am very thankful to have such a talented husband. But he had to start somewhere, and so do you.

Installing New Timber Beams-Help

Are interested in installing new timber beams in your home? Reach out to us. We would love to help you through this process.

I hope you are inspired to work on your historic home! You never know what lies ahead! Would like to learn more about us and see how all of our historic home renovations turned out.

I hope you and your family have a blessed day!

Catherine Glowinski

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