In your home, are there cathedral or vaulted ceilings? If so, this could be a striking feature that garners compliments and adds a lot of perceived space to the living area in your home. However, with this dramatic feature in your home could come common pitfalls or problems that the builder who installed these ceilings may not have foreseen.
When we inspect a roof, many of the defects come when the roof doesn’t have sufficient support and the weight of the roof is pushing down on the structure and causing it to move. This can be because the roof doesn’t have the right framing components to support the weight that is loading down the structure and pushing it out. This is can be due to a lack of rafter ties or ceiling joists to hold the framing of the house intact.
If your vaulted ceiling is suffering because of a lack of support ties or joists does that mean there are no solutions to this problem? Well, the most obvious solution would be to have exposed ceiling joists. This type of roof component is usually a required roof-frame component and is designed to keep the structure of the walls and the roof in its intended shape.
If you have cathedral ceilings though, you may not want exposed beams running across the open space of a vaulted ceiling. If that is the case, and you want to avoid further ceiling-clutter, we would suggest a structural ridge beam. Now, one may be in place on your roof, but it may still need a look and inspection to ensure movement won’t happen or isn’t happening. Yes, cathedral or vaulted ceilings could be a nice feature of your home, but it is worth taking the time to ensure yours is in good condition.
