One of the beauties of a timber frame home is the gorgeous planked ceiling contrasting with the beams. It really complements what a post and beam house is all about. But the 2 ½” planks used by some builders for second floors leave the homeowner with quite a few limitations. Enter such a house and you will quickly realize that you can hear EVERYTHING that is going on upstairs! As you continue to investigate, you notice that one portion of the dining room ceiling has a wire running across the ceiling from the side wall to the chandelier. You look and realize that a plank ceiling leaves no space for hiding electrical wires. Further investigation shows a section of the ceiling in the kitchen is dropped lower. As you look at this trying to figure out why this is so, someone upstairs flushes the toilet and you are amazed at how loud water running through a drain pipe can be. (As I said, you can hear everything!)
A way around this is to have the second floor built using traditional open floor joists so all the plumbing and electrical can be properly hidden. Then add tongue & groove boards for the antique plank appearance. By the way, where do they put the heat and A/C vents if the plank floor is only 2 ½” thick? (I didn’t have enough time to snoop!) Plank ceilings have a classic appearance but I’m not interested in building the Little House on the Prairie.
You are too right about the hearing everything. The bedroom is right above the kitchen and there is no sleeping in on the weekends! We had scared guests run out of the guest bedroom because they thought there was a massive water leak when the toilet was flushed in the upstairs bathroom. Great tips from hard learned lessons.
I agree there is no way getting around the sound. However in such a large structure it eliminates the need for sacrificing ceiling height or an intercom system. We have actually learned to love our natural communication system. As far as the electrical is concerned: routering out a groove in the joists below the floorboards is an easy application for hiding the electrical wires. Another thing that we have done was to hide chases with beams or spare barn board.
The best way to hide central AC duct work is to build out the first floor ceiling or walls. It tends to make the most financial sense. Anyway we love our barn living. It was a “Green” way to build a new house and save a two hundred year old piece of history, all in one fail swoop.
Thanks for the tips on hiding wiring and AC duct work and “Kudos” for saving an old barn!