Exposed Wood Beam Ceiling repair - help needed

abiseid

Hi everyone and happy new year...

I just bought a house in Miami, Florida that has a family room that has wood beamed ceilings that were partially covered up between each beam with sheet rock that enclosed insulation which looked like a patch job and I removed to expose a beautiful beamed ceiling with one major issue.

Apparently, there was a leak on the roof that was left unattended for quite a while and it caused one of the beams to partially rot. Just so you can get the full picture... the beams are 4"x10" yellow Dade County pine and the layer above is tongue and groove pine. The rot is where the T&G is nailed into the beam. I excavated the rot and there is an void of wood from one side to another that reaches down 3 inches and across 10 inches. The beam is sturdy despite this issue.

How would you recommend that I repair this asthetically without having to tear the room from above?

Thanks in advance...

Kingfisher

You can use a filler, Woodepox is the brand I use comes in putty and liquid form for complete repairs. First you soak the area with the liquid form to fix the soft rotten area then fill the rest with the putty. When you are done you can carefully "paint" the patch to match the beam. From the floor this should not be a hard job and getting close will do, use a base color and add grain lines over it. This is the easy fix if you want to repair it with a wood patch you need to match the grain and make an exact cut to match the patch. This will probably be more than you want to try and require some more tools than a DIY usually has. Also is there any insulation on the outside of the roof now or is there just the roof. This could make the room very hot this summer?

abiseid

Thank you Kingfisher. I have never used Woodepox. Will it work well in a large area such as mine? What is the cure time.

I was thinking of patching but wanted advise as to how to go about it. I would need to make the rotten area square and then fill in some of the gaps that didn't match up correctly. What tools would you use to square off the rotten area between the tongue and grove roof deck and the beam? I am not in the handyman profession as a business but I have lots of tools that the normal Joe doesn't have and I have tackled all of my repair projects on my own since I was a teen out of necessity since I have never been rich enough to pay a contractor and I take pride in doing it myself.

There is no insulation on the roof but I do have two central air conditioning units going into the Florida Room (3 vents coming in from underneath from one unit & 2 from a fascade). The previos owner put thick insulation (roll) between the beams, covered it with sheetrock and left 4 inches of the beam exposed which looked ugly. The sheetrock also warped in the middle of each strip. I plan on installing 2 period-era ceiling fans with lights to cool down the area and give it a nice symetrical appearance.

You'd really like this house. It sits on an acre in Miami which is a big deal and it is also secluded from everyone around you. The house is sandwiched between two other homes and there is a 100 foot entry way. No one can tell anyone lives there and I have to give everyone step-by-step instructions on how to find the house. The ironic thing about this house is that it was owned by the Latin American equivelant of Martha Stewart. She cut so many corners with repairs that I am now fixing them before I move in.

Kingfisher

The woodepox fully cures in 24 hrs and works with any hand tools like drywall blades but is epoxy based and will clean up with alcohol. For and area that big try to use several layers so you get a smoother finish on the last pass. Put blue painters tape on the roof decking first then do your best. to make a straight line in the corner, after your are all done cut a clean line in the tape with a razor and leave what ever ended up under the patch.

abiseid

thanks kingfisher... do you think i am going to have an insulation issue? remember i have a total of 4 vents going into that room from 2 different ac's. I am also going to install 2 fans in that room mainly because I need lights and might as well help circulate the air.

Kingfisher

Your already have an insulation issuse. The real question is if you are going to have a cooling issuse. Hard to say with out seeing the home, the roof facing direction, tree cover, sized of units, windows, and other stuff I cann't think of right now. Sound like you are already done so go with it and try. To add a little more air flow tur nthe unit's fan selector to on instaed of auto if you are havving problems in that room. This will dirty your filters faster but may even out hte temps between rooms better.

pavola

What's the span of the beam and the spacing between beams? Not that you have snow load issues there, but a notch that size seems pretty big.