HDF Wood Beams v. Real Wood

  • Cost — Factoring in the cost of materials and installation, you immediately save a great deal of money using HDF products as opposed to buying natural wood beams. With the savings, you can afford to add even more beauty to your home.
  • You also have many options for the style of wood. Faux wood beams come in a variety of textures and stains that look and feel like real wood. Colors include, both dark and light walnut, oak, Mahogany, Primed and Espresso.
    • Quality— When looking for salvaged natural wood beams, it’s difficult to find beams that that don’t have prior damage. This includes anything from warping to insect damage. Not to mention, real wood can pose a real fire hazard. Volterra’s faux beams come in three sided u-shaped, box beams, customized arched beams and complex trusses. Volterra also offers an optional fire-rated material.
    • Easy Installation—Lightweight and durable, HDF beams can be easily installed and maintained. Not only on the ceiling, but they can also be used as framing for a large doorway or for the top of a gazebo. The only limit is your own imagination. The hollow beams make it easy to hide wiring or add accessories, such as light fixtures or stereo speakers.
    To learn more about HDF beams or to get other home improvement ideas, visit Volterra Architectural Products at our website or call us at 602-258-7373.  ]]>

    Exposed Ceiling Beams Add Warmth to a Modern Home

    aesthetically pleasing, many modern interiors lack that cozy feeling present in other interior design themes. To warm up your modern décor, add exposed ceiling beams. With Volterra Architectural Products, LLC, you’ll find an extensive collection of faux wood beams, ranging from box beams to decorative and arched beams. Cast from natural wood with surface textures and wood-grain detail, Volterra’s faux wood ceiling beams perfectly duplicate natural wood. Available in Doug Fir, Sand Blast, Tuscany, Rough Sawn and Hand Hewn in a variety of stain colors, our exposed ceiling beams create an ambiance of warmth and will add a custom look to your modern home. Our faux wood beams are made from high-density polyurethane foam (HDF). These exposed ceiling beams are easy and inexpensive to install, virtually maintenance free and can be used for interior or exterior applications. If you’re ready to place an order for any of our exposed ceiling beams, we invite you to visit our contact us page, or contact us by phone at (602)258-7373. We are located at 1902 N 22nd Ave, in Phoenix, AZ.]]>

    Adding Old World Charm with Faux Ceiling Beams

    interior, you might not have a dramatic budget to give it a complete home makeover. Faux ceiling beams are an economical way to add a cozy, Old World charm to your home ornamentation,while also creating a beautifully vintage home style as part of your get-away from the modern world. With the authentic look and texture of real wood, faux ceiling beams create the illusion of a larger, open, high ceilinged look,without the added expense that natural wood costs.  The rustic and classically historic look of faux ceiling beams adds a touch of elegance that fits perfectly into even the most modern home’s decor. Volterra’s ceiling beams are cast from natural wood to create texture and wood grain detail, while being made from light and durable  high-density polyurethane foam. Unlike real wood, little or no maintenance is needed once the beams have been installed. Available in Tuscany, Douglas Fir, Sand Blast, Rough Sawn, and Hand Hewn in many different styles and colors, installation is easy and inexpensive.  Hollow beams can be used to hide wires, pipes, and light fixture accessories. With just a few simple ceiling beams your home can go from plain to a dramatic and gorgeous change. To learn more about faux ceiling beams from Volterra call (602) 258-7373]]>

    Faux Architectural Beams are Fashionable and Functional

    décor. Faux architectural beams are a solution to this modern problem. Any home can benefit from the elegant and charming look of architectural beams in a kitchen, living room, dining room, den, or even the basement. You may not actively be looking around, but your peripheral vision takes in all five walls of a room as you enter it – that’s all 4 standing walls plus the ceiling. Architectural beams decorate the ceiling, creating a feeling of warmth, character, and comfort, but they also serve some hidden, ingenious functions too. Three-sided, U-shaped faux architectural beams are made from a light-weight high density foam that looks like wood, but they are actually hollow inside. They’re great for installing on drywall or flat or pitched ceilings and can be used for interior or exterior applications. The hollowness of these architectural beams comes in handy when installing light fixtures, ceiling fans, sprinkler heads, duct work, or sound speakers, because they allow for unattractive wires and pipes to be concealed inside. Ceiling beams installed on flat, cathedral, or pitched ceiling complement any home décor scheme and never go out of style. To learn more about these timeless architectural accents, contact Volterra Architectural Products at (602) 258-7373.]]>

    Faux Wood Beams for Restaurant Décor Has its Advantages

    faux wood beams in their interior décor for numerous reasons. The décor of a restaurant (or other dining space) has a large impact on the actual dining experience. Aside from the more obvious taste of the food, ambiance is everything! Faux wood beams on the ceiling offer the same luxurious ambiance and warmth as real wood beams but with so many advantages. Facilities such as restaurants and bars are often comprised of several rooms, and therefore several ceilings. To achieve the elegant, charming look that wood beams offer would require dozens of several foot long, very heavy solid wood beams. Installation is not impossible, but requires the work of a large crew equipped with hoists and forklifts, lots of time and large expense. Faux wood beams, made from high-density foam, look just like the real thing, but they are extremely light, making for a much easier installation. You’d never know that the beams on the ceilings of most of your favorite places are actually faux wood beams! They look real up close because they’re cast from actual wood and have the texture of real wood, so especially when viewed from the ground, everyone just assumes they’re real wood. Another reason eating establishments use faux wood beams is because wood requires regular sealant maintenance to keep them from rotting, and maintenance is costly, smelly, and sometimes requires business to temporarily be halted. As if these were not enough reasons to use fake wood beams, restaurants don’t like to talk about it, but decorative wood attracts insects – and insects and food are a very bad combination! To learn more about faux wood beams for ceiling décor contact Volterra Architectural Products at (602) 258-7373.]]>

    Phoenix Faux Wood Beams

    Home decorating with wood and reclaimed wood has become a very popular design trend. But, did you know that wood is the main attractor for termites? Termites and other insects are a nuisance outside the home, but inside, they can wreak havoc, causing so much damage that sometimes walls and floors need to be ripped out to get to the infested wood. Wood beams are no exception. This is why in Phoenix faux wood beams are the perfect solution.

    In Phoenix, faux wood beams have solved the problem for so many homeowners. Arizona is known for the prevalence of desert subterranean termites that love desert plants and they are notorious for severely damaging utility poles, outdoors, as well as structural timbers in many homes and commercial buildings. Phoenix faux wood beams, made from high density foam (HDF) embody the beautiful character of real wood, but are insect and termite resistant. There will never be a reason to unnecessarily destroy your home due to insect infestation when you choose Phoenix faux wood beams over natural wood.

    Cast from natural wood beams with surface textures and wood-grain detail of real wood, Volterra’s simulated wood ceiling beams perfectly duplicate the real thing. They provide the same visual appeal as solid wood beams, and addition to repelling insects, homeowners don’t have to deal with the added expense and complex installation. Using Phoenix faux wood beams also eliminates the need for the multiple able bodies that would be required to lift and install authentic wood beams because high density foam is a fraction of the weight of lumber and the beams are easy to install.

    To learn more about Phoenix faux wood beams from Volterra contact us at (602) 258-7373.

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    Best Modern Designs Featuring Exposed Ceiling Beams

    Exposed ceiling beams have become a popular design element in modern homes, trendy stores, and upscale bars and restaurants. Architectural beams uphold the structure of roofs all the time, but in most cases, they’re hidden, covered up by a conventional flat ceiling. When the elements are revealed through exposed ceiling beams, joists, pipes, and wiring, you can’t help but be taken back to simpler, slower paced times and drawn in by feelings of nostalgia. The main drawback to tearing down a ceiling to show the exposed ceiling beams and other hard components is that the room will lack insulation. When there’s a ceiling board overhead, a room can be heated much more efficiently. So how do you get the charming, modern look of the exposed ceiling beams without losing heat and energy? There’s a very simple way that you may not have heard about. Volterra makes faux wood ceiling beams that look just like wood, that can be attached to any home, store, or restaurant ceiling. They’re very light, made from HDF (high density foam) and come in all kinds of wood stain colors and wood grain textures. No one can tell the difference, and they’re easy to install, cost less than wood beams or tearing down the ceiling, don’t warp, and will give you the style you want without your space becoming heat depleted! To learn more about how you can get the look of exposed ceiling beams without the disadvantages, call Volterra in Phoenix at (602) 258-7373.]]>

    Creating Ceiling Beams

    architectural beams on a ceiling is a great way to accessorize a room with style, warmth and charm. It becomes an even easier job with the use of lighter-than-wood, faux wood architectural beams. The faux beams not only weigh less, but they look incredibly like the real thing, especially when not being examined right up close because they’re installed on the ceiling. If the ceiling is flat, many homeowners choose to either run some beams in parallel rows or to set the beams up in a grid formation. For another layer of depth, an option is to create either of these beam patterns on top of a layer of ceiling-covering, flat faux wood planks. To accommodate any sized ceiling, Volterra makes faux architectural beams in lengths from 8 feet to 30 feet. There’s no set rule on how far apart beams should be spaced – it’s a matter of preference, depending on how large the ceiling is that you’re working with. Most commonly, architectural beams are spaced 4 feet apart, but 2 feet or even 8 feet look nice as well, when creating a parallel pattern. For a cabin, cottage, or Old English feel, a coffered ceiling, with architectural beams set up in a grid, is also a beautiful look. The coffered pattern may seem like a daunting task, but by using faux wood products from Volterra, this classic ‘old-house’ feature becomes a much easier endeavor. For more ideas about how you can beautify your home with architectural beams contact Volterra in Arizona, at 602.258.7373.]]>

    4 Reasons to Substitute Faux Wood Beams for Natural Wood

    faux wood beams instead of natural wood for many reasons. Expense Volterra’s faux wood beams, made from HDF High Density Foam, are less expensive than natural wood beams. They’re less expensive because they’re manmade but also because they are lighter requiring less shipping cost. And, due to their ease of use, they also require less paid manpower for installation. These beams look just like real wood up close, so you can be sure no one will be able to tell the difference between real ones and our faux wood beams when they’re up on the ceiling. HDF faux wood beams are very durable and 3D cast with natural wood surface grains and textures, providing the same visual likeness as wood but without the prohibitive cost. Easy to Install Volterra’s HDF faux wood beams are a fraction of the weight of solid wood beams making them much easier to install. In many cases, real wood requires an enormous amount of structural support and bracing for installation, but faux wood beams are so manageable, they can easily be installed anywhere with very little hardware. Natural wood beams require two or three strong, able bodies to lift and mount but with lightweight faux wood beams, installation can even be an effortless do-it-yourself project. Durable High-density polyurethane foam is a manmade material that stands up to all kinds of weather. Beams made from HDF will look as good as they day they were installed for years to come. HDF faux wood beams, unlike real wood, keep their shape and color, without fading, whether they are used inside or outdoors. Maintenance Free Natural wood can splinter, warp, and break. It also needs to be maintained with stain and protective coatings on a regular basis to keep it in good shape. The brawny make up of high-density polyurethane foam, however, keeps faux wood beams from cracking, bending, or chipping. Natural wood can also attract termites, carpenter ants, carpenter bees, and wood boring beetles, all requiring pest control experts and beam replacement. But, insects couldn’t care less about your faux wood beams, keeping them maintenance free.]]>

    What Are Architectural Beams?

    Architectural beams have evolved from being solely structural elements to becoming key components in interior design. At Volterra Architectural Products, we offer faux wood beams that combine the classic charm of natural wood with modern manufacturing techniques. These beams enhance both the structural integrity and aesthetic appeal of various spaces.

    Historical Role of Architectural Beams

    Historically, the primary purpose of architectural beams was to uphold the structural integrity of buildings. In construction engineering, beams were typically solid pieces of timber installed horizontally across large openings to support substantial loads above, such as floors or roofs. These beams were known as floor joists or roof joists, respectively, and were made from materials like iron, wood, and steel.

    Evolution into Decorative Elements

    Over time, architects and designers began to recognize the aesthetic potential of exposed beams. High ceilings adorned with beams added visual interest and character to the interiors. Today, while beams still play a crucial structural role, they are often incorporated purely for decorative purposes. This shift has opened up new possibilities for using beams to enhance the look and feel of a room.

    Benefits of Faux Wood Beams

    Volterra’s faux wood ceiling beams offer the same visual appeal as natural wood without the associated drawbacks. Cast from natural wood beams, our faux beams perfectly replicate the surface textures and wood-grain details of real wood. Made from high-density polyurethane foam (HDF), these beams are lightweight, easy to install, and resistant to warping, rotting, and chipping.

    Ease of Installation and Affordability

    One of the standout features of Volterra’s faux wood beams is their ease of installation. Unlike natural wood beams, which require the effort of multiple strong individuals to lift and position, our HDF beams can be handled with ease. This simplicity in installation translates to reduced labor costs and a more straightforward setup. Additionally, faux wood beams are more affordable than traditional timber beams, making them an excellent choice for budget-conscious projects.

    Enhance Your Space with Volterra’s Faux Wood Beams

    Architectural beams have come a long way from their purely functional origins. Today, they serve as both structural supports and decorative elements that add charm and character to any space. Volterra’s faux wood beams provide a cost-effective, easy-to-install alternative to natural wood, offering all the beauty without the hassle. Explore our range of faux wood beams and transform your home or commercial space. Contact us today to learn more or to place an order.