architectural beams was to uphold the structural integrity of buildings. Architectural beams, in building construction engineering, historically were a single solid piece of timber, installed horizontally, across a large opening, and carrying a large load above the opening, such as a floor or a roof. The architectural beams in these instances, would be called either the floor joist or roof joist, respectively. Various materials have been used as beams like, iron, wood, and steel. Over time, architects and designers began to see beams as a way of adding visual interest to high ceilings and began to integrate the aesthetic details of the exposed architectural beams into interior designs. While beams still function as a form of essential support in building construction and the structural design, today they are very often incorporated as a purely decorative feature. Cast from natural wood beams with the surface textures and wood-grain detail of real wood, Volterra’s faux wood ceiling beams perfectly duplicate natural wood. They provide the same visual appeal as solid wood beams without the expense and complex installation. Lifting a natural wood beam requires the work of at least two or three strong people, but Volterra’s architectural beams are made from high-density polyurethane foam (HDF), a fraction of the weight of authentic wood. These fabricated beams offer not only a lighter weight but, resistance to warping, rotting and chipping, and are more affordable than traditional timber architectural beams.]]>
Tag: decorative ceiling beams
What are L-Headers?
L-headers. L-headers are wood or replicated wood, horizontal planks or beams that are used to frame a window or entryway. Adding L-headers above the front windows, doorways, and garage doors are a very simple way to enhance architectural style, which instantly uplifts a home’s curb appeal. Volterra’s faux wood L-headers are a practical, affordable, durable and lightweight alternative to wooden headers. They’re 1-inch thick and available in any width, height and length to accommodate the size of your windows or entryways. Covering all the bases, faux wood L-headers from Volterra conveniently come in several simulated wood textures as well as multiple wood grain stain colors, ranging from dark, rich espresso to light oak. Once you see what a difference a small accessory can make to the front side, you’ll want to add L-headers around the whole house, including the pergola or trellis in the garden landscape. Made from high-density foam (HDF), unlike real wood, our faux wood products are made to withstand the outdoor elements. These beautiful and functional L-headers resist warping, cracking, splitting, rotting, swelling and pest infestation. Volterra’s decorative L-headers can be used together with our other products, such as our faux wood shutters, corbels and brackets to take the exterior of your home one style-step further.]]>
Styling Exposed Trusses for a Modern Home
When homeowners look to add style and character to their home, one area that often gets ignored is the ceiling. Generally, when people are redesigning their home they look to frame windows with billowy valances and drapes, cover floors with plush rugs and luxury tiles or coat the walls in colored papers and paints. Often, we spend so much time looking down and around that we forget to look up! But, believe it or not, ceiling height and décor has a lot to do with how comfortable a space is perceived to be. Incorporating exposed, decorative trusses into the height of any room can instantly transform its ambience from echo-y and cold to comfy and warm. When you walk into any room, your senses take into consideration its size and space. Internally, you quickly size up your comfort level in that particular room. For this reason, ceilings are built in different heights and styles. Some are flat and some are pitched. A regular vaulted ceiling, for example, will have 2 asymmetrical sloped sides and create a cozier atmosphere. A cathedral ceiling, on the other hand, will be shaped like an upside down ‘V’, with 2 dramatically sloped sides that come together at the highest pitch point. While cathedral ceilings are hands-down, viscerally impactful and visually impressive, they don’t necessarily offer a cozy room to dine, have a conversation, sit and read, or take a snooze. Adding architectural elements can make the ceiling space less intense and imposing, especially the incorporation of embellishments like attractive wood or faux wood exposed trusses. Exposed trusses are a framework constructed of a combination of beams, columns, braces and sometimes arches. In luxurious wood finishes, like deep espresso, light walnut, rustic oak, and rich mahogany, these structures bring elegance and a touch of intimacy to those soaring overhead spaces. Design plans for exposed trusses go from a basic scissor truss style to the more elaborate arched hammer style truss. Think, rustic Swiss Alps Chalet, stately French country manor or charming Napa Valley winery. So, when you’re in the mood for a room change, don’t forget to look up toward the stars! The natural look and feel of wooden elements like exposed trusses, or even beams, are the best way to dress up that empty, lofty space up in the rafters.]]>
Adapting a Truss Design to Suit Your Style
Adapting a Truss Design to Suit Your Style Though thinking about a truss design might evoke images of a rustic space, decorative trusses are extremely versatile and suitable for all styles of homes. With the lightweight non-functional trusses from Volterra that mimic natural wood trusses, you can have the beautiful appearance of trusses in your home without the hassle and labor costs. Their style and color choices make the trusses adaptable to your unique architecture and create a stunning effect in any space. Blending In To achieve the stunning architectural accent of truss design while maintaining a modern feel, paint the trusses the same color as the rest of the room. This is easy with Volterra’s primed (ready for the paint or stain) finish, and even though they’re painted the same color as the room, their unique wooden texture lends them depth and strength. The Huntsman style truss design works well in a modern space because of its simple, minimal beam structure. Natural Warmth Truss design that maintains a natural wood look, color and texture has the ability to be rustic or contemporary, depending on the application. To play up the rustic appearance, incorporate more wood surfaces like walls and flooring. For a more contemporary feel, keep walls, windows and design lines simple and clean. The Aspen truss style, with its arched accents, gives an earthy, lodge-like appearance, while the Sawtooth design adheres to cleaner lines and structure. Flooded with Light In a space filled with windows that allow in ample natural light, truss appearance is anything but heavy. For a grand room with high, arched ceilings, trusses help emphasize the architecture and accentuate walls of windows. Trusses work as a framework around spectacular views and bring balance to a space already filled with sleek wooden surfaces. To achieve a minimal intrusion of truss design, the Catskill style has just enough structure for visibility without a feeling of descending weight. While trusses used to be an essential part of structural support in homes, with Volterra’s decorative truss design options, they can fit in any style home. The lightweight, natural wood look and feel of these trusses add that touch of unique visual interest to your home and lend sophistication, rustic charm or even modern sensibility to a space. Volterra’s extensive selection of colors and textures allows you to find just the right fit for your home, and you can vary your choices throughout the home for a truly unique application. Discover the beauty of trusses from Volterra today.]]>
High-Quality Faux Beams and More
High-Quality Faux Beams and More As a contractor or homeowner, you may often need to repair unsightly or damaged areas of construction, often without removal of the original structure, which can be a time-consuming and labor intensive process. Wood crown moulding, natural wood plank ceilings and structural beams will need constant attention and repair. They can also be hard to access and costly to install which is why you should consider an alternative: faux beams, planks and moulding. For a room with a vaulted ceiling, the look of structural beams can be unsightly and difficult to clean and maintain. Faux beams are an ideal solution for this situation. Not only are faux beams structurally sound, but they require little if any maintenance upon completion. These faux beams are cast from natural wood beams and come complete with the texture, grain and look of real wood. They also come in a variety of textures and colors to choose from that will add a touch of style and comfortable feeling to any area, home or business. Specializing in this industry for more than 13 years, Volterra Architectural Products manufactures and distributes these beautifully designed architectural and finishing products. Headquartered in Phoenix AZ, Volterra ships their high quality products to professionals throughout North America. As the only manufacturer in the U.S. able to produce these types of custom products in both quantity and quality, Volterra Architectural Products can offer a variety of designs and styles from which you can choose. Experts in manufacturing natural hardwood moulding and millwork products; faux beams, planks and corbels; decorative shutters and accessories; faux stone products; columns; custom interior plaster and synthetic stucco; you will find everything you need to add a beautiful finishing touch to your project. The combinations of these products are limitless, needing to be only left to the imagination of the customer and contractor.]]>
Faux Beams with the Hand Hewn Look
Hand hewn beams are especially popular structures that produce this effect, given that they are the results of the process of forming lumber with an axe. Faux beams can also be created to replicate this exact same appearance. What is the value of fake beams that copy the look of real beams that were formed with a seemingly crude method? The hand hewn method indents wood with inconsistencies and imperfections that add a significant dosage of personality to each individual piece. This naturally visceral means of creating lumber is imprecise, which means that every finished product will be of its own design. No two beams will be exactly alike. The cracks, cuts and marks made on the wood recall the time when people took a more personal approach to crafting architecture, adding a human element and a portion of their own character to the finished product. Of course, authentic beams require maintenance and care to continue to look pristine and function properly. This burden has been lifted with the invention of faux beams, which are actually molds cast from real wooden pieces. Fake wood beams emulate the exact appearance of real beams without any of the hassle that comes with caring for them. They are purely decorative devices that light up rooms and halls with the made-from-scratch beauty inherent to their authentic counterparts. Fake wood beams are resistant to the problems that typically plague real beams, and they can be installed with ease and left alone for years without any serious care. The hand hewn appearance is celebrated for its personal touches and beautiful imperfections. Volterra Architectural Products make sure that each faux hand hewn beam mimics the exact details of the real deal.]]>
Decorative Truss Systems for Vaulted Ceilings
Decorative truss systems easily fill this space up with its complex design. The truss is a triangular fixture that has been traditionally used to stabilize and hold ceilings and roofs. Since its conception, decorative trusses have been created to serve the aesthetic, rather than the function. These structures are elegant in their size and scale, and the interconnecting beams that compose their form make them respectable feats of architecture. The goal of installing non-functional trusses is that of lavish decoration, adding purpose to wide empty spaces like vaulted ceilings. Within the triangle-shaped body of the truss is a series of beams that interact with one another, sometimes cutting through each other or turning away at angles. Different styles can be chosen, depending on personal taste and preference, and they each evoke a different time period. Some meet and curve away just before touching, while others are symmetrical in going up, down and across the truss. Whatever the style may be, it still fits neatly within the truss and does nothing to affect the overall design. Their angled tops fit neatly into the angled top of a vaulted ceiling, and their sides extend down the angled walls in matching symmetry. Vaulted ceilings and decorative trusses are the perfect pair for elaborate, cathedral-like beauty in a house. Together, these structures create drama and prestige.]]>
What Are the Pros of Decorative Trusses?
decorative trusses. Decorative trusses are exactly what they sound like, taking advantage of the truss’s complicated design and allowing all to see it. The triangular design of the truss creates a big open space in the middle, allowing lots of room for imagination and creativity. This empty space is often filled by beams that interact with one another in some form. Some take on more simplistic approaches, standing side by side one another in ascending and descending size to accommodate for the triangular shape. Others are much more eccentric, cutting through each other and meeting odd ends of the truss’s interior. Some are of various lengths and don’t even meet the bottom of the truss, instead angling to the sides. Others still circle around in arches. A decorative truss foregoes any functional qualities for the sake of providing buyers and sellers with a unique mechanism that evokes beauty in complexity. A truss constructed for decorative purposes exists to be seen out in the open for everyone to enjoy. As such, it happens to be a great space filler for ceilings. Vaulted ceilings leave lots of room for furnishing and decorating, but a truss instantly fills up the space in an easy manner. Their nuanced details are the stars of the show, worthy of admiration and a great boost of atmosphere. These truss systems provide homeowners with endless opportunities for direction and creativity. For more information on the pros of decorative trusses, call Volterra Architectural Products at 602.258.7373 today.]]>
Decorative Ceiling Truss Designs Favored by Builders
Builders and architects are raving ab
out our decorative ceiling truss designs that launched earlier this year. The line was launched with nine different styles all of which are offered in different textures and colors. Additional styles will be revealed, each with it’s own unique style. Home owners have many choices when it comes to ceiling beams and trusses whether the desired look is subtle with arches close to the ceiling, or dramatic with varying king posts, queen posts, arches and beams. These systems are available in most any size and pitch to fit different size rooms and ceilings. Faux wood trusses are made of a light weight polyurethane foam material so they are easy to install and much cheaper than using natural wood beams and posts. Functional ceiling trusses can add character to a space, but have limitations. Decorative trusses add warmth, beauty and a style that adds a custom look and feel to any home or building. Builders and architects are choosing faux wood trusses over natural trusses more and more because they look just like natural wood, but are less expensive, easier to install and a fraction of the cost to install. What makes Volterra’s ceiling truss designs even more attractive to architects and builders is the complete installation kit that is available. This kit come with all of the necessary parts, components, fasteners and installation materials, along with CAD drawings and instructions to help a contractor or home builder install the system. This complete system makes for a hassle-free installation process. The nine original styles: Huntsman, Braddock, Sawtooth, Catskill, Aspen, Hawkeye, Wasatch, Oxford and Cascade are available in all of Volterra’s signature wood textures: Rough Sawn, Hand Hewn, Tuscany, Doug Fir and Sand Blast. All of Volterra’s faux wood beams, trusses, planks and corbels come either primed and ready for stain or in five color choices that look like natural wood hues. More information is available by visiting https://www.volterraproducts.com/hdf/hdf-truss-systems.html
Different Sorts of Truss Design
Truss design with decorative trusses can take on many forms and shapes. The beauty is in the details of trusses, and those that serve purely decorative purposes brim with countless possibilities.