Source for Foam Wood Beam Wraps

[Doc Holliday]

We are in the process of getting a permit for a renovation, and one of the finishes we need to go ahead and get on order are foam wraps for the new ceiling rafters, LVL beams, and collar ties. Basically it gives the look of rustic rough hewn timber. The guy who drew up our design made it sound like this is a readily available product, but we cannot find anyone around who has it in stock. Our GC is on the hunt, but has asked me to see what I can find as well. I have been on Google and found a few places (one in CA, one in NC, one in FL) that may or may not make what we need, but wanted to check with the brain trust here in case there are some recommendations. In looking at the "What do you do for a living?" thread, it seems many Roksliders are in the trades, so am hoping some folks on here might know of a source they can recommend who would work directly with the consumer/GC.

Thanks in advance

 

[dubllung4]

Have you seen this? Just throwing it out there as an option.

 

[Catchfish]

We had a local hardwear store here in Alaska that stocked this same thing a few years ago. They don’t currently stock anything anymore. Instead of going the foam route I made my own out of 1x4’s.

I’ve since done a handful of others as well. My wife beat some others up as well to make them rougher looking. I also did one with cedar boards it had a rougher finish, than the common pine. The big one the wife liked the look of not 45 on the edges but it is 14’ in the air.

As far as the fake hardwear I went and bought some angle iron, cut and drilled holes, prefilled the wood and bought some short but big lags and screwed them in.

The beams are nailed into a few blocks of wood that are affixed to the trusses above.

 

[Catchfish]

I couldn’t find any original pictures those are screen grabs of a house for sale where I did 5 beams.

 

[def90]

I've worked residential construction for decades in areas of the country where rustic beams are a common design feature. I've never heard of nor seen foam imitation wraps or beams. Generally you are going to wrap whatever with 1x or 2x product and then artifically distress it with chisels, chains, hammers and whatever else you can come up with. If a guy drew it up for you and claims it exists ask him for a lead on it. I'm guessing he thinks he knows more than he does.

 

[Htm84]

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Ekena-Millwork-10-in-W-x-10-in-H-x-16-ft-L-3-Sided-U-Beam-Rough-Sawn-Endurathane-Faux-Wood-Ceiling-Beam-Whitewash/1001808136

These aren’t foam but some kind polysomethingerather. I’ve never seen foam used indoors. They have a lot of exterior trim made outta foam that gets stuccoed over.

Any half assed finish carpenter should be able to make some fake wood beams for you.

 

[displacedtexan]

I have never worked with them, but I know a few local trim shops carry them.

 

[tuffcity]

Something like this? foam core beams

 

[Crowmangler]

Check out Architectural Depot online. If they don't have it on their website give them a call & they can probably direct you to somewhere you can find them

 

[ben h]

If you're in the planning stages, I'm curious why you don't just make the rafters and collar ties out of rough sawn lumber instead of LVL that needs to be trimmed for cosmetics? If they're really long spans Rosboro makes a pretty cool ESL 1.6E glu-lam that you can order in rough sawn if you want. Another possibility is use a ridge beam and traditional stick frame the roof and put in some "dummy" trusses for looks. I've also had good luck just trimming with 1x material like some of the others suggest. You won't fool any carpenters doing that, but most people can't tell and especially not if it's on the celing....hell most people can't tell when you do that for a mantle.

 

[fishdart]

Outwater Plastics should have what you need.

Outwater

 

[Doc Holliday]

I've worked residential construction for decades in areas of the country where rustic beams are a common design feature. I've never heard of nor seen foam imitation wraps or beams. Generally you are going to wrap whatever with 1x or 2x product and then artifically distress it with chisels, chains, hammers and whatever else you can come up with. If a guy drew it up for you and claims it exists ask him for a lead on it. I'm guessing he thinks he knows more than he does.

Our roof is getting ripped off and the new beams are going to be real wood and exposed. Structural.

Then the foam we are looking for goes over/is fastened to the wood:

 

[Doc Holliday]

If you're in the planning stages, I'm curious why you don't just make the rafters and collar ties out of rough sawn lumber instead of LVL that needs to be trimmed for cosmetics? If they're really long spans Rosboro makes a pretty cool ESL 1.6E glu-lam that you can order in rough sawn if you want. Another possibility is use a ridge beam and traditional stick frame the roof and put in some "dummy" trusses for looks. I've also had good luck just trimming with 1x material like some of the others suggest. You won't fool any carpenters doing that, but most people can't tell and especially not if it's on the celing....hell most people can't tell when you do that for a mantle.

We originally drew it up with rough sawn lumber....#2 western red cedar. But due to the size of the beams and the associated labor/equipment that would be required for that, it was too expensive. Even if you have the money, we are in a flood zone and our elevation is not up to current standards, so FEMA has restrictions on how much you can improve your property (no more than 50% of assessed value of the dwelling (depreciated), and they won't let you get around it via multiple permits. If you try to fool the system they can make you tear it down.) So by scrapping the timber framing and going with conventional framing with foam wraps, we lowered the price of the job and also kept it under the 50% rule so it will be compliant with FEMA.

We are way past planning..... Engineer stamped the (2nd set of) plans in August. Paperwork is with the city. All windows, doors, and LVLs will be delivered next week. We are just waiting on the permit so putting up barriers and silt fence/demo can begin, and trying to line up the foam wraps now as it could be 6-8 weeks on that from what we hear. Demo and framing should take that long so we are on schedule at the moment but need to get this foam ordered