# Barrel Ceiling



## JohnOrange (Sep 16, 2013)

I used forums like this one to research how to approach this project. Maybe a few photos here will pass along some ideas.

I built a deep tray ceiling over my dining room. There were two shallow trays on either side of the deep tray in the middle that looked great but the room was too small for the depth of the center tray so I backed up and ultimately decided to make a barrel ceiling. Here are some photos from that project.




























I stapled 1/8" luan plywood into the space and applied tounge and groove maple flooring using adhesive.


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## Travico (Dec 25, 2012)

I wish I would have thought of that, before I REMODELED!


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## JohnOrange (Sep 16, 2013)

Travico, this project was inspired by a friend who dropped by and saw the tray ceiling when it was just a big square hole, much too big and deep for the room size. At the time, I hadn't even heard of a barrel ceiling. If you decide you want to backtrack and do one, converting a ceiling to a tray ceiling isn't too big of a job as long as there is space and suitable supporting walls to install some doubled 2"X12" lumber in your attic space.


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## mike1950 (Aug 29, 2010)

Looks NICE- we have a barrel dome with a light trough in our dining room. It is plastered though. We love it. Hope you have many enjoyable dinners in that beautiful room. :thumbsup:


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## JohnOrange (Sep 16, 2013)

Mike, I have wiring for an uplighting light box along both sides but that addition became lower priority along there somewhere. The priority will increase when I'm sure I know how I want to build it :>)


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## chopnhack (Dec 16, 2007)

Good job John!! Very nice use of space.


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## Smith Brother (Dec 9, 2012)

They make/sell what is called by most lumber yards as, BENDING PLYWOOD, it will bend in a very tight radius, normally 3/8 thick.

Looks good,

Dale in Indy


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## mike1950 (Aug 29, 2010)

JohnOrange said:


> Mike, I have wiring for an uplighting light box along both sides but that addition became lower priority along there somewhere. The priority will increase when I'm sure I know how I want to build it :>)



we used cheap home depot strip lights on 2 switches with dimmers. Nice framing job- the framing is the key.


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## Da Aardvark (Oct 11, 2012)

Looks Good.

I've done my fill of curved walls and did one barrel ceiling with a half round window at the end, and we rested the barrel on sloped rafters. We built the barrel on the ground and lifted it in place.
Generally my framing is similar but on walls and my barrel, it's plywood plates and 2" x 4" studs (or larger for rafters for insulation) @ 6" o.c., and 2 layers of soaked 1/4" drywall bent and screwed in place. Then it takes a lot of mud to finish it off.
If I would do it again, I would use 1/4" ply as a backer and 1/4" drywall as a finish surface.


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## BWSmith (Aug 24, 2010)

Very nice.

Thats basically how we do them except.......still using plywood as "bulkheads",but the 2x4's are left long.We dado slot them to "clip" onto ply edge.It makes for a much more cohesive unit.Not disparaging,just sayin......try it.You can build them on the ground and lift them into place,they are that rigid.


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## JohnOrange (Sep 16, 2013)

I have never heard of bending plywood. What I used was a little thicker than decorative paneling, luanne is what they called it I think. It's just thick enough to hold staples securely and worked fine to smooth out irrgularities. Gluing the maple upside down to the luanne was a trick to say the least. Before settling on the maple, I tried bending 1/4" drywall using moisture and a sawhorse jig but I couldn't get it to bend that tight without cracking. Maybe it would bend better if I cut the sheets longways in halves or thirds. The maple went on sale so I was happy to switch to wood.
I like the lighting suggestions. I think white LEDs would work fine in my setting.


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## Smith Brother (Dec 9, 2012)

Go to (YouTube BENDING PLYWOOD), there are several video's of such. 

Dale in Indy


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## Da Aardvark (Oct 11, 2012)

The trick on drywall is timing. I would lay it on the floor, pour a little water on it and smoke a cig. (about 5 min)
Too long is just falls apart, not long enough, it cracks.


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## bzguy (Jul 11, 2011)

If you don't have the $$ and time for hardwood and don't mind paint, I like using "bending stock" (plywood) , it comes orientated bendable on the 4' or 8' axis.
Another even cheaper trick is scoring just the paper on one side of 5/8" drywall with t-square and utility knife on every 1" or whatever required for the desired radius.
This turns 5/8ths sheetrock into something similar and than bending stock.
Works great, inside or outside radius, inside scoring hidden (faces framing), outside radius scoring can be easily filled with mud.


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## Smith Brother (Dec 9, 2012)

Bending plywood is thin layers of wood, all glued together in the same direction. No cross ply's.

Dale in Indy


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## mike1950 (Aug 29, 2010)

Old fashioned plaster was my business, but another way to bend drywall is to wet it and let it set on something radiused about the same as desired radius such as a sono-tube. as the water soaks in it will conform to that radius slowly.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Pretty cool idea. Well done.


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