Cladding a ridge beam - Help required!

[warmington_ash]

Hi,

 

We’re considering fitting a fake oak beam cladding around the ridge beam in our extension.

 

I just wanted to ask for some advice on the best way to go about doing this.

 

Ideally we want to keep the beam as slim as possible, but obviously I’m conscious that we can’t create a cold bridge. 

 

I was thinking of:

 

1. Cloaking the beam in 25mm insulation to both sides and the bottom - is this enough?

 

2. Stapling a vapour control layer to the outside of the insulation - is this necessary?

 

3. Installing the fake oak beam by bolting it fully through the ridge beam.

 

4. Then finally insulating and plastering the remainder of the roof - by doing this last I should be able to achieve a nice finish against the oak.

 

Is the above the best way to approach this?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Bonner]

A timber beam is not normally considered a cold bridge like steel. It’s the same in principle as the rafters, are you insulating under them or only between? If you are putting insulation across the rafters, you should treat the ridge the same. If you are only insulating in between the rafters, then I would just clad directly over the ridge. Aesthetically you might want to make the clad ridge deeper to look ‘right’ and in proportion. Think about what you are going to see once the ceiling is plastered.

[warmington_ash]

Yes I was going to insulate under the rafters with 50mm insulated plasterboard.

 

Should I put a VCL around the ridge beam?

[Bonner]

Same as the insulation, whatever you are doing with the rest of the ceiling. The only difference is the beam is being clad (cloaked) instead of plastered.