Ceiling Vaults
by Joseph Fusco
by Joseph Fusco
The vaulted ceiling has been around for quite a long time. They have been made from many different materials with many different techniques employed to build their actual structure. Most of us are familiar with one type of vault, the dome. We see them in many places; the capital building comes to mind. There is even a fancy name given to the space under a dome, “The Rotunda.” There are of course several other types of vaults, most notable the barrel and the groin. Most trade’s and lay people alike are often surprised to find out just how simple the “math” and layout is for these types of ceiling vaults.
Before you begin the design of your new home or prospective remodel you may want to think about including one of these magnificent ceiling into your design. You might even consider doing one of these as do-it-yourself project in a new dining room, bedroom, bathroom or entryway in an existing home. There are a few options open to you if you were to undertake such a project. The first is you could order a prefabricated vault, mostly a semi or circular dome or you might find an elliptical dome and they would most likely come in either foam or plastic; however, neither of those materials would work well if you need to build a custom sized vault. In almost every case for a custom made dome the materials of choice would be ¾ veneer plywood and 2x’s for the structure and either drywall or plaster for the skin. This would be the second option. If you opted for plaster you’d also need a “lath or mesh” sub straight for the plaster to stick to. In a future article I will present the steps to layout and construct a vault that you can apply to your own project. In the mean time get to know some of the vault types.
The Dome
By far the dome is the simplest vault to calculate and construct. The first order would be to determine the radius of the dome, since all circular domes are formed by either a full half circle arch or a segment of that arch. Once the radius is determined it becomes a matter of constructing plywood ribs around a fixed point on the top of the dome. This gives the dome its shape.
The Barrel Vault
Is also based on the half or semi circle, though there are times when just a segmented arch is used. It too, is fairly easy to calculate and construct. This vault is made up of the same rib just repeated over and over. The use of a template makes the fabrication of the ribs fast and easy.
The Groin Vault
The groin vault is in my opinion one of the most attractive ceiling vaults. This vault can be based on either the semi circle, segmented arch or the elliptical arch. This being the case this vault is a bit more complicated to calculate and layout. If the vault is circular it will have both circular and elliptical ribs. If it is elliptical it will have two sets of elliptical ribs.
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