Thursday, March 26, 2009

How to Frame a Groin Vault?

When I picture the look on a contractors face when he/she hears that they have to frame a groin vault, I smile to myself. The look of frustration and confusion is written all over there faces. Not to mention, they hear dollar signs! Well, if you can kick your old school ways of thinking and try something new, I will erase those frowns and turn them upside down.
So to answer the infamous question on how to frame a Groin Vault, it actually is quite simple. Simply measure the perimeter of your room. If it is a rectangle, measure the long side and the short side. If it is a square the measurements should be the same. Note that I said should be. :) Once you have measured your sides you now have to figure your rise. The rise is often controlled by your ceiling height. For example, if you have a 12’ high ceiling and 8’ doorways then you want to pick a rise that keeps you high enough off the doorways but still curved enough to give you a strong groin vault. Once you have these measurements simply visit http://www.archwaysandceilings.com/ or call 877-303-ACME and give them your measurements. Archways and Ceilings custom makes each groin vault to there customers needs and all products ship within the week. The product arrives to the jobsite in a nice clean box. Pop open your box and you will find the Groin Vault struts, instructions, and CAD. (view examples instructions click here: http://archwaysandceilings.com/videos_pdfs/gv_install.pdf )
The groin vault struts all have a particular place to be installed. The CAD received with each groin will tell you where each piece goes. This process reminds me of paint by numbers process. This simple process allows you to build your average groin vault in 30-45 minutes depending on size. Not to mention it is perfectly built and ready for drywall. No more thinking, no more headaches and no more hearing dollar signs.
Archways and Ceilings have great prices on all products, especially there groin vaults. The amount of material you need to buy to field frame this particular ceiling is equivalent to the Archways and Ceilings Groin vault kit, but without all the grief.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Always Ready For a Challenge


Recently due to the competitive market, our Customers have been pushing for some challenging designs to set there homes apart from there competition. A Groin Vault often known as a Cross Vault, is two barrel ceilings intersecting. This is a simple task for Archways and Ceilings, but our customer wanted to step it up a notch. He asked if we can create an Octagonal Groin Vault which would be four barrel ceilings intersecting, in which, I quickly replied, "Of course!" Being in sales I could not let the opportunity pass to achieve such a task. Well after thinking out how to construct a feature, we quickly began manufacturing. Four days later I met my builder at the job site and watched the Octagonal Groin vault go up in 30 minutes. The builder was both happy and amazed that such a complicated ceiling treatment could go up so quickly.
Also here are other examples of how we help make your homes "Stand Out!"