Post and Beam

[tw69]

We are building a new house in Houston. In the family room and various other roms, we will trim out with heavy beams vs faux. i am looking for a source and also suggestions on material for beams that are approx 8x10 x up to 23ft. We want to achieve the truss look . They do not have to be structural. Someone has suggested we look at cypress but the only that I can find is green. Too concerned about changes due to moisture contents. Too hard to kiln dry in those sizes also.

Thanks in advance,
T
im/Houston, TX

[montytx]

I would call a lumber yard and see what types of wood you can get in that deminsion. As I said earlier, I like ash, it is less than oak and behaves similarly. IT is a little grey in color but has a nice grain to it. You can get it in 1x12s,1x6...so you can put it over your support beams.
IF you look at my site and look at kitchens you will see how it looks stained.

[Dragon]

If you are using real beams they need to be installed during the framing stage. If building fake beams with 1X material they go in during the trim stage.

[Rich]

We did some 9x12 beams (non-structural) by boxing them out of 1x mahogany. Used a miter lock on the corners and then distressed them. We attached 2x material to the ceiling joists and then attached the boxed beams to that. You would never guess they weren't real.
For the 23' beams - you may need to go to solid if it's free spanning (i.e. not directly attached to the ceiling the full length). I've seen it done with a king post truss design and hang half the span from all thread into the ceiling joists. Kind of hokey - but it worked.