Installing Faux Wooden Beams - Second Part

The first part of Installing Faux Wooden Beams was all about placing the supports on the ceiling.  If you haven't checked out that post, click HERE for all the info about that.   This is how it looked after two days of work:

Today I'm going to focus on the big, wide beam that I wanted to install at the very top of the slanted ceiling.
That beam was the one that gave us the most trouble because as I said, it was BIG (heavy) and the ceiling was way too high.

It needed to be 18" wide x 12' long.  Since there is no material in that width, I had to buy a whole ½" Plywood sheet, which was ripped at the lumber yard to the width I wanted (18'').  I got 2 pieces 18"W x 8'L.

Both pieces were cut at a 45° angle (Like when you are attaching two pieces of fabric, it always looks better when done in the diagonal), and to size, 12'.

Glue was applied to both ends and then both pieces were nailed to 2x2 supports on the back (picture below).

More 2x2 supports were nailed as seen in the picture.

I decided to add lights to this beam, after all, it's the highest and I had the space inside the beam to accommodate small can lights.

The three circles were marked.

And cut out.  Cutting these small circles gave me the confidence to go and cut the letters for the PB inspired Love Plaque.  Remnants of this same material were used for that.

With the holes for the lights ready, it was time to attach the side boards (1 x 6s), on both sides.

I wanted the beams to have a small "reveal", where the sides protrude a bit from the bottom panel.  To do that, small samples of ¼" plywood were taped along the side. So as I was nailing the boards together, the 1x6s were kept flush to that sample.

When both sides were nailed down, this is how it looked:

After connecting the lights and caulking all those nail holes, the whole piece was ready to be installed.

Up there!  That was the worst part of this whole project!  For me that thing was H-E-A-V-Y!  The first time we tried to bring it up, it didn't fit, a bit to long on one side, so it went down to be cut just a tiny bit with the circular saw.   To help myself, I screwed that temporary support on the wall so I could rest that beast onto it.

The second time it fitted nicely along both 2x4's.   It was heavily nailed to the 2x4 supports on both sides.  To be sure it stays up there, two 3"screws were driven on that same line on both sides, just behind each of the beams that go perpendicular to it, that way they cannot be seen later on.

At the end of the day I was so please to check this part off my list!

I thought about making this beam out of Sheetrock, framing that high part and then covering it with the Sheetrock, but I simply didn't want it looking like a soffit.
As I always tell you, I am not a professional, I'm simply a home owner trying to update her home.  Do you have any other ideas how this could have been done? I would love to hear about that in the comments section.

I still need to fish the light's cable from the attic to one of the walls, that's going to be done in a couple of weeks. ;)

Next is reveal time, see you soon!

Click HERE for the final part.

For the First Part Click HERE.