I would like to speak to experienced carpenters or engineers that are familiar with the East Coast method of house construction whereby the rafters sit on top of the ceiling joists that extend beyond the interior wall to form the fascia/soffit framing.

My question is: How do you remove the ceiling joists to make a cathedral ceiling?

I actually know the answer, but want to compare methods/engineering due to a dispute with a client.

Sorry, I'm not quite familiar with the method you describe. In general, ceiling joists function as tension members, keeping the roof from spreading out under it's own weight (dead load) and imposed weight (live load). If you remove the ceiling joists, you have to substitute something else, tie rods for example, to take their place. If you email a detail as a dwg file, or as a scanned jpg file, I can give you another 2 cents worth.

Please view member profile for address.

[This message was edited by MiranndaGrey on 07-15-02 at 01:24 PM.]