I would like to speak to experienced carpenters 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.

I need a little more information to answer your question. Can you describe how the space that you are going to vault relates to the overall roof structure? Are you taking out all the horizontal members or just raising the ceiling in a small area of the overall structure?

I did a structure that had a roof structure like what you describe and we just raised the ceiling joist to tie the rafters in at a higher point on the roof. The rafters still needed to be tied together horizontally.