A cross vault, also known as a groin vault cross or a cross barrel vault, is a subtle yet profound enhancement on a groin vault. The two intersecting barrel vaults at right angles are extended past the intersection that creates the cross. Cross vaults work best when they are recessed up into your ceiling and are a great alternative to boring tray ceiling.
| Material |
Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) |
| Depth (in.) | 2” – 7” deep struts |
| Thickness (in.) |
1” – 1 ½” (depending on the size) |
Choosing a rise for your cross vault ceiling is mostly personal taste along with the overall design/theme of the home. Our suggested height, is a good place to start. Also, make sure that you keep the length of your extensions in mind as they will directly limit your rise. For example, if you have a 120.000 inch long side x 120.000 inch short side with 24.000 inch extensions, then you’re only really left with a 72.000 inch curvature width (120.000 in – (24.000 in x 2) = 72.000 in). In this case the most rise you could have would be 36.000 inches, which would make this cross vault half-circular in style. If you’re looking for a softer look as shown in most of the pictures, we would suggest 18.000 inches of rise. If you have any concerns, please call us. We’d be happy to walk you through the process of choosing your rise.
Every cross vault kit comes with tailored installation instructions to your specifications. Installing a cross vaulted ceiling simply consists of fastening both the barrel struts and the groin struts as provided in your custom tailored installation instructions. If you can color by number and operate a nail gun, then you can install one of our cross vault ceilings.
Drywalling a cross vault is comprised of measuring the curvature, cutting the drywall to the curvature, forming and fastening in place. While we currently don't have a cross vault drywall video, you can visit our YouTube page and watch some of our other drywall videos. While the application is different, the concepts are the same.
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Drywall, plaster, wood veneer, brick veneer, trim, tile… the list is seemingly endless. Whether you want your cross vault to have a simple or an ornate finish, the choice is yours. You can also watch our "7 Creative Ideas to Finish Your Ceilings & Archways" YouTube video.
We’re a fan of the groin vault kits from Archways & Ceilings. We have been using them for a few years now and the quality and the ‘WOW’ factor their groin vault kits create are well worth the cost. Plus, their customer service is excellent!
We were absolutely satisfied with our dome ceiling. The service and communication we got from Archways & Ceiling was top notch. We would highly recommend working with them and using their products.
I would highly recommend Archways & Ceilings for coved ceilings. Their kits takes what can be a hard task for a carpenter and makes it into a simple project. The savings over other products we have used like Styrofoam is significant with better durability.
Archways & Ceilings does a great job on all of their products. Specifically, we have been using their barrel vaults exclusively since 2009 and the exact precision with which they are made cannot be replicated in the field by traditional stick framing methods. For a truly high-end finish and a shape nothing short of perfection, Archways & Ceilings materials are the way to go.
Archways & Ceilings is a great company to have as a resource. We know that when we take on projects that require a variety of arched ceilings, we can count on them to come through. We recently completed a project that required an elliptical barrel vault that intersected with 6 half circle arches at different heights which they call “Igloos.” This ceiling came out terrific and came out like the architect spec’d.
