What do you do when you want a dome ceiling but your space is too rectangular? Simple, you choose an elongated dome ceiling. The profile of an elongated dome resembles that of a racetrack which gives you the freedom to add a touch of flair that looks purposeful without the fear that it will look off-centered in your rectangular space.
| Material |
Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) |
| Dome Tie |
The elongated dome tie will change in size and shape to adequately account for the quantity of rafters and ensure proper spacing along the outer ring. |
| Purlin Ring |
Ceiling domes larger than 18 foot may require an additional supporting ring, called a purlin ring, that sits atop the rafters and ties into the dome tie for added support. |
Measuring a space for an elongated dome is pretty straight forward. It simply consists of measuring the width, length, determining if you want a light ring, choosing your style, naming it with a location and understanding your total height.
Choosing a style for your elongated dome is mostly personal taste along with the overall design/theme of the home. The style of an elongated dome is the unique shape of the dome rafters: soft, half-circle, or elliptical. Most of our builders prefer the soft style as it provides the most flexibility in height. When you choose the soft style, we provide you with our suggested height, but you ultimately have the freedom to choose the height you want, or are potentially limited to, by the pitch of your roof or truss design. In contrast, when you choose either the half-circle or elliptical style, the height is mathematically predetermined given the size of the box and the style you’ve chosen.
Installing an elongated dome ceiling simply consists of marking the placement of your outer rings and light rings (if applicable) and then fastening the rings into place. Once this is complete, you will need to connect the rings with a 2×6 (sometimes a 2×4) to complete the racetrack profile of your elongated dome. Next you’ll need to set the elongated dome tie centered at the total height, which will be detailed on your instructions. Lastly, you’ll need to fasten the rafters to the elongated dome tie as marked and to the outer ring as specified in the instructions.
Drywalling a elongated dome ceiling is comprised of measuring the curvature, cutting the drywall to the curvature, forming and fastening in place. You can also watch our "How to Drywall a Dome Ceiling" YouTube video.
QUICK TIPS
Drywall, plaster, wood veneer, brick veneer, trim, tile… the list is seemingly endless. Whether you want your elongated dome ceiling 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.
