It's a combination of dirt in the air being drawn to the cold spots on the ceiling under the condensation on the cold beams. The beams are not adequately insulated and/or an adequate thermal break wasn't provided.

You and all your friends see the "ghosting" and the builder is puzzled. It's like a Monty Python skit.

what worthy is telling you is true. metal is an excellent conductor of heat and cold. wood is a poor conductor which is why this doesn't occur with wood beams.

Rather than inadequate insulation, I actually thought the beam sits slightly lower (or the brackets are lower) than the rest of the trusses and it's shadowing and possibly some texture changes due to the lower height that's causing it to look different than the rest of the ceiling. When standing directly under it, you can not see any color differences or tell where it is. It's when you scan the ceiling from across the room. This particular beam is on the main floor of a 2-story walkout. The beam directly below it on the LL can not be seen.

Are you saying that it is to be expected and normal to find this or is it an error? Can it be corrected or will it just cause more problems than it's worth (floor are in and soon to be finished, cabinets are in, starting finishes - tiling, painting, etc.)?

Thanks for your input!

It wont be easily corrected, if it is low, like it sounds. It will need to be feathered out a considerable distance in order to attempt to mask the discrepancy.

I would guess that it could be framing anchors of sorts, or joist hangers, that are causing you the grief.

If you can reach it, take a long straightedge (96")and lay it across the joint and see what the gappage in on either side of the bump. Anything more than 1/8",(depending on texture type) I would consider excessive.

I've often seen this on exterior walls that have metal studs but it is surprising that it would be noticeable with a knockdown finish and when the steel is not in direct contact with the drywall.

Use a six foot level or straightedge as rollie suggests. Of course, it's possible you've got both issues.

The beam is definitely sitting lower than the rest of the ceiling and it's the shadowing that makes it noticable. I took just a 2 ft. level on it and it appears that it's about 1/4" lower. My builder has been completely unresponsive to my concerns regarding this. I don't really even know what I should be asking for at this point. I feel like it's possibly too late to be fixing it, yet I don't think the quality is up to what I had expected from this builder.

What should I do? What would be a reasonable request for the builder?

Thanks!

Maybe one of the professionals can chime in, but I think they should skim coat the entire ceiling that is affected. It shouldn't be that big of a deal.

When these sorts of sub-trade mistakes occur, I leave it to the trades to come up with the solution. Believe me, it's happened to them before. The solution might be skimmming or even shimming, then adding a layer of 1/4 drywall.

Completely unacceptable...The sheetrock needs to be removed and then shimmed before new material is installed. It is the subs fault and the GC should be all over this. Shimming for construction material differences on finish details like sheetrock is basic building 101.

mlo1, Wouldn't skim-coating give the OP a better ceiling than than redoing the drywall? Fully skim-coated is a higher finish level than normal drywall finishing (where just the seams and screws are skimmed), correct? I would also think it would be a lot less messy and disruptive.

The high spot in the ceiling could be feathered out three feet on either side. Any drywall finisher should be able to do that. It would conceal the defect across a 6-foot area. A plasterer, however, would be capable of floating the entire ceiling and making the whole thing flat as a tabletop. That would require a two-stage veneer plaster system.
I concur that the framing should have been furred out before the ceiling was hung. Once the joists dry out and shrink, it's going to get worse. Wait until this happens before plastering, so as to ameliorate the problem.
Casey

Lots of criteria to consider...length of discrepency, lighting conditions, intended finish, etc.

My experience has been that with a large area you are better off doing it right, from the framing out. Skim coating is typically a very thin coat of mud that either feathers blems out or simply covers slight imperfections in the paper of the sheetrock. I dont consider a very thick layer of mud skim coating. You may be setting yourself up for an even bigger mess down the road when/if settling occurs.

To me...I would insist its done right. I get tired of these tradespeople pushing off second rate work and practices under the guise "we do it all the time". It is your investment. They are only concerned to keep you at bay for a very short period of time.

My whole house is steel framed and I have never noticed anything like that. I also used 5/8" sheetrock throughout because I had heard about "sagging" in ceilings with the 1/2". Maybe the easiest solution would be to put a layer of 5/8" rock over it and run it perpendicular.