quote" Guys I am thinking the bill wants decking material to go on top of the rafters thick enough so the roofing nails don't show from underneath thus the open porch ceiling thing with the rafters showing. "quote I think this is exactly what he's asking for. When I build cathedral ceiling cabana's and pavilions for my pools I use T111 turned upside down for the price conscious buyers or 116 pattern V-groove cedar or #1 pine then stain/seal it when price isn't really the issue. Here are some pic's, during construction, of the pavilion by my pool. When they get really large I stop the standard hip/ridge/jacks/common rafters with decking going left to right and use hip/ridge/mini beams from hip to hip across a common and run the decking up and down. This 116 pattern is a 1x6 tongue and groove. Using a 7/8" roofing nail it doesn't come through. It doesn't come through on 5/8" T111 when using an architectural shingle, with a 3 tab shingle on T111 it slightly pokes the nail tip out. John you and the other deck guys here do some AWESOME work!!! The members of this forum are very fortunate to have industry pro's like yourselves contributing their insight. I'm thankful for the tips and design ideas I've learned from you guys surfing while this forum. See ya, Kelly

I would use an exterior stain, and I would go with a transparent stain. I always preferred oil-based, but I've been told that the latex/water based stains are now very good/equal to oil, and clean up as easily. Plus they're apparently not as bad for the environment (no/lower VOCs). Anyway, if you use a transparent stain you will get a very low sheen, probably less than satin. To get a true sheen you'll need a polyurethane of some sort to cover it, and since you're outside, you may need to look into a spar varnish. Of course, if you go with a solid stain, you can also get a sheen, because that's almost like paint. But then why bother with nice wood?

Before ditching the sheet rock, better check local codes. Sheet rock is simply the least expensive and best choice for fire proofing buildings and is often required by code.

Doing this minimal detail in a commercial application while maintaining the continuous drywall as noted by RES above, we would have 2 options that I can think of: 1. Run a single board continuous above the ceiling. Apply a second layer of drywall that terminates just below the ceiling wit a J bead or similar. This adds thickness and cost to the walls but provides for a clean detail. 2. Reveal the wood slightly off of the wall, There are various aluminum reveal details that could be used that would cap both the wood and the gap between the wood and the wall. Or conversely a sheet of black painted aluminum could be installed before the ceiling is installed. Note also that this second requires your wood installer can get all of the boards cut to the exact same length.