The question isn't about how the house should be built, the engineers ARE designing that (and it's very conventional building). The question is, how much of the beam do I want to SEE when the ceiling is finished. How much of the 12" beam should be above/below the drywall? The raised eyebrows are due to the fact that I want to see the beam, not that the beam needs to exist. They assume that a big open room with a flat ceiling is better. But to me, it's less character. I have a choice, based on the engineer's options, to have a 12" beam with joists sitting on top of it, or a 12" beam with joists attached to the sides with joist hangers, or a 12" beam with the joists on joist hangers but they sit higher than the bottom of the beam. On the second floor, the beam is flush, and the joists come into the side. In the basement, the joists were on top, but when we asked about options to make the beam higher (dig the basement deeper? use a steel beam?) it was suggested that we go "semi flush", allowing for more head room, but still allowing for room above the beam for ducts/pipes/wiring, etc. So, which way do we want it on the main floor?

I figure after demo part I’d just need to do the insulation between rafters.. then cover with drywall, plaster, paint.. ? Have you been to the attic? Got any wiring up there? Any ductwork? Any plumbing vents? What is your plan to vent the roof? How are you going to insulate? What R value will you have? How do you plan to brace the trusses? What about climate control--HVAC? You will be adding a lot of cubic feet of new space that, in all likelihood, your HVAC system isn't designed to handle. Not only additional cubic feet but also the problem of stratification. How & to what do you plan to fasten the new drywall? You can't fasten drywall into the side of the truss; you will have to install some nailers/ ledgers to fasten drywall to. Trusses are typically constructed of 2 x 4's. Of particular note, the top chord is a 2x4, meaning there will be 3.5" between the roof deck and the bottom of that chord. Which will be buried in insulation. So, you need to realize that you will not see that top chord from the room below. What is you plan to deal with/ cover the gaps in the drywall caused by the trusses themselves? IOW's, what you want to do is a good deal more complicated and labor intensive than what I *think* you are thinking it will be.

We had an electrician do all the lights outlets etc (to ensure it was to code and prevent myself from getting injured and/or burning down the house). They're 4 in. dimmable LEDs. There's 11 total for the 32x12 foot room (10 for the room itself and one for the bottom of the stairs (where the yellow wall is). They're evenly spaced apart along the 32 foot length, so rough math says 6 ft or so apart. The blue wall to gray wall is 12 feet, I'm not home but looks like maybe three feet from long walls and 6 feet between the 2 rows). We're happy with how it turned out. Originally the ceiling was going to be exposed as this thread started but firecode changed that. That back wall with the door/windows was going to be all brick, making a loft look. Loosing the ceiling meant loosing the loft look, so I didn't want to spend the money doing the brick wall.

As long as the surface of the beams is rough it will always be a problem with dust and dirt...sandblasting or sanding or just using a scrub brush and cleaner are options that are mostly labor intensive...wrapping as an option looks less authentic as a beam...makes the beam bigger .....and always looks like a fake beam....with the added expense of all the material needed....almost all options come with a risk that the walls will be damaged and need touching up ...if it was me...i would try cleaning them first....to maintain the authenticity...and then touch up if any of the color has come off..