If it's different than shown in the building documents, they have to make it right.
Casey

photos do definitely help! great rooms, by the way.

What do your construction drawings call for? That should be what the framer does. Regardless of the construction drawings, not integrating the design of the wall plane with the design of the ceiling plane does bother me, since they should have been considered together. I guess it's your call after you check your construction documents. Good luck!

good point about what the construction drawings indicate. if the framer did indeed fail to follow the drawings, he would need to fix it without charging the client extra, correct? i am just learning the ropes on who pays for the mistakes, etc. thank you

Yes, the purpose of construction drawings and specifications is that they are the legally binding documents for the contract for construction. Failure to follow these documents puts responsibility on the general contractor (if there is one) or the subcontractor performing the work in error.

Funny, the fp looks centred to me. But I'll take your word on it plus the other unauthorized changes.

I've found it not unusual for carpenters--particularly those who have been builders from time to time--to suggest changes that look better to them. Sometimes, I agree and let them have at it. (Which has sometimes come back to bite me because neither of us realized the impact on other elements of the design!) But making changes on their own is another matter.

Worthy, the fireplace does appear to be centered on the wall. It's the ceiling coffer framing that has been installed without consideration for the wall design. For some, this is not an issue. For others, it's a big issue since the wall design and the ceiling design should have been considered as one. But this is not the framer's responsibility--theirs is to follow the construction drawings.

I think it depends on the overall design of the room and what sort of mantle and a number of other factors. Modern construction tends to have rooms that are irregularly shaped, so while the fireplace is centered on that particular wall, that particular wall isn't really centered in the room--because the room isn't a rectangle.

Coffers, by their nature want to impose a completely regular grid on a room and they can't when the room is irregular. So unless a room is a perfectly proportioned rectangle, you will generally have a choice of a ceiling of identically sized coffers and potential misalignment with things on the wall, or irregularly shaped coffers resulting from having the cross members centered with things on the walls, but misaligned on the ceiling as a whole, or a partially coffered ceiling with plain ceiling areas compensating for the irregular part of the room, and allowing for the coffered part to center on the vertical architectural elements like the walls and windows. But without a perfect rectangle of a room, and without a symmetrical arrangement of everything on the walls within the room, you won't be able to have a perfect grid of coffers with perfect alignment of the vertical elements.

So, if everything is so mis-aligned and integrating the design of the wall and the ceiling is so difficult, why do the ceiling coffers? FWIW, there are all sorts of ways to coordinate the design of vertical walls and horizontal ceilings, regardless of the geometry of the space. All it takes is some experience to see the challenges and some creativity to come up with an integrated solution. Seems apparent here that all this was simply ignored--the wall was designed, the ceiling was designed and no thought was given to integrating the two. Just independent design features to increase the cost without any thought as to how they may relate together. Too bad!

You guys are getting something completely different from the OP than I am. Looks to me like there was some divider that was originally planned and left out which makes the room appear bigger, something I gather the OP likes. But now is concerned about off center coffering. I would personally not go back to the plans and shrink the room. Off center coffers that I have found don't look bad to me. If they look bad to the OP I would rework the coffers.

Coffers won't help here. Ditch them entirely.

bry,

My point was that coffers centered on the fireplace may not be well laid out of the ceiling or that coffers centered on the ceiling may not be centered on the fireplace. They may be able to work out something that looks fine, but it probably won't be centered on both the ceiling and the fireplace.

Looking at your picture. There doesn't seem to be much area depth wise for soffit to inset the coffers. This is a picture of my old house. Coffers centered on the fireplace. What is the depth of your proposed coffer? And the depth of area from ceiling to the top of the window. To me this looks like the problem

I took the op to mean that where doorway and edge of built ins meet in the upper right corner would be a beam to define the edge of the room. From that beam to the left would be the coffered part of the ceiling and the coffers would center on the fireplace. From that beam to the wall on the right would be the standard ceiling, no coffers.

and it seems framer disregarded how it was supposed to be with coffers only in the actual room and not the "hallway" area. I would make him do it over.

Hi everyone! Sorry it took so long to respond! Yes, the original plan called for beams to "create" a space where the coffered portion would be. The room is open to the kitchen eating area, a walkway, stairs, and the kitchen. So the purpose of the ceiling was to sort of create a unique space. Does that make sense?

The builder responded to my concerns acknowledging that yes this is different than what the plan called for but "the room looks bigger this way". I'm thinking he's trying to find a silver lining to see if I would like it and not ask him to redo it.

I am going to ask him to redo it according to the plan which would make it centered with the fireplace.

Thanks all for your input!!

gwlake: I am unsure of the exact depth of the coffer but I was shown something visually when we were talking about the plans that I approved. It is not as deep as what you show me, no. We are working with ten foot ceilings and we will have french doors on the left- standard size with 14 inch transoms above.

I agree with your choice. plus it's not his decision to make without first asking you. tell him you wanted the more intimate feel and not a large cavernous space.

So the coffering is now extended beyond the room into the hallway and beyond. If that doesn't read as part of the room, it doesn't throw off the fp as centre of the coffered room.

I'm still trying to figure out if the off-centre coffers bry11 dug up were intentional or not.

this whole off centered coffered ceiling
discussion is over my head.

I think the conversation has gotten off center! :-)

:)

Nope. Not centered at all!! That would bug me.

Even 2 years later it would bug you?

Why are you bringing up a 2 year old thread?

Looks terrible