Anyone used/have thoughts on shadowline / ShadowSet cornice?

IvyC · Feb 14, 2015 9:59 am

I've been seeing shadow line cornice pop up a lot in the residential design space recently and absolutely love it, but am assuming a prohibitive cost for the average home builder (me ).

I found Gyprock ShadowSet online, which seems to be a low profile cornice alternative that still kind of gives the shadow effect.

Has anyone used this is in their homes or enquired about cost? I am after any observations really as I'm thinking of asking my builder to quote this for me on Monday.

Here are some examples below from a Gyprock brochure.

surfprado · Feb 14, 2015 6:58 pm

We priced it up in our home, upgrade costed $600 for a 32 sq home, saw a display home with the shadow line, looked unusual...

We end up going for square set cornice (no cornice). Upgrade was $1600.
Definitely one of the best choices we made

IvyC · Feb 14, 2015 9:51 pm

surfprado

We end up going for square set cornice (no cornice). Upgrade was $1600.
Definitely one of the best choices we made

Thanks for the info!

Would you have any pics of your square set that you would be willing to share?

surfprado · Feb 15, 2015 6:47 am

House is currently being painted, will post pics once done!

You can google it and find lots of examples

1960sModernistHome · Feb 15, 2015 6:59 am

I am big fan of shadowline cornice. For me, the small details make all the difference. The way the ceiling appears to float free from the walls with shadowline cornice is really cool.

It is quite labour-intensive compared to regular cornice, as it requires the sheets to be cut to a much finer tolerance, and there is a lot more setting and sanding involved. But in my opinion it is totally worth it

Stewie D · Feb 15, 2015 7:38 am

You also have to make sure that the framing carpenters do a pretty good job before the plasterers start as well. Any discrepancies in the timber like knots that are not quite below the surface , bows in the framing etc will lead to problems making the shadowline looking straight and true. Regular cornices are a bit more forgiving.

Stewie

snufl · Feb 15, 2015 8:22 am

Hi IvyC, another thing to consider is what we did. We have square set in all main living areas and standard cornices in bedrooms, study etc. If you decide on this option just make sure the cornices are fully contained within rooms, I saw a house where square set and cornice started and finished in a hall and it looked odd.

Our main living area has a lot of angles and corners and we did not want to feature them so we went square set. We used standard cornice in other rooms to keep cost down. We looked at shadow line but our builder said he could do square set for the same price, so probably best to check with your builder on price differences.

1960sModernistHome · Feb 15, 2015 10:06 am

We went with square set in the areas we have re-plastered, but only to match existing parts of the house that had square set. If I was starting from scratch I would go with shadow line for sure.

The irony for us is that the original square set parts of the house that we were going to leave as-is were recently water damaged as a result of Brisbane's big hail storm, so we could have done the other parts in shadow line.. ah well!

Building4my3tots · Feb 15, 2015 10:24 am

There is a display home in Sydney that has what you quoted 'gyprock shadow set', I personally did not like that product because it doesn't produce the same effect as the original 'shadows line' no cornices look. I think you better stick to the traditional method of creating a shadow line. My builder quoted U.S. Square set and shadow line at the same price.

IvyC · Feb 16, 2015 11:49 am

Thanks for the advice everyone, I have asked for ShadowSet and authentic shadow line to be costed!

Tristanium · Feb 16, 2015 12:25 pm

I think the advice from others above hasn't taken into account you are in a brick home - these cornices will be easier in a framed home. As your home is being built - the cornice needs to be at least 35/45mm to cover the top plate..the float will only go to the top of the bricks and the wall plate wont be covered with the float, so there will be the width of this timber to be covered up. They will need to either take the bricks up another course or drop the ceiling slightly to cover the plate - both options come with more work as they cannot simply lay the ceiling joists over the wall plate - they will need to be cut to size and fitted between the walls for each room. My feeling is that the builder will simply say too hard rather than try to price this up - I think it will come in very costly. The plus side is that you can have (and as standard) - square set for the skirting if you wanted

IvyC · Feb 16, 2015 12:49 pm

Tristanium

They will need to either take the bricks up another course or drop the ceiling slightly to cover the plate - both options come with more work as they cannot simply lay the ceiling joists over the wall plate - they will need to be cut to size and fitted between the walls for each room.

Even for the Gyprock ShadowSet do you think it's too late Tristan? as this shoud just effectively replace the Cove that we have already selected?

Obviously I failed to mention this would be a late-ish change as we are just a plate-height brickwork now

Also what do you mean about the square set skirting as standard?

Tristanium · Feb 16, 2015 1:40 pm

I have done a couple of quick details to try to explain this a little better. This one is how they have built it so far - and what you will get if nothing changes:
So the ceiling joists will sit on top of the plate, which sits on top of the top brick. The float will go up to the top brick, but they wont take it to cover the plate as this will crack off too easily. So you need a cornice large enough to cover the gap, and also they can be quite sloppy with the ceiling lining as it has quite a high tolerance as the edges will be hidden behind the cornice. Its one of this things where the shadow set looks simple - but the clean look is much more labour intensive and harder to achieve than just covering it all up with a cornice. I am trying to find a photo on here showing the float done and ceilings in, but no cornice - and having no luck. here is one with the float done and you can see the top plate isnt covered (much)

Here is what they might have to do - add another brick to retain the ceiling height
or drop the ceiling height slightly to cover the top plate
I am not sure if that makes it clearer - but the original option means they can be pretty sloppy with finishing off and hide it all behind a cornice. The other options mean being precise with all ends of sheet/float set, and also ceiling structure needs to be cut to fit (that would be hundreds across a build). There would be other ways to do it, this is just two options.

Tristanium · Feb 16, 2015 1:42 pm

IvyC

Also what do you mean about the square set skirting as standard?

Oh I just mean that they deliver homes here with the float set going down to the floor and no skirting - so you effectively get a square set finish at the base of the wall for free (where this would be an added cost for a framed home, if you really wanted it). Its just more difficult to do on the top edge in a brick build than a framed.

Tristanium · Feb 16, 2015 1:52 pm

Actually, maybe they can just dryline your walls instead of float/set - that would solve the issues..but you would need to install a skirting (if you hadn't planned to do one anyway)

Stewie D · Feb 16, 2015 2:55 pm

Depending on the builder and the cost they could just run battens to lower the ceiling 30mm or so and there is your square set or shadowline cornice.
I must admit i didn't see that the OP was in WA where all ( nearly all anyway ) the homes are double brick.

Stewie

Tristanium · Feb 16, 2015 3:53 pm

Yes, battens would be a good option at the cost of some ceiling height - but only to areas which are over 2.4m ceilings - otherwise this will drop the ceilings below minimum allowable.

1960sModernistHome · Feb 16, 2015 6:23 pm

Do they not use metal ceiling battens anyway? I thought that was standard? At least it was 10 years ago when I was an electrician wiring new houses. The only builders that didn't use metal ceiling battens were the real bottom dwellers like Coral Homes.

We'd go back to one of those houses after a year or two once the truss chords had twisted and bowed and popped screws out of the gyprock all over the place and it looked like dogs bollocks!!

Tristanium · Feb 16, 2015 7:47 pm

1960sModernistHome

Do they not use metal ceiling battens anyway?

Nope - stick roof. Ceiling joists are timber 90x35 or 90x45 no battens. Don't see too many trusses here in WA - maybe 5% of project homes?