I have 7ft ceilings in one room on my second floor. The room was an addition and the previous owners decided to make the original stone porch below into a family room. In this room, they kept the original stone columns that were 9ft tall and didn't leave enough room above for standard ceiling height. I'd like to make a cathedral style ceiling out of the current 7ft ceilings. I know that the joists above run the same direction as the rest of the house until about half way across the room and then run the other way (I don't know if this matters). Can the ceiling height be raised without taking the whole room down and starting over? Can a kneel wall be added to the existing wall? HELP!!! HOW EXPENSIVE WILL THIS BE?
Ceiling – I’d like to raise the ceiling height on the second floor but the roof is flat. How to do this
ceiling
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HDMI and speaker wire are basically signal wires, not power wires. Both the voltage and amperage is very low. Indoors it is safe to run these hidden or exposed without channel or conduit if they are properly rated. See this Q&A for a discussion of proper rating.
When channel or conduit is used, it is either for convenience in handling, and to keep the wires away from other materials, or it is used to improve the aesthetics - channel can be painted and looks neater than cables.
There are limits as to how much signal wire can be run in cable or conduit, but this is generally a function of pure physical space and ability to pull wire, rather than heat or safety. Speaker wire can be tacked to baseboards or other molding if that works. be careful to avoid breaking the insulation or the inner wires when stapling, and if you put wire under moldings, be careful not to nail through. Its not a danger issue, is a broken wire/no signal issue.
Power, including extensions to run a projector, is very different. No code allows extension cords to be buried in wall. I don't think any codes allow extensions to be tacked to baseboards. Also power cables should not run parallel to signal wires - they can cause interference even though many signal wires (like HDMI) are shielded.
You need to bring a regular, properly installed power line to the projector. This can be properly installed NM cable inside a wall to an outlet box. It can be surface wiring, but this requires standard metalic surface channels and boxes such as this and this:
One other note. Lampcord is often used as speaker wire. It is the same as is used for AC power cords and small extension cords. If you are using such wire, be careful, if you are burying in walls or stapling, that it is speaker wire rather than power carrying wire.
While that might work, I doubt your HOA would allow grooving the ceiling because the concrete is part of the common structure.
Instead, install flat conduit.
Or flatwire.
(source: flatwireready.com)
Or maybe you might like a beam which could conceal a wire.
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Best Answer
Note that this is just a best possible guess based on the current info and in no way should be used as a "given".
Since room is an addition and the fact that you are on the top floor of a flat roof house, I doubt that there is too much to do as far as the roof. It is quite possible if the room is truly an addition that the roof section could be taken apart and put back up 5 feet higher. This is all given that your room was really an addition (not just half your room which it sounds like from your description).
Nobody that I know, no engineer I know nor any inspector OK adding on to the existing outer walls - let alone the interior walls. You have to rebuild. Taking off the top plate, pulling the electric, taking out windows, and reframing with longer lumber is a quick 1-2 day job for a small crew of 4.
So you have demo, you have a lot of trash, you have taking apart roof, you have materials (lumber, new roofing, new gutters, new flashing for old roof, new siding, new insulation). This is all given that you keep the exact same windows, don't move electric or plumbing or hvac, and really don't care that much that this height extension will make the house look awkward since doing aesthetics will add on cost. I have to say on the really really low end if the roof materials and windows can be saved and no surprises surface and you use low-end builder grade finishes someone might quote you 6-8k. I would think most estimates will come in closer to the 10-15k range. Again this is given that this room was a true addition.