Lowering (most of) a ceiling

[em63]

My kitchen ceiling has a 'step' where a steel beam has been inserted to support the upper part of a chimney breast. I want to lower the main area of this ceiling - by around 8 inches - so that it is level with the underside of this steel beam, so providing a single flat surface. [I don't really have the available height to be able to come much below the underside of the beam.] My motivation for doing this is not just aesthetic. My bathroom is above the kitchen and I want to re-arrange it. My plans require running a 32mm waste pipe (from a hand-basin) below the existing joists from one side of the room to an external wall at the other side.

My intention was to insert new joists (4x2s ?) below the existing joists but running at right angles to them. My problem is the steel beam which lies right in the path of where I want to place the new joists (since I don’t really want the new ceiling to be any lower than the underside of the steel beam). I can therefore easily fix one end of the new joists to the external wall but the other end would abut the steel and I cannot see how it would be supported. Does anyone have a solution to this problem ?

 

[Deluks]

Does anyone have a solution to this problem ?

It is a problem that you are creating.
You are using using a load of 4" joists, to lower a floor by 8" to incorporate a 32mm pipe.
There must be a more efficient way to do it, how about fixing 50mm battens to the underside of the existing joists to incorporate the pipe?
Or you could probably run the pipe through the existing joists, if it is near to one end and you reinforce them.

A low ceiling makes the room feel cramped, the kitchen will steam up quicker and you will lose the high ceiling aesthetic for the sake of a flat ceiling aesthetic.

Post a photo of the existing and perhaps we can make more sense of it.

 

[em63]

Thanks for your response Deluks. Your suggestion of 50mm battens is of course much easier than my proposal but it would still leave me with a two-level ceiling and I really do want the flat ceiling at the end of it all. If my current plans are achievable, the new ceiling height would be around 8ft which for me is high enough.

I'll try to post a photo.

 

[em63]

Photo showing boxed-in beam.

 

[noseall]

Fix on three sides whilst using a supplementary adhesive on the beam along with mechanical end fix.