Why Do Property Gurus Rave About High Ceilings?

[davebro]

Anything above about 8ft is space you can't use but have to heat. Also more difficult to reach when doing any decorating. Why were house built like that in first place - I bet new-builds aren't.

[bednobs]

i think it's because of the "feel" high ceilings give

[ummmm]

It's more pleasing on the eye and makes the room look bigger.

[Prudie]

I agree with you dave, don't like them at all. Apart from the difficulties of decorating how on earth could you get a monstrous house spider off the ceiling of a barn conversion for example? That would be a huge issue for me.

[woofgang]

Prudie if the ceilings are that high would you see it?

[Prudie]

A normal big house spider? Without a doubt.

[Hopkirk]

It made it easier to breathe in the days of indoor heavy smokers.

[barry1010]

Not just smokers, all those open fires. I like the lines of Georgian houses, great big windows set symetrically in to the building, high ceilings, doors, hall, stairs and landing big enough to accommodate the moving of furniture.
Don't like the heating bills that come with such a house.

[barry1010]

You have a better choice of light fitting in a room with a high ceiling - difficult to have an ornate chandlier in a room that is 6'6 high.

[jackthehat]

All of the houses I have lived in have had 'normal' height ceilings; ones that my tall Dad can decorate whilst still standing firmly on the floor.
We have just had substantial works carried out in Hat Towers and our very tall plasterer (6'10") had to stand on a platform to work on these ceilings.

I love the feeling of open space that the high ceilings give and we have been able to have some lovely hanging ceiling lights which would have been a hazard in a Barratt home.
I think I would find living in a house with 'normal' height ceiling a little oppressive at first.

[pastafreak]

I love high ceilings. As others have said, they give a lighter, more airy feeling and make a room appear larger. Like Barry, I feel Georgian, and also Victorian houses have beautiful proportions...rarely seen in modern houses.

[The Builder]

Georgians and Victorians particularly were very conscious of "social status." They considered the higher the ceiling, the higher your social standing.
Awful things to work on. You actually need scaffolding to plaster them.

Having said that, in my own house I have a double height entrance hall that makes it feel like you're walking into a church. The house is "upside-down" though, so it gives a great feeling of space upstairs in the living area.
Building Regs used to state a minimum height for ceilings, but that was abandoned years ago.
Most modern houses now have a 2.4 metre ceiling height......... the length of a sheet of plasterboard.

[youngmafbog]

//Awful things to work on. You actually need scaffolding to plaster them.
//

Depends, I have 9'6" ceilings downstairs and 9' up so pretty high. I have plastered all the ceilings from ladders and/or milk crate. Also done the same with my son in law for other peoples houses.

I like them, gives the house a very airy feel, everything in the house is oversized, my stairs are over a meter wide and the internal doors a re 34". Architraves are made from 4x2. It seems expensive to heat although that may just be because it has 6 bedrooms and 3 large reception rooms.

[Peter Pedant]

gasoliers is the answer

100 ABers whine: gasso-whatters? wot day den ?

the light fitting in 1820s were gas and the high ceilings dissipated the heat. the ceiling roses had vents in them and box pipes ducted the burnt gases to the outside

I quite like them

[Peter Pedant]

a lot of you sound as if you have georgian houses with varying degrees of insight

drawing rooms - or withdrawing rooms were on the first floor as the views were better

[The Builder]

You did well to plaster them, Youngmaf. Yes, it is certainly possible off stepladders.
It depends who's doing it. Most plastering gangs insist on a deck all over the floor, so that they can run around and get it all done much quicker.
On lower ceilings, I've kicked a crate around the room many times. ;o)

I always try to make staircases 1 metre wide too. Standard width always looks "mean" to me. You may be interested to know that modern Building Regs now require downstairs rooms to have 2'9" wide doors for wheelchair access ( approx 840mm)

[The Builder]

Peter Pedant... that is interesting about gasoliers.
I remember working upstairs in the "grander" Victorian houses, and coming across lead gas pipework to the downstairs ceiling lights.

I've never come across extraction ducts though. It's a shame. I'd like to have seen that.

[Apc2604]

I must be the only one on here who really isn't impressed by high ceilings. Our cottage has low ceilings, but not so low as to be restricting, and they fit the building well. The house heats quickly and retains the heat as the walls are thick and there is plenty of light from windows. When watching homes under the hammer, the impression I get is that houses should have high ceilings, an island in the Kitchen and those horrid brick type white tiles that look like they have come out of public loos or prison hospitals. Fortunetely grey everything is on its way out!! Just musing ;o)

[ladybirder]

I've bought two Victorian flats in my time that had high ceilings and massive windows with wooden shutters in both of them. I definitely don't like the low ceiling I have in my modern flat at the moment, awful. OK in an old cottage and that's all.

[Old_Geezer]

I like them although never lived in a place that had them. They look good. But if worried about heating one can always add a false ceiling. New builds tend to be pokey, authorities seem to want to cram more people into less space. At some point we'll all be expected to lie in coffin sized boxes until it's time to go back in to work. Yay for space !

[emmie]

if i had money enough to buy a house it would be Georgian with high ceilings, beautiful windows and all the splendour i could muster in decorating it. I live in a flat, always have, though admittedly the ceilings not small. Just that it would make a change to live somewhere with high ceilings.