Victorian Houses

[Dave Plowman (News)]

My rear addition with 'modern' height ceilings has sash windows too. ;-)

[sm_jamieson]

Such properties often have many different levels and little runs of stairs as other rooms are build over the varying height lower rooms.

I know folks in liverpool, lots of high ceilinged large terraced houses the re. However I was always struck with the "tunnel", where the stairs double back over the hallway / entrance to the kitchen, and the 10 foot ceiling dr ops down to about 7 feet. Its hard not to dip your head.

I think its a real shame modern house ceilings are de facto standard 8 foot , or the slightly lower 2.4m. A standard of 9 feet would have made such a d ifference to the feeling of space. Our kitchen extension has more height, a nd it feels really nice.

I think due to roof line considerations in planning, building near to 8 foo t ceiling houses perpetuates. I'd consider building into the roof or diggin g down if I was building such a house.

From the photos I've seen, a lot of the footballers house type Mc-Mansions have large rooms with only 8 feet ceilings, which leads to horrible proport ions, like standing in a multi-storey car park.

Simon.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Lots round here have been doing basement (cellar) conversions. A neighbour's one was made with as high ceilings as the main house. And it really does feel more 'airy' than a minimum height one, that another neighbour has. I'm not sure how much extra it cost, though.

[Clive George]

I lived in a reasonably large modern house for a bit (company rented a house for several of us), and yes, it suffered in that way. The main living room, which was quite large, felt cramped for that reason. The smaller second living room was a lot more comfortable.

If I was having a house built, large rooms would also be taller.

[sm_jamieson]

foot, or the slightly lower 2.4m. A standard of 9 feet would have made such a difference to the feeling of space. Our kitchen extension has more heigh t, and it feels really nice.

foot ceiling houses perpetuates. I'd consider building into the roof or di gging down if I was building such a house.

ions have large rooms with only 8 feet ceilings, which leads to horrible pr oportions, like standing in a multi-storey car park.

I would have thought there would be a market for new house builders to do s ome "high ceiling" (well it would be 9ft) houses, and make a big marketing thing about it. Cost of an extra 2 ft on the house over 2 floors would be l ess than the extra they could charge ? Simon.

[whisky-dave]

I found this.

not saying it's true but it makes a bit of sense.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Depends. Planning tend to restrict the height of buildings - perhaps to match in with surrounding ones.

[harry]

Yes, that makes a lot of sense. These high rooms also had high windows. And often bay windows.

[sm_jamieson]

This article is about the USA. The same applies in UK I think, but the ceiling heights of typical houses are not quite as extreme as mentioned in the article.

Talking about low ceilings, I hate those 8 ft ceiling bungalows - the huge roof just looks all wrong squashed down there over the front door !

Simon.

[sm_jamieson]

I think it would be possible on new estates. The new design style includes houses of various sizes and heights to create a "village" feel.

Those "eco" houses that Kevin McCloud built a few years ago had high-ish ceilings to increase the sense of space. They also had various problems with the eco features, but that is another matter !

Simon.

[whisky-dave]

OPn looking back yes, but what do the americans see as middle-class homes ?

Well I'm not so sure, there's certainly quite a range here in London.

And as for those tudor houses.......