Lowering ceiling

hendersonb

Hi

Not sure this is the correct thread but here goes. Were looking in to the possibility of having our ceilings lowered to improve the heat, currently the ceilings are 12ft high (Converted old victorian property). The current ceiling is already a false ceiling created with metal stud work and platerboard, ideally in the living room we'd bring it down to 9ft and to normal room heights in the bedrooms. I feel that any less than 9ft high in the livingroom would really waste the room - they aren't huge rooms in length and width but the high ceilings does make them feel bigger.

We are wondering if this will make much differenc3e in heating the room.

We currently have a Wet Electric heating system which costs the earth to run, there is no possibility of gas, listed building i.e. so having pipes going in via the external walls etc is out of the question.

System

seems a bit funny to take away the main feature of the property, most people live in older places to get the high ceilings!!
I have a tenement flat in glasgow and spent about three weeks taking down false ceilings and restoring the full height room! to worst thing was that the window head was actually above the ceilings, looked great...
what listing is the building? seems a bit strage to not allow a gas connection, i would try to look at options of better heating/better glazing/insulation rather than changing the characteristics of the property

hendersonb

Its a grade 3 listed building, we're not allowed to change any external features at least not without a fight with historic scotland which could take ages.

The windows we have are huge - there is a lot of glazing - Secondary glazing (its Sash windows) which again were refused permission to fit double glazing.

The high ceilings are lovely its just that we cannot be paying £300 per month for heating, its incredibly expensive and it is never at a stage where you can say - turn the heating off its roasting in here - it just never gets that warm.

System

have you had your friendly local conservation officer out to look at it? can be a total hassle to get anything done, but if you get them out onto site they can sometimes be helpful, you should be able to get double glazing put in as long as it's timber sash and case, which will no doubt be expensive compared to upvc, but take into account how much you would spend putting false ceilings all over the place it might be worth it...
the only other thing i would look at is drafts, preventing them can be as good as double glazing!

Mojisola

Is there any reason why you have to stay in this house? Wouldn't you be happier in a double-glazed, well-insulated modern house?

Anything you try to do to this house will either be very expensive or will spoil the period features which will make it difficult to sell.