High ceilings - what am I missing?

HildaM

I keep seeing posts from people mentioning high ceilings - or the lack of them in newer houses, which apparently they find off-putting.

Whenever I watch Homes Under the Hammer, Whatsherface is always going on and on about "lovely high ceilings" or hoping that she will discover some high ceilings.

What is the appeal? It's probably obvious,but it escapes me what is particularly enticing about the height of the ceiling.

TrickyDicky101

Makes the room appear much bigger and spacious for one. Never really bothered me though.

Own_My_Own

Your missing a large gas bill. They are a nightmare to keep warm.

dimbo61

High ceilings usually come with old houses and can look great
Outside toilet, coal shed, cold and expensive to heat also come to mind!
Old electrics, solid brick walls with no cavity, poor/no foundations.
No paarking or garage, expensive to repair and maintain.
Much better than the modern shoe box we live in :-)

googler

OP, what height are you?

lessonlearned

Depends on how tall you are. I come from a "tall" family and low beamed ceilings are a health hazard!!!.

High ceilings do mean larger heating bills though. However I do think they add a certain elegance to a room. So I guess it's just horses for courses.

For me the worst for heating bills are open staircases leading from the lounge. Bought a house with one once - never again...Not so bad in the summer but in the winter the lounge always seemed cold and draughty.

Lord_Baltimore

HildaM wrote: »

Whenever I watch Homes Under the Hammer, Whatsherface is always going on and on about "lovely high ceilings" or hoping that she will discover some high ceilings.

Aww, Lucy Alexander is only little so I imagine all ceilings look high to her. I do fancy her though...

But it's pretty much as dimbo61 explained if you bung in a bit of damp, dry rot and woodworm too for good measure.

A high ceiling may feel 'spacious' but you have to heat that space which will be way above your head and only gets warm when you're about to go to bed, you soon appreciate a more cosy space.

benjus

You don't need high ceilings just because you're tall...

Anywhere with "normal" height ceilings will not be a problem for anyone - although somewhere with unusually low ceilings could be a problem.

For large rooms, having high ceilings gives more pleasing proportions and increases the feel of spaciousness. For small rooms, high ceilings can be useful to increase storage space.

HildaM

googler wrote: »

OP, what height are you?

Actually I'm a shorty at just 5'4" but my husband and son are both over 6 ft, so I wouldn't want to live in a low beamed cottage, no matter how pretty.

benjus wrote: »

...... For small rooms, high ceilings can be useful to increase storage space.

In our last place we did discover our ceilings were just too low to have the extra tall Ikea wardrobes (236cm) and we had to have the 2metre tall ones instead. That was a nuisance but I don't think I would have appreciated anything much over 2.4metres. As others said, it takes a lot of heating.

Errata

Old Victorian terraced houses often have high celings, unfortunately they don't often have large rooms to balance them.
Lucy's a lovely girl, she often warbles on about clapped out sash windows as well!

GwylimT

They make a room look bigger and they prevent me from hitting my head on light fittings, sadly the door ways tend to be standard size so I still have to duck for those.