2.7m or 3m high ceilings??

Hi Everyone,

Just wondering has anyone on SS built a property with 3m high ceilings? I am in the planning stages of designing my PPOR and want something with a bit of wow factor and thought 3m high ceilings might achieve this?

The downside to having such high ceilings is the extra cost involved. For example non standard doors and windows, extra framing, plaster and bricks. Heating and cooling issues? Could easily add an extra $40K to the build.

The Pros - rooms appear larger, value adding?

Should I just stick to 2.7m?
 
Hi Everyone,

Just wondering has anyone on SS built a property with 3m high ceilings? I am in the planning stages of designing my PPOR and want something with a bit of wow factor and thought 3m high ceilings might achieve this?

The downside to having such high ceilings is the extra cost involved. For example non standard doors and windows, extra framing, plaster and bricks. Heating and cooling issues? Could easily add an extra $40K to the build.

The Pros - rooms appear larger, value adding?

Should I just stick to 2.7m?

I don't see it adding 40k, that seems excessive.

personally I think it worth considering, eespecially in the living areas where it will have the greatest impact.
 
Thanks Sanj, you are right $40k seems excessive. Just done a bit of reading and seems like $10k is closer to the mark but that seems cheap to me. Internal doors need to be 2400mm so they all need to be custom made. Same problem with the windows. House is roughly 30 sqs.

Also thought about keeping bedrooms at 2.7m and living, kitchen and lounge
3m but not sure how that will look.
 
I am a carpenter who does framing for a living. Personally if you want to make a statement in a certain area I would do 2.7 ceilings in all bedrooms and bathrooms etc and in the kitchen, living and dining rooms I would do raked ceilings. It would only cost an extra 15-20k to do asked ceilings. You need to also allow if you do 3.0m ceilings in the kitchen area you will have to allow for more over head cupboards otherwise it would look to bare.

That's just my 2 cents worth.
 
As someone who has 10' ceilings on both levels of our place, I would note the following:
  • Why do you need non-standard doors? Unless you are intending to have fanlights over the doors, 2040 mm high should suffice. Note that extra height may be required on your entry door if trying to make a statement. Tall doors which face West may warp.
  • Heating/cooling - yes a larger a/c unit is needed as there is a greater volume of air to cool or heat
  • Consider looking at a whole of house fan or ceiling fans if you aren't having air cond
  • Bathrooms/laundry, hallways are not habitable rooms, the ceilings in these areas can be as low as 2100mm but 2400 mm is more appropriate.
  • Built-in cupboards will need to be 600 mm taller than standard height (consider lower ceilings in dressing rooms)
  • If the kitchen is not open plan, reduce the ceiling to 2400 mm - cupboards can then run up to the ceiling
  • Having tall ceilings allows for bulkheads to be built around rooms (to disguise services) or to add feature lighting etc
  • You can add gallery style picture rails and hang large framed paintings/tapestries/artworks etc - put rails just under the ceiling
  • Extra height is a pain if you are going to have tall windows - curtains need to be specials as they do not make 2700 mm drop curtains
  • Stair case is going to be taller & longer this may impinge into a room downstairs
  • Consider 10' downstairs and 8 1/2' upstairs (it is only bedrooms afterall)
  • 8' vs 10' is 25% extra wall surface - think extra brickwork, plaster, timber, cable runs, plumbing etc.
 
Thanks for the post Scott, really useful key points. With your first key point regarding door heights, wouldn't a standard 2040 door look odd with 3m ceilings? This would mean there will be 900mm of plaster above the door? The architect said to go with 2400mm doors
 
Thanks for the post Scott, really useful key points. With your first key point regarding door heights, wouldn't a standard 2040 door look odd with 3m ceilings? This would mean there will be 900mm of plaster above the door? The architect said to go with 2400mm doors
I'd agree with the larger doors, it will maintain the proportion of the rooms. If you get this out of whack it could end up feeling like you're living in a doll's house.
 
Thanks for the post Scott, really useful key points. With your first key point regarding door heights, wouldn't a standard 2040 door look odd with 3m ceilings? This would mean there will be 900mm of plaster above the door? The architect said to go with 2400mm doors


Depends upon the style of the house - I have paneled solid core doors with picture rails throughout which match to the head of the door/architraves. Colour above the picture rail then matches the ceiling. I have one open doorway with a full height plaster archway framed with corbels in the foyer and the main entry door has sidelights and an operable fanlight.

2040 doors with 3m ceilings was very typical in Californian Bungalows - very few rooms had full height doors, prior to this doors had fanlights & ventilated cornices to allow for town gas to escape when gas lighting was used throughout the house.

If the style suits, you could have a standard door with fanlight over the top (serves for return air with ducted A/C or whole house ventilation). If it is a modern house, 2400 mm doors may suit but would look very commercial.
 
The style will be a modern colonial look. Hence the reason for taller doors. You could probably get away with standard doors with picture rails to break things up but we want to keep the house modern inside.
 
I have 3.35m ceilings (11feet) and the door height is 2010mm (just measured it).

Looks fine to to me. I dont think you need taller doors.... here's a pic.
 

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2340 doors are a standard item, not custom made at all.

check corinthian / hume etc websites - there's nothing custom about it.
 
This post couldn't have been timed better, I'm trying to make the same decision.
I'm currently designing a duplex and ceiling heights on both ground and first floors are at 2.7m. I'm thinking of changing this by making ground floor 3m and either 2.4m for the first floor or raked ceilings.

In my scenario, I don't think it'll cost any more or less as I'm just shifting the 300mm of height from the first floor to the ground floor. The only thing which may increase costs are increasing window and sliding door heights (garage & laundry doors will remain 2040 as they won't really impact the GF) and if I rake the ceilings in the bedrooms on the FF, that'll save me some costs by not building a ceiling. Hallways and toilets will be 2.4 ceilings to allow for ductwork.

Any opinions?
 
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