Double height ceilings in new subdivisions- overrated? Hard to cool? (Dallas: how much, custom home)

[Alkonost]

Just curious about something: I've been checking out some floorplans in subdivisions in Southlake/Flower Mound and noticed just about every house has an option for a double-height/cathedral ceiling in the family room, living room or foyer.

Is this feature is expected for homes priced $400k+, or do buyers have other priorities? We're thinking about having a custom home built without one (we don't like them); but with resale in mind we'd consider one if buyers truly have a hard-on for it.

Between potential problems changing light bulbs, AC/heating/Air circulation/electric bills, changing window drapes 30ft in the air, cleaning cobwebs without falling to my death I'm curious why anyone would want one in the first place. Considering how long and hot the Texas summers are, wouldn't a space that big lead to problems with cooling? I suspect it might not be practical for the region but I'm curious about popular it is.

So those of you with double height ceilings in your home- how do you like it? How do you get around the maintenance problems, and how much of a bite of your utility bills does it take to heat/cool those rooms? Is it worth it? If given a choice to either buy a new home or remodel, would you keep the high ceilings or opt for another room overhead?

[skids929]

Cubic Volume is all you need to consider. The simple answer is yes, harder to cool.

[Johnhw2]

I do find the high ceilings a nice feature that distinguishes newer homes and potentially impacts values positively. It is harder to cool but ceiling fans help neutralize that impact some. Its a matter or personal taste and will increase heating as well as cooling some. So pick what you like

[ChristieP]

My parents' formere home had this, and yes, it was much harder to heat/cool. Ceiling fans only made a little difference.

[EDS_]

Until not quite two years ago we lived in Plano in a not quite 4K ft^2, two story home featuring very high ceilings - 20 ft in a two places. Changing bulbs was an issue but doable with a pole and sucker attachment. The home was built in 1999 for someone else with abysmally bad AC equipment. In 2007 I replaced both AC systems inside and out except ducting with fairly high end gear. Our average summer power bills over four years were $711.

Our new home in Dallas was built in 1966/7 it's around 4.5K ft^2 but one story with a lot of 9 and 10 ft ceilings. The AC systems were replaced in 2006 with Ok but not great gear. With a small number of months to sample but including the scorcher last summer our summer average bills are $372.

[elan]

I read an article last month that said folks were trending away from double heights. I'd link it, but can't remember where I read it. Anyway, I think as long as your house is scaled correctly, the height won't matter that much. While double height is too much for me, I do like a few more feet than the standard nine. That way you can do a little something over the doorways, etc.

[hsw]

Fashions change over the yrs

Most buyers have zero idea of what they want in a house and what they seek to prioritize vs a finite budget

Most builders/designers come up w/silly ideas seen at some homebuilders' show...and these clowns don't pay the bills nor necessarily live in own poorly-designed, "cool" designs (always fun to see how many allegedly high-end builders/archs/realtors personally reside in dumpy ole houses in crap locales)....nor have skin in game to sell their crappy ole designs/builds yrs down the line when every idiot has realized the designs were moronic, inefficient and are no longer cool

RE is kinda simple....can't ever fix bad locale or bad land or bad neighbors

Architecture and design are often common (perhaps uncommon in world of RE "insiders") sense engineering in terms of build quality, insulation, glass, HVAC systems, ergonomics, etc etc....certainly may cost a bit more upfront in any thoughtful bespoke build....but ultimately awfully cheap in daily enjoyment and opportunity costs saved from not dealing with a poorly engineered/built house.....and anyone shrewd views RE as a consumable necessity much like a car....the "investment" or "resale value" argument is a sucker game much like a luxury new car or any other obsoleting, decaying daily "necessity" w/a touch of luxury embedded....structure of any house should depreciate over time not unlike any car or iPhone....only lasting value, if at all, is that of land....as long as region's most prosperous offices, schools, etc remain convenient and locale remains desirable...if region's economy shifts, even value of land is unstable

[carroll4628]

Coming from the north, we never gave a second thought to cathedral ceilings when moving to Texas. The wall of glass in the family/great room was a no-go for me. It's great up north to have the sun shine in, but when it's 90 or even 80 it can really warm up a room. Now I suppose if someone is looking at $800k + homes they probably have the $800+ a month in the summer to spend on the A/C (or maybe not). Our house is a 1 1/2 story and we have 14 ft ceilings in the family room and 12ft in the kitchen and other main floor areas. Also, those 2 story family rooms look nice when you have a great view - and it might be worth the cost. But if you're looking at your neighbors house and/or having to keep the blinds shut all the time for privacy sake, what's the point?

With resale in mind, I would consider the price point of the house. I'm not a realtor (and have a skewed sense of property values), but I would think folks in the $400-$600k range would be a little more conscience of energy bills (remember it also takes more to heat the cathedral ceiling room in the winter when it's 45 degrees outside). People over $600k don't care. (Or maybe it's the other way around as folks in the $600k+ are more educated and therefore more energy conscience ??? I really don't know.)

[TheOverdog]

I don't really have any opinion on double height ceilings, but all the ceilings in my house are standard 8', and it feels really closed in. That is too low for a living room ceiling. I raise my arms and hit the ceiling fan.

Architecture best practices suggests different rooms used for different purposes need different ceiling heights and I'd agree. I would not buy another house with a living room ceiling below 10'.

[MckinneyOwnr]

I've found that the people who say that a double height ceiling is harder to cool have experienced that with an older home, not a newer one. We have a double height entry, foyer, and formal living room. Our house was built at the end of 2005, which coincidentally was the year new construction codes regarding cooling systems were implemented. We have two A/C units. We set the downstairs to 77 and upstairs to 78. Both units run almost the exact same amount of time, all day. If there was a problem cooling, the upstairs unit would be running far more often (since heat rises.)

If your home is well insulated, has radiant barrier, and all the newer improvements to efficiency, you won't see a difference in heating/cooling costs. I've said this many times on this forum, my parents have a 3200sq/ft one story home built in 1985. Their bills are basically double what mine are in a 3600sq/ft home, and they have no double height areas. I haven't had a bill over $300 yet (I think my max last year was about $270-280.)