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I was wondering how common are houses with seven foot ceilings and is it an issue for many? I recently looked at a house and it had ceilings that I am pretty sure were seven feet tall, they were definitely lower than eight feet. The house seemed decent otherwise, but has been on the market for quite a while. I think the ceiling height could be the reason. The rooms just seemed closed in and the ceiling fans were very low as a result. I could barely walk around without bumping into the fans.
Is there anything that could be done to make them seem higher and would you avoid a house with low ceilings?
Yes, I would definitely avoid a house with low ceilings because I am tall. I would feel claustrophobic and worry about hitting my head on the light fixtures.
On the other hand, a friend of mine who is unusually short loved renting a home with low ceilings. This was an unusual feature of the home that especially appealed to him for some reason. So while a house with 7 foot ceilings may be harder to sell, I don't think the situation is hopeless at all.
I have no idea what, if anything, would make them seem taller.
There is an entire tract of maybe a 1000 homes around her built in the late 50's and the hallway ceilings are a little over 7' because the space above is used for the HVAC chase.
I personally hate even 8 foot ceilings and specifically avoided most 2 story homes for that reason. I also only looked for homes that had at least vaulted rooms and ended up with a a house on a hill with high (over 15 feet) ceilings in most of the rooms. I am very happy.
So that home you described? Heck no. But if you like the layout and the area. Ask to see the attic with a contractor. Get an estimate on how much it would be to do that job. Can't hurt.
It all depends in the area. In old row homes, you may get low ceiling cause people dropped the height to avoid taking out the old work. Min 8ft is good but for narrow home, you may get away with 7.5'.
I think it depends on the location of the low ceilings. Our home has ceilings that are at least 9 feet high on both the first and second floor. We have 7 foot high ceilings in the basement (its a 1946 build). The low ceilings in the basement were a negative for us when we bought it, purely from the standpoint that we couldn't put any exercise equipment down there, but we loved the rest of the house. Its really never been an issue since we lived there.
We looked at a house during our original househunt that was "renovated" (ie, poorly done) that had beams installed to make an open floor plan that allowed only 6.5 feet of headroom as you walked under the beam. If you were tall, you could hit your head walking from the living room to the kitchen. The basement had HVAC duct work boxed in with drywall that only had 6 feet of clearance. You could also hit your head walking up the stairs to the second floor. We didn't even consider that house even though it was priced to sell. My point is that an occassional low ceiling is not a big deal. An entire house of low ceilings, especially in main living areas, totally is.
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