Ceiling Height

Constanople

In my new build i aimed for a ceiling height of 8 foot 3 inches in the ground floor, i went down the route of suspended ceiling as i had hollowcore. However due to using this method i will be left with a ceiling height of 8 foot 2 inches. I realise this cannot be changed but is this an acceptable height and am i freeting over something i shouldnt be.

starman100

Nah, what's in an inch? 8' or 2.4m is standard. Mind you, if you do have a suspended ceiling. then there shouldn't be any reason why you couldn't have had 8'3" exactly if required. Some folks prefer having a higher ceiling downstairs e.g. 9', with the hollowcore there should be a decent space above the suspended ceiling. My brother's new build has over a foot.

Lex Luthor

will it cost more to plasterboard the walls if they are greater than the avg 8'? Just thinking because I'm sure these sheets are pre-made in mass quantities for the 8' ceiling height. Anything above that might be special order???

Do-more

Constanople wrote:

am i freeting over something i shouldnt be.

Yes, you'll be fine. We ended up counter-battening the ceilings to help with the pipe runs, so are ceiling heights are 7ft 11ins. and they are fine IMO. Besides high ceilings are less fuel efficent!

iplogger1

Do-more wrote:

Yes, you'll be fine. We ended up counter-battening the ceilings to help with the pipe runs, so are ceiling heights are 7ft 11ins. and they are fine IMO. Besides high ceilings are less fuel efficent!

Interesting point you raised there DoMore about the heat efficiencies
and higher ceilings.

Do you know whether this applies to the same extent when heating
using UFH as opposed to wall rads ? I seem to recall one of the
ufh savvy plumbers telling me that with wall rads you get more
convective heat transfer and loss. If I recall I was asking him about
the idea of putting a thinner layer of high density floor insulation
above screed upstairs compared to downstairs. Someone had told
me that the rationale behind putting less upstairs was because
heat rises and by using say 25mm of xtratherm or similar upstairs
as opposed to say 50mm or so downstairs that you benefit by
allowing more of the heat convected upwards to transfer to the
second floor.

My savvy plumber told me that this was a bogus argument as far
as ufh was concerned since ufh systems tend to produce less
upward convective flows than wall rads. If this is the case then
I'm guessing that taller ceilings won't impact as much on heat
loss or a perception of a room being cooler if you have UFH.

Mellor

will it cost more to plasterboard the walls if they are greater than the avg 8'? Just thinking because I'm sure these sheets are pre-made in mass quantities for the 8' ceiling height. Anything above that might be special order???

You are right about the sheets coming in sizes of 2400. But this is downstairs and the walls don't need plaster board unless its timber frame. And I doubt its timber frame if he is using a hollowcore slab.
So it shouldn't cost more to plaster. Or very slight increase if the plasterer wishes.

noby

Re the plaster board (if it is an issue): leave the 2" gap at the end, and it will be hidden by the skirting.