Why do Victorian houses have high ceilings?
In many Victorian homes ceiling height averaged around nine feet. High ceilings in a Victorian home were, on some level, a way to display wealth to visitors. In the middle and upper classes, the idea was to provide a feeling of spaciousness to oppose the smaller cottages and lower square footage of more modest houses.
Your home feels more spacious: High ceilings can instantly make your home feel more spacious and luxurious. In fact, the extra height even makes very small rooms feel bigger! Rooms with high ceilings also have the advantage of being able to accommodate beautiful feature lighting, such as a chandelier.
Tall ceilings were introduced in old homes to ventilate hot air without air-conditioning. When you have an HVAC unit in the home, you will need to pay extra to cool the added space of the home. The problems extend to the winter seasons as well, with the hot air rising above into the tall ceilings.
Because it was (sometimes) more efficient. In warmer climates, with no A/C systems, a high ceiling allowed hot air to rise, leaving a (slightly) colder one at the people level. It was specially useful for the last story of the buildings to provide insulation from the heat radiating from the ceilings.
Old buildings were more climatologically sound, cool air rushes thru the windows/doors and hot air rises up and escapes thru the ventilators, keeping the inside cool. ... A taller room allows taller windows, which allow light deeper into the room.
Since warm air rises, it's harder to keep a room with high ceilings warm; in summer, it's not as hard to keep it cool. Unfortunately, though, a room with high ceilings will cost more to keep cool than a normal height room, simply because of the additional volume in the room.
Vaulted ceilings may add as much as 25% in value to a home in some markets, especially those with older or smaller houses. In higher-end houses, however, vaulted ceilings are an expected feature. As a result, they are unlikely to add much additional value to the property.
This style of home is quite popular in the UK. Many of the townhomes, or terraced buildings as they're known there, were built in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was easier to make sure such homes had enough structural integrity, in part, by having smaller-than-expected doors.
Are Victorian houses well built? Put quite simply, if you're wondering whether Victorian houses are well built, then the answer is that they are still standing and are sturdy, well-constructed and well-designed properties.
Victorian houses were pretty solidly built. At least most of them were and a survey will show up any serious problems. After that, they're as much of a money pit as you want/can afford them to be.
Why do Victorian houses get damp?
During the Victorian period (1837-1901), solid walls were still being used which were prone to rain penetration and became damp and cold. Some were rendered externally which over the years becomes defective, allowing it to trap rain which penetrates the property.
The truth is, personal hygiene was not a big issue in poor Victorian houses. In fact, Victorian architecture did not make provision for bathrooms and most Victorian terraced houses in cities such as London didn't even boast a bathroom. For many, the weekly ablutions meant a trip to the public baths.
While Victorian houses typically featured tall ceilings of at least 2.7m, modern 'shoebox' homes often have ceiling heights of around 2.4m or less, which can feel claustraphobic. The good news is that tall ceilings can make even a small room feel bigger.
Older homes had drapes over the windows indoors. People would pull these closed during the day to stop the direct influx of infrared rays into the living space. You can coat windows with nearly invisible films to reduce the absorption of infrared into your home if you don't like drapes.
One reason: Timber typically comes in eight-foot (2.44 meter) lengths, so for houses built with timber-frame construction, eight-foot ceilings make sense. What's more, houses built in the 1970s and 1980s commonly had eight-foot first-floor flat ceilings due to the energy crisis that gripped the country.
Large Windows
Many older and historic homes had large, double-hung windows. Opening the top sash would allow hot air near the ceiling to escape. Opening the bottom sash, especially at night, allowed cool air to flow inside. Rooms had many windows, some as large as doors.
Place doorway fans in the upper corners of doorways to help circulate air throughout the home. With the fan placed to exhaust air from the room with the vaulted ceiling down the home's hallways, this also helps to keep warm air circulating throughout the home in the winter.
How To Ventilate a Cathedral Ceiling Without a Ridge Vent - YouTube
The short answer is no; you should not close air vents in your house. Closing vents can actually waste more energy than operating your system normally. How does closing air vents waste energy? Because when you close vents in unused rooms, your central air system will push the excess air to other places in your home.
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A Vaulted Ceiling: The Pros and Cons
- Energy inefficiency. ...
- Construction costs. ...
- Practicality. ...
- Warmth.
Why do Florida homes have high ceilings?
Looks aside, building homes with these high, vaulted ceilings helped move hot air upward, keeping rooms and gathering areas cooler and less stuffy.
Just as temples in multiple ancient cultures were thought to be the house of the gods and the cult statue an actual embodiment of that god. The ceilings of Catholic churches are also of particular interest to me as I believe they play a significant role in emphasizing the necessity of the church in connecting to God.
