Hall ceiling

rossdzy · Post by **rossdzy** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 10:23 am

Hi all,okay i renovating a house myself,the hall has a high ceiling,with old coving,its all cracked and bits missing etc,what im thinking of doing is lowering the ceiling down 10 inch,would also cover up a supporting joist.
Is this allright or is it a cheats way!?

Post by **ultimatehandyman** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 12:45 pm

Not sure what the general opinion is on this, but I did this with almost every ceiling in a house that I bought, you can see some pics on this page-

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/PLAST ... EILING.htm

Many of the upstaris ceilings were really knackered and replacing the plaster was not an option as the ceilings would of cracked again and so I fitted false ceilings in each room. This was also useful for when I fitted the bathroom extractor fan as it is above the false ceiling.

dirtydeeds · Post by **dirtydeeds** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:20 pm

there is no problem with doing this

there are a few things to consider, the list isnt exhaustive

differing ceiling heights in adjoining rooms feels wrong to most people

if you think at some time you will lower the ceilings in adjoining rooms, the time to check if it might affect the windows in those rooms is now

has the existing ceiling got a loft hatch in it, if so how will you deal with it

big-all · Post by **big-all** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 3:21 pm

also if you have a picture rail it will probably need moving to stop it looking odd

hanging lights may also need changing

at the stairs you need to take account of the greater clearence needed when manoovering furniture up and down the stairs

ellie · Post by **ellie** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 7:44 pm

I concur with dirtydeeds and big-all. But I don’t know if there is a minimum height I know there is for dwelling rooms but don’t know about hall ways I should imagine it is the same and I think that is 2.3 or 2.4 but not sure. Regarding big-all’s comment on the stairs situation have a look at the enclosed drawing, again not sure if I have the dimensions correct. But I am sure dirtydeeds or another member will correct me if I am wrong.

If you can’t lower your ceiling to cover the joist or beam due to the height regulations, then you could all ways lower it to just to meet the regs and make a feature of the joist / beam.

Welsh Decorator · Post by **Welsh Decorator** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:47 pm

The 2 mtr clearance is fine, but 1500 up the stairs! that is low, you would have fun getting stuf and down.

dirtydeeds · Post by **dirtydeeds** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 9:47 pm

ellies vertical dimension is ok for STAIRS but may be difficult to achieve if the building was already built to close tollerances, ie thr stair opening has already been minimised to give the maximum upstairs floor area

in a ROOM a height lower than 2.4m about 8 foot feels cramped

im not sure of the building regs but it is almost certain there is a minimum staircase height and an acceptable minimum ceiling height in rooms

ellie · Post by **ellie** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 10:47 am

Featured arch added to existing drawing

rossdzy · Post by **rossdzy** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 11:49 am

Thanks guys,the lowest area just now is at the stairs,thats where the lintle is,so was going to bring it all down to this height,as for the pictures,well i havnt got that far yet!