Such Great Heights!

Such Great Heights

One of the biggest concerns for our clients when they are selecting a floor plan or deciding to build a custom home with Carbon Custom Homes is ceiling height.

So many of us grew up in a home with 8 foot ceilings, but what is today’s standard?  

According to a survey by the National Association of Homebuilders, nearly 92% of consumers want nine-foot or higher ceilings on the first floor and almost 40% want similar ceiling heights on the second floor.

Sometime between 1995 and 2004, nine-foot ceilings replaced eight-foot ceilings as 

the most common ceiling height in single family homes. 

In today’s world, an eight foot ceiling gives the sense that each room is much tighter & cramped with less light. For tall folks like me (6’4”), the 9 foot ceiling just "feels" a lot better, less claustrophobic.  Unlike the houses with 8 foot ceiling, the extra foot is more scaled to for today’s full-size human. 

Open up that floor plan!

Carbon Custom Homes recommends the 9 foot ceilings for the main floor and we have built homes with cathedral ceilings at 18 foot high. Not only does it make the house appear larger but it also gives you the ability to install can lights or install solid core 8 foot doors which is a bigger bang for the buck. Just be prepared for higher heating and cooling cost if you decide to build a home with ceilings that are 10 feet or above.   

A nine foot ceiling is a good investment for you as a homeowner wanting the space to feel open yet cozy, for increasing light through the windows, deeper porches and customized ceilings.  

This will give the house a much larger scale and raising the ceiling height from eight to nine feet creates an additional 12% more space per room, allowing the builder to customize ceilings. They can drop a ceiling; install a tray ceiling or coffered ceiling for a specific room.

Plus, the higher ceilings allow a much better view and better sun light into a room, introducing more natural light, saving on energy that was used for artificial lighting. Even tall windows can't compensate. 

Aside from the positive psychological factors, the 9 foot ceilings sell faster and for more money giving you a better return in your investment and the incremental cost to heat or cool this space is not significant.

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