calculating "scale" on house dimensions to alter ceiling height

[cbc58]

i grew up in an antique house in new england built in 1773 and have recently thought of recreating it because it was really neat to live in and had a great floorplan.  the problem is that the ceilings were low... 7.5'  on the first floor and 7' on the second floor.  the house had 7 fireplaces and they needed to conserve heat and keeping the ceilings low helped.

i have found the exterior dimensions of the house and want to raise the ceilings of the house to 8.5' on the first floor, and 8' on the second.   to keep the house in scale and not just make it taller and look funny, how do you calculate how much you have to alter the width and depth?   

the main section of the house is 28 wide x 24 deep and the addition is 20 wide x 22 deep.

[ScottA]

Add 14.285% to every measurment. The upstairs will be 8' but the downstairs will be like 8.57'. Doesn't quite work out like you wanted but it's close. I'd add in a fudge factor so you can round your measurments off to standard lengths.

[cbc58]

Tks.  Can I ask how you arrived at that formula? 

[ScottA]

You'll need a math forum for that.

j/k

8 - 7 = 1
7 / 1 = 7
100 / 7 = 14.285714

just to check the math

7 x 1.14285714= 7.99999

Close enough for government work.

An 8' cieling is 14.285714 % higher than a 7' cieling.

I just rounded it down to 14.285%. I hope that helps. I'm a plumber not a math teacher. Sorry.

[John Raabe]

Here's another way using ratios.

Desired @ 8.5' / Real @ 7.5' = 1.133 Use that ratio as your multiplier and you can resize any dimension.