Why 10 foot high ceilings?

[Fred_47460]

  Hi Gang

I've been contemplating the design of an off grid home in the boonies for my wife and I to retire to....and on the way home from work tonight I started thinking about why they might have used 10 foot high ceilings in the old days. I don't know how many of you folks might have been in some of those old houses....but almost as a rule they have 10 foot ceilings. Does anyone know if there was some reason for that?

Fred

[Don_P]

In hot/humid climates it let more of the heat rise above the sticky and sweating.

[Fred_47460]

In hot/humid climates it let more of the heat rise above the sticky and sweating.

I wondered about that.....I also remember they usually had transoms over the interior doors to allow ventilation. But as a practical thought....wouldn't any gain in comfort during hot weather be offset by the fact that in the winter your heat is 3 feet over your head? That would be amplified by the fact that there was NO insulation in those days, and only marginal heating systems.

[Don_P]

I've always assumed that explained the equal number of low ceilinged houses I've bumped around in over the years. I assume it depended on whether she was hot or cold natured  

[MountainDon]

Perhaps it is climate related as well?   I've noticed that many of the old cabins here in the western mountains have very low ceilings. Cold snowy winters. Of course those low ceilings can also be explained in a log structure at least, by the reduced number of wall logs required. 

[rwanders]

 Now 10' or even taller walls are used to give a room a more spacious feel-----same reason lots of us like cathedral ceilings. Modern HVAC systems can handle taller walls if built properly. Ceiling fans also help a lot, both summer & winter.

[MushCreek]

Because women used to look like this in the old days:

[Tennessee Pride]

MushCreek, I love that picture.  Boy what a lucky guy?

[Fred_47460]

Geez...I think that Gal could do without the 8 inch heals!!

[Jens]

TNPride, is that you with the mill?  You aren't in the Knoxville area, are you? 

Fred, like already said, keep the heat up.  In New England ceilings are low, 7' in the house we lived in (built in 1792).   Another interesting thing to note with old houses, they almost always have ceilings at 8' 3", 9'3", or 10'3".  When everything was done with lathe and plaster instead of sheetrock, there was no need for the precut studs so popular today.

[MushCreek]

Standard ceilings give me fits with my 97" tall grandfather clock (c. 1800).

[MarkAndDebbie]

I have a friend with an antebellum home here (Atlanta). They have 14' ceilings downstairs and 12' upstairs. It did help keep it cool. As for heating - fireplace in every room. They also have a lot of thermal mass - so if you heat it up and close the windows it radiates heat (but it is drafty).