Why 8' walls?

[Jared Drake]

What's the purpose of 8' walls, other than that's the standard length for studs? Is it because of the headers at doors and windows? Nobody I know is 8' tall, so why can't walls be 7' to allow an extra 6" above for a little more room in a loft area?

[PEG688]

  There is a min. height for ceilings in living space of around that seven foot #. I'm not sure off hand what the exact # is.
  So for code you'll need to check what that # is. But your right it cuz most stuff is four feet wide , sheet rock , plywood , etc.  Insulation can be gotten the right lenght etc.

  If you want to lower the ceiling , go for it . Just check how low you can go to meet code . And invite short people to visit  

  Our ceiling in the converted  garage , now master bed room is 7' 5" , and I'm 6'2".  It works for us I'm glad it's not any lower but sure it could work for you as well.
   Good luck, PEG  

[John Raabe]

Most building codes require 7'-6" min in habitable rooms - IE: rooms counted as living area.

Small rooms and tiny houses often feel better with lower ceilings. But don't build new spaces lower than 7'-6". At around 7' rooms start to close in on you and you feel like you're in Wonderland.

I think 7'-9" works very well for 2nd floor bedrooms and study type rooms.

Typical door and window headers are at 6'-8" or 6'-10" above the floor. Usually you try to keep these the same in a room so that trim can be integrated if desired.

[bil2054]

John, I think you hit a real good reason for ceiling height.  If you have to have a 4x10 header over a window, plus casement, trim, etc., the top light of the window is starting to get pretty low under a seven foot cieling.
That said, I've seen plenty of 17th and 18th century houses around here with some mighty low ceilings, but they didn't have headers or to work around pesky codes, either.

[peg_688]

  There are ways to get the same strenght using Paralams , veralams , gluelams to reduce header height / thickness.  Smaller windows , etc , no big opening.

  So it can be done , why someone would want to  , as they cost more , so we only use them when push comes to shove , but it can be done

[Amanda_931]

Somehow I doubt that 4x8 ft modules came into effect until after the 8 ft ceiling height did.

It probably works better in the north than the deep south!

It's a Yankee conspiracy?

[saxfordalaska]

It's all about fast installation and op timal use of plywood and sheetrock. 8' walls make for easily installed horizontal sheet rock.  Once you've had to make a bunch of 1/2" ripcuts along 8' rock, you'll appreciate having 8 foot walls.