Lots of people think 8 feet is the minimum ceiling height because that’s a common height in most homes, but it’s actually 7 feet according to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI Z765). Technically ANSI says it’s okay to have a ceiling height at 6’4″ under beams though.
Most U.S. homes built in the last few decades have ceilings at least this high, if not higher. The current standard ceiling rooms on the first floors of a typical new home is 9 feet. For rooms on second and higher floors, 8 feet is the standard.
In an effort to stem heating/cooling costs, houses were constructed with less interior space by shortening ceilings. Home insulation and heating/cooling systems have vastly improved since then, and eight-foot ceilings are now considered outmoded.
It is absolutely more desirable to haveif you 9′ ceilings, and will more than pay for itself in value added to the home. Consider choosing more economical finishes like counters and bathroom floors that can be upgraded down the road, ceiling height is forever.
At first, taller ceilings were offered as extras, but soon 9 feet became standard, so much so that drywall manufacturers started producing 4½–foot-wide sheets. Not be outdone, the builders of custom homes went to 10 feet. Something similar happened to office buildings.
How to make 8-foot ceilings look taller
You can install crown moulding. You can install hanging lights. Take advantage of full-length curtains. Anything that can be installed up to the ceiling, should be. Embrace painting your ceilings. Install full-height decorative moulding.
In reality ceiling height is only one part of the package when it comes to buying a home. For instance, 10 ft ceilings sound like an asset, but if they’re found in a home with a terrible layout, they might not command a premium at all. So just because they are there does not make them inherently valuable.
High ceilings can increase a home’s value by five to 25 percent. In fact, raising the height of a ceiling added an average of $4,000 to home values, according to a survey by the National Association of Home Builders. That said, high ceilings remain more common in high-end homes than in low- to mid-range homes.
Sometime between 1995 and 2004, nine feet replaced eight feet as the most common ceiling height for single-story houses and the first floors of multistory houses, according to data gathered by the association.
High ceilings create the perception of spaciousness in ordinary rooms. They also provide more space for decorations and, generally, more natural light and ventilation. However, the extra volume of air in the space can make it more difficult to heat or cool.
Some research from a few years back ties high ceilings to a psychological sense of freedom. And new neuroimaging work shows that a tall room triggers our tendencies toward spatial exploration.
