ABOUT HIGH CEILINGS

It has always been described that old houses have high ceilings. A quick check on old plans, shophouses, 60's terrace houses seldom exceed the floor to floor height of 3100m on 1st storey (ground floor in other countries)

This was because most steps in the past were at a maximum of 167mm and the maximum number of steps you can have in a single stretch was 18 according to the Building Authority code then.

so 167mm x 18 = 3.006mm

So where did 167mm come from ? it came from the dimension roughly 6.5 inches.

Typical 1st storey floor to floor height for 1st storey residential house sold today commercially is usually 3500mm high.

Unless your house is bespoke, the 1st storey can be 4500mmm high. that is 25 steps of 175mm high steps ! This usually happens when home owners pass 3500mm ceiling height as low and not like the old houses.

So how do people come to a conclusion that old house had high ceiling? This is what I think the perception came to be:

a. as a child, our perception of space is half the height as an adult.

b. old houses seldom had false ceiling.

c. today's houses at 3500mm height with false ceiling yield you a ceiling ceiling height of  2800-2900mm while old houses without false ceiling yield you about 2950mm with the concrete beams exposed.

d. other old house could have been single storey with the pitch exposed. This gave a feeling of high ceiling.

Read in other post why high ceiling can be detrimental to have.

Note: The term "storey"is used is singapore to describe floor level. While in most countries, First Floor is the second level, First Storey in Singapore is the first level. Hence:

Ground Floor = First Storey