Dealing with Low Ceilings
We occupy two floors in a brick rowhouse. The parlor floor and english basement floor. The english basement level has really low ceilings (just barely 7′). Since every inch matters at this point, we were considering having exposed beams (similar to this photo). I know most people are against that type of thing but we…
We occupy two floors in a brick rowhouse. The parlor floor and english basement floor.
The english basement level has really low ceilings (just barely 7′). Since every inch matters at this point, we were considering having exposed beams (similar to this photo).
I know most people are against that type of thing but we were wondering what our other options were. I guess we could just deal with it and limit our guests to people under 6′.
The kitchen in this photo looks fantastic, even the meeting of the two floors. Hopefully your beams will look similar and not be full of holes, pipes, electrical cable, etc.
It’s a federalish style of rowhouse.
We don’t have too much of a budget to work with.
We have about 2ft-3ft crawlspace below and then a dirt flooring. We asked got some quotes about trying to lower the joists and floor but they were way out of our price range.
We were thinking that we’d be able to gain an inch by exposing the beams and we were hoping that by leaving most of the space between the beams it would appear as though the ceilings were higher.
The floor above is the parlor floor and is occupied by us so noise is not really a factor. There is no plumbing nor wiring in the floors/ceiling. We’re actually using our wide plank sub-flooring as the floor above and the planks look beautiful.
Currently, we have a white painted tin ceiling in the basement we were even thinking about using it in between the beams instead of sheet rock… We’re not sure and will probably have to see what it looks like.
Fawn — Is that a lacquered ceiling in the photo you posted? It’s hard to tell… That’s a good idea since the reflection may give the appearance that the ceiling is higher.
I keep hearing that for low ceilings you should use dark stained shiny flooring (to reflect light).
I like the way this looks with the spaces between the joists filled. As others have mentioned, looks lighter, hides wires and pipes, catches dust and dirt that would otherwise be falling. It looks much more appropriate in a ground-floor kitchen than on the parlor floor.
with exposed beams you will get much more sound from upstairs. covering beams with sheetrock adds 1/2″ – nothing to cry about. If you really want to get extra foot of the space you will need to dig down the basement. If you dig bellow the foundation, you will need underpinning or your house will collapse.
I think this kind of partially-exposed joist treatment in a basement kitchen is very nice. It works with the look of an old house and is in keeping with the less-formal nature of the room. This is a much more successful result than other open-joist designs we have seen lately. The painted plaster panels between the beams can give the illusion of a higher ceiling.
However the truth is that the basement of old houses have low ceilings, that is the historic character of the space. Altering it and trying to transform it into a more generic space is usually a mistake. Why make something so special less so?
I really like the look of beams but if you want a more finished and less rustic look, you could do some variation on the link below.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aliciafawn/4341794994/
I did this in my garden level(because of low ceilings) – and made quite a difference. And I’m 6′ tall.
But also, as in this picture, filled in with sheetrock between the beams.
Another option that I have seen is to replace the ceiling joists with steel or laminated beams – something with the same strength, but not as wide. Of course that’s no small task either.
A lot of it depends on the type of house. On the parlour level of an 1880’s high Victorian (like the House of the Day from 5/24) exposed beams can look incongruous. In the pic you posted (earlier, Federal-ish, basement level) the exposed beams actually look quite nice.