Expert: Richard Taylor, AIA - 12/16/2007

Question
Hello..we have purchased a beautiful old home built in 1824.  The ceilings on the first floor are fine at a little over 8 feet, but the ceilings on the second floor are quite low at 80 inches.  We have been thinking about raising them, but are a little concerned about all the work involved as the sellers did have central air installed so there is a lot of duct work that would have to be temporarily moved, plus the A/C unit itself as well as all the electrical would have to be redone.  Our biggest concern if we don't do them is that down the road should we decide to sell the house the low ceilings would be a turn off for most people.  The engineer who inspected the house thought we would be comprising the historical value of the home by raising the ceilings and a few friends have suggested this as well, that the lower ceilings add to the historical character of the home.

We were wondering what your thoughts were?  

Thank you.

Answer
Mike and Linda - thanks for your question!

Always a tough call...the lower ceilings are certainly a part of the historical charm and character, but they're uncomfortably low and don't meet current building codes.

Assuming the work wouldn't have an impact on the exterior, I'd consider doing it - but only after inviting a representative from your local historical society to review the house.

Making changes to historical homes to make them more useful is very common; it's often necessary to maintain their use as a home.  And it IS a home, not a museum, right?

What you need to do is make the changes with great sensitivity to the historical character...this might require the skills of an Architect who knows how to work with historical homes. Check with your local AIA chapter to find one (www.aia.org).

With the proper changes, you might end up with a far more useful, and no less "historic" home.  If money is an issue, then you need to think this through very carefully - if you can't afford to do this correctly, you should leave it to a future owner.  It is difficult and expensive to undo a poor "re-muddling" of a historic home!

For more info, check out www.period-homes.com and www.oldhousejournal.com.

Hope this helps,

Richard Taylor, AIA
www.rtastudio.ocm
www.rtaplans.com