£1,000 for an extra 100mm ceiling height?

[Nosleepforthismum]

DH is a builder and currently working on our home which is a full house renovation. All walls are out and the original plan was to pull the floorboards up, insulate underneath and relay the new floor on top, however DH now thinks laying insulation and new floor on top will be quicker and cheaper to do (which it is).

My issue is that I’ll be losing around 100mm in head height taking my ceiling height from 2.7 to 2.6. DH reckons it’ll be around a £1k saving over 110sqm and thinks I’m being silly worrying about the ceiling height. So I need a sense check please! What would you do?

I'd keep the height, it makes a surprising amount of difference. How much is the overall renovation costing you? £1k is not much in the grand scheme of a project like that - and now is the time to spend the money; you won't be able to go back and redo it if you hate it.

2.6m is a high ceiling height. Ours (1960s) is 2.35m which is higher than a new build apparently.
The extra effort involved in removing the floor to insulate underneath will cost waaaaay more than £1k for 110sqm.

I'd go with your OH, 2.6 is a high ceiling height anyway

2.6m is a nice height, it’s not low, save the money

This would make all the door openings internal / external 4 inches shorter ? So you would have to cut that off all the doors or move all the lintels up ? Also the bottom step on the stairs would be shorter. Not a problem if you live in a bungalow.

£1k is nothing but sounds like it only accounts for materials.

What's the time saving? Is it significant? At minimum wage, or at skilled carpenter wage, what does that tot up to?

Also, will this not also be warmer?

Google has told me that equals 8’6”. So unless all of your friends and family are professionals American Basketball players, go for it.
We are coming to the end of a full refurb, it is now so, so expensive, take the savings where you can!
Good Luck!

Her husband is doing the work.

Our ceiling (newbuild) is 2.6m and feels very roomy.
Previous house (1970's) was significantly lower and M&D house (1950's) lower still. In both those houses my OH could reach up and touch the ceiling (handy for changing smoke det batts) but not a chance in this one.😆
Only time I have had anything higher than 2.6m was my first house (1930's) and I disliked that as it felt too tall and a waste of space.🙁

@Diyextension as may be, but the time saving is still worth the calculation to understand the potential value of the saving. He could be a basic DIY enthusiast or a highly skilled trade. Either way his time is valuable and the length of the refurbishment is relevant to all overhead costs.

If it's £1k in materials but 4 weeks cut from the project that's a different ballgame from £1k and 8hrs saved.

I'd save the £1k if you are on a tight budget
2.6m is higher than a lot of houses anyway, most new builds are 2.4 or lower

However, if your total budget is much higher (£50-£100k) I'd keep the extra as it's a drop in the ocean

It’s around an extra 2 days work so the £1k is labour costs as material costs will largely be the same. Thank you though, this has put it into perspective for me. It’s hard to not get hung up on the details when doing a renovation! Still not sure what to do and DH currently laughing at me for posting this and saying he’ll take up the floors if I desperately need a 2.7m high kitchen.

Budget is £85k to get it watertight, one working bathroom and hopefully the kitchen but we’re putting an extra floor in upstairs, new windows, new doors, new dormer/roof so we are really going to be pushing it. The money almost isn’t as important as days needed to do it as we’ve moved into temporary accommodation that cannot be extended.

When we did our loft conversion, the ceilings on the middle floor were lowered from 2.6 to 2.4 to give us more head height in the loft room. Its been 2 years since the work was done and although it seemed a bit strange at first, once we got settled back in, decorated, furniture etc, i honestly don't notice it at all now.

however DH now thinks laying insulation and new floor on top will be quicker and cheaper to do - my first thought he was just being lazy and cutting corners like bodge-a-job, but you know him better.

The real question i suppose is how long you plan to live there, and whether taller people feel "cramped". I've been in some houses where its felt oppressive due to ceiling height being slightly lower, even if you could walk fine without bumping your head.