High ceilings in old houses

[Thierry Van Roy]

In my market, there is a lot of inventory of historical manors from the 17th century and up (example). These ask for a lot of renovations in order to increase their lifespan, but it is manageable...

Except for one thing that has left me mesmerized: ceilings. I don't know if it was simply the fashion or whether our ancestors were 10ft tall, but it eats away the heating.

Despite my best efforts, I haven't been able to find a solution to this. Experts told me all they could do is apply like a dozen different insulation methods like special wooden floor heating. But then the owner would have to take a 90% haircut in order for me to meet my numbers.

Does anyone here know what to do with this wasted volume? Any innovation or trick I'm missing? Something has to give because, save for heating suddenly becoming dirt cheap, there isn't much that can make these buildings profitable.

[Bill S.]

It is my understanding that high ceilings were designed that way for the heat in the summer. If you look at the picture that you linked, all the windows and doors have windows above them. Those upper windows could be opened to allow air circulation in the heat of the summer. For the cold they just put on more cloths. Without AC there is nothing you can do to escape the heat so they designed and built the best fix into the homes.

Now we solve the problem with proper HVAC design. The HVAC is designed to move the hot air up high and mix it with the cool air down low no mater what the season. While you are heating and cooling more space if the system is designed properly, the building envelope sealed, and the building properly insulated then the high ceilings are not that much more expensive to heat or cool than the conventional space with 8 ft ceilings.

Old heating systems are designed to fill the room with hot air. As you know hot air rises so in order to make the area occupied by people "warm", the ceiling ends up being hot. The room is filled with layers of heat from cold on the floor to hot on the ceiling. There are some products designed to mix the air in a room without creating the drafts that you experience from ceiling fans. You can retrofit the space with these to improve the situation. Hope that helps.