Double height void/ room thoughts

[Stonehouse]

Hi all

 

Your experience and thoughts of having a double height area/ room. 
 

Where does this work well in a house and where does this not work?

 

what are the caveats to having a double height area?

 

My initial thoughts to get things started 

- Looks good as part of open plan kitchen / family area but potential issues with cooking smells and noise travelling to upper floors

 

-if above is true do you have this as a separate room like dinning room- but with this be under-utilised 

 

- use as double height hallway/ foyer leading to the outside

-best way to light this area- uplights?

 

- how to design where it’s easy to maintain/ keep clean without needing trestle scaffolding!

 

 

[JohnMo]

Don't include one for the sake of it. If it naturally fits do it. Lights make sure you reach from steps otherwise they will never get a bulb replaced. Or you need a scaffold to do it safely.

[Big Jimbo]

Waste of floor space / sense of arrival if an entrance hall. I'm having One.

[Kelvin]

We have two vaulted ceilings. One above the living room which is open plan to the kitchen dining area which normal ceiling heights. The other is in a room upstairs where we are leaving the roof open to the ridge beam so not quite double height. 
 

The light bulb changing is definitely something to think about. We are currently determining the fall heights for our cascade effect lights in the living area and trying to take this into account. I happen to have a tower anyway but that’s a whole pia to build to change a lightbulb 

[joe90]

My new garage has a vaulted ceiling 🤣🤣🤣🤣 in all seriousness tho I like them as a stairwell 

 

 

 

 

[Adsibob]

1 hour ago, JohnMo said:

Don't include one for the sake of it. If it naturally fits do it. Lights make sure you reach from steps otherwise they will never get a bulb replaced. Or you need a scaffold to do it safely.

Plus 1.

 

 Though I wouldn’t worry too much about bulb changes, just buy very high quality LED light bulbs. These should last a minimum of 30,000 hours, but some brands state up to 75,000 or even 100,000 hours.

[Alan Ambrose]

Yeah, our present barn conversion is naturally vaulted in the sitting room and a few other bits and I love escaping the tyranny of the 2.4m ceiling. Oversize is what makes the posh houses in Kensington look classy imho. 

[Conor]

5 hours ago, Stonehouse said:

 

 

Where does this work well 

My initial thoughts to get things started 

- Looks good as part of open plan kitchen / family area but potential issues with cooking smells and noise travelling to upper floors

 

 

 

Kitchen can't be open to the ret of the house, or you need to take extra fire precautions. We ditched the idea and instead made a large first floor landing. Love it 

[Kelvin]

4 hours ago, Adsibob said:

Plus 1.

 

 Though I wouldn’t worry too much about bulb changes, just buy very high quality LED light bulbs. These should last a minimum of 30,000 hours, but some brands state up to 75,000 or even 100,000 hours.

They should. They still fail. We had it in the previous house. Was a pia to change it. 

[Andehh]

Bedroom Mezzanines, great fun for the kids! 

[Mike]

35 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

5 hours ago, Adsibob said:

Plus 1.

 

 Though I wouldn’t worry too much about bulb changes, just buy very high quality LED light bulbs. These should last a minimum of 30,000 hours, but some brands state up to 75,000 or even 100,000 hours.

They should. They still fail. We had it in the previous house. Was a pia to change it. 

 

A lifetime of '100,000 hours' is most likely referring to the 'catastrophic failure rate', often 10%, under which no more than 10% of the bulbs should fail within that 100,000 hours. But someone has to buy the ones that make up that 10%.

 

Good advice to buy quality LEDs from a reputable company though.

 

Edited August 22, 2023 by Mike

[Stonehouse]

13 hours ago, Andehh said:

Bedroom Mezzanines, great fun for the kids! 

Looks fun! How much space in the mezzanine?

[Stonehouse]

Let me get the right terminology 

Does vaulted mean following the roof pitch (like a tent) right?

[Stonehouse]

See pictures on things I have liked. the look of

[Stonehouse]

My LED strip lights have lasted 11 years so far without issues. So good shout re this. 
 

Will they provide sufficient light?

[Mr Blobby]

 

We are building a void in our kitchen.  Totally bonkers of course but adds some drama to an otehrwise boring space.  Some would say its a waste of space that could have been an ensuite or something, but our dining table will sit in the void and we will be spending far more time at the dining table than in an en-suite bathroom.  Its only 2m wide so not massive.

 

The top of our void will have a vaulted ceiling with a velux in the roof to bring in some light and to give stack ventilation if the kitchen overheats.  So some practicality too.

 

22 hours ago, Stonehouse said:

 

- Looks good as part of open plan kitchen / family area but potential issues with cooking smells and noise travelling to upper floors

 

I think building regs require that a void in the kitchen must be seperated by glass from the first floor.  Its a fire regs thing that the kitchen is isolated I think.  Ours will have a full height fixed glass pane where the void meets the first floor landing.  So smells upstairs won't be an issue for us.

 

 

[catrionag]

We have two double height spaces, one above the living area, one in the entrance hall. 

 

So far, pros:

The sense of space in our otherwise fairly small living room area (4.5mx4.5m, part of a 4.5m x 7m open plan kitchen/living room)

Adds a bit of drama to a small, simple house

Makes both spaces feel very light and airy

 

 

Cons

Noise travels very well through the house via the entrance hall

Overheating in the living space as the velux windows in the roof are south facing and too high for us to open for venting (we installed remote controlled solar blinds and these have mitigated some of the solar gain)

 

On reflection I wouldn't change it. I've seen similar builds to ours by the same kit company where people have opted to get rid of the double height space and in pictures the same spaces appear very poky and quite dark. I can't say they're practical though! But life isn't all about practicality.

 

[Alan Ambrose]

>>> Does vaulted mean following the roof pitch (like a tent) right?

 

Yeah. 

[Adsibob]

8 hours ago, Mr Blobby said:

 

We are building a void in our kitchen.  Totally bonkers of course but adds some drama to an otehrwise boring space.  Some would say its a waste of space that could have been an ensuite or something, but our dining table will sit in the void and we will be spending far more time at the dining table than in an en-suite bathroom.  Its only 2m wide so not massive.

 

The top of our void will have a vaulted ceiling with a velux in the roof to bring in some light and to give stack ventilation if the kitchen overheats.  So some practicality too.

 

 

I think building regs require that a void in the kitchen must be seperated by glass from the first floor.  Its a fire regs thing that the kitchen is isolated I think.  Ours will have a full height fixed glass pane where the void meets the first floor landing.  So smells upstairs won't be an issue for us.

 

 

Sounds very well thought out. Have you thought about dangling a really long pendant from the apex of the void/vaulted ceiling down to about 60cm above the dining table?

[Adsibob]

8 hours ago, catrionag said:

we installed remote controlled solar blinds and these have mitigated some of the solar gain

Are your blinds internal or external? If external, they should block out 100% of the solar gain.

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by Adsibob

[Adsibob]

8 hours ago, catrionag said:

Overheating in the living space as the velux windows in the roof are south facing and too high for us to open

I don’t understand this. Why can’t you operate the Veluxes remotely? Aren’t they Velux Integra?

[Mr Blobby]

37 minutes ago, Adsibob said:

Sounds very well thought out. Have you thought about dangling a really long pendant from the apex of the void/vaulted ceiling down to about 60cm above the dining table?

 

Yes. I quite like the golden balls in the picture above.

 

Here's a messy construction pic taken from hallway into kitchen.  Dining table to go in void.  Island will be off to the right.  Small letter box window high above.

 

 

(and our velux will be remote controlled)

Edited August 23, 2023 by Mr Blobby

[MikeSharp01]

10 hours ago, Mr Blobby said:

I think building regs require that a void in the kitchen must be seperated by glass from the first floor.  Its a fire regs thing that the kitchen is isolated I think.  Ours will have a full height fixed glass pane where the void meets the first floor landing.  So smells upstairs won't be an issue for us.

That's interesting / worrying we have a void above the kitchen, all of which will be lined with fireline - separating it from the bedroom above, no glass other than the two FAKRO windows that will be automatic for house stack cooling. Not sure where glass might fit in. Anyway looking into the above I found this quite interesting on houzz:

 

"Is there sufficient kitchen ventilation?
In open-plan kitchens, mechanical ventilation needs to be installed for the kitchen extractor. A recirculating design is not sufficient, because not only do extractors get rid of smells, CO2 and other harmful gases, they also remove water vapour, which is created when you cook. Without correct extraction, mould can grow, just as it would in a bathroom without ventilation."  (https://www.houzz.co.uk/magazine/ask-an-architect-8-key-open-plan-building-regulations-questions-to-ask-stsetivw-vs~55681353 accessed 23.08.2023)

 

We will have MVHR, extract in the void. Wondering if I have it right!

 

[Papillon]

I love a vaulted ceiling and I’ll pt them anywhere, no shame. 
 

double height can be a bit weird and too much. It’s nice in a barnstyle but I’m careful with them.

[Mr Blobby]

2 hours ago, MikeSharp01 said:

That's interesting / worrying we have a void above the kitchen, all of which will be lined with fireline - separating it from the bedroom above, no glass other than the two FAKRO windows t

 

Just read my post again, oops bad English. 🤦 

I meant of course that kitchen void can't be open to rest of house, we use a glass partition, other barriers are available 🙄