New home construction window height with 9ft ceilings

[schmism]

100 yo old farm house reporting in. (built in 1910)

9' celing
66" (5.5') windows
21" from floor to top of window sill
21" from ceiling.

top of the window exceeds the top of the door by several inches

I also have 5.5" caseing all the way around my windows makeing them "look" larger than they are. Its unlikely youll have that in your house

FYI inside casement dimension (for slide in replacement windows) is 30x66 RO would be like 32x68 or something. the actuall RO on my house is larger than that because i have 3" weight pockets on either side. (thus the 5.5" casement trim)

 

[riptides]

Mine is about the same, on the farm house too. We remodeled, well added space to a farm house. My concern was matching the floor and ceiling height exactly.

My new windows from the inside measure about 12 inches off the floor and about 9 from the ceiling.

100 yo old farm house reporting in. (built in 1910)

9' celing
66" (5.5') windows
21" from floor to top of window sill
21" from ceiling.

top of the window exceeds the top of the door by several inches

I also have 5.5" caseing all the way around my windows makeing them "look" larger than they are. Its unlikely youll have that in your house

FYI inside casement dimension (for slide in replacement windows) is 30x66 RO would be like 32x68 or something. the actuall RO on my house is larger than that because i have 3" weight pockets on either side. (thus the 5.5" casement trim)

Bet that looks awesome!

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have 9 foot ceilings and all my windows top line up with top of doors. which puts them 11 1/2" from top of marble floor to top of window sill so it would be about 12" from the slab to top of window sill.
I think they look good from inside and outside.
Note that bedroom windows are smaller than living area windows but tops still align with top of doors.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Photo of rear patio.

 

[JMER817]

I have decided to go 24" from the ceiling. This will put my 5' window in the middle if the wall leaving 24" at the bottom as well. We do have two windows in the family room which are 6' that will be 18" top and bottom. The kitchen window at the sink looks better at the 24" ht so we will match the other windows.

 

[JMER817]

Well scrap that...lol. Went over with wife one more time and we are back to 18"

 

[Gary Fowler]

I would suggest that you do whatever makes the wife happy. Maybe get it in writing so later when she changes her mind, you can defend yourself from blame. Women usually want one thing till they see it installed and then want something else.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Make momma happy, or you will get reminded about it forever. :laughing:

I have 8' ceilings, 5'2" windows downstairs and 4'6" tall windows upstairs. Both floors have 2x10 headers, so RO is about 11" down.

Two things I wish I had done in my house, 2x6 walls and 9' ceilings downstairs.

 

[Rock knocker]

It is almost impossible to match the trim elevations of doors and windows on both the interior and exterior at the same time. I find it best to hold them nominally 1" different. Looking at adjacent door and windows, if they are off 1/4" or so, it looks like a mistake, if they vary by upwards of an inch, it looks like it was meant to be.

 

[not2old]

I've got a question. I was in a house once that had a 9 foot first floor and an 8 foot second floor. The difference in the way the two floors felt in terms of comfort and homeyness was enough that I said I would never build or live in a house with 9 foot ceilings. The 9 foot ceiling felt very formal and stiff. Not me at all. My question would be "What are your reasons for building 9 foot ceilings?"

I built a new house with 9' on the main and 8' upstairs, but I'd make them both 9' if I ever did it again. I later bought a used house with 9' on the main and 10' in the basement and I love it.

 

[pmsmechanic]

Well scrap that...lol. Went over with wife one more time and we are back to 18"

I laughed out loud when I read that.

I can see that I think differently about ceiling height than most people that are posting here. I like reading all the reasons for higher ceilings. I still don't feel as comfortable under a nine foot as I do under an eight foot but that's just me. One reason that I haven't seen talked about yet is that is that many houses in warmer climates are built with higher ceilings so that the heat has somewhere to go.

 

[EddieWalker]

If you are using standard height doors and you have walls that are more then 8 feet, in my experience, it looks funny to have all that wall above a window. The basic width of a header above a window is around a foot, and that seems to be the most common distance for window height. Taller walls means buying taller windows.

Eddie

 

[JMER817]

House is going up. Decided on 16" from floor. Makes it easy to frame as well. Two top plates, 2x12 header and 1.5" 2x6 below that. Puts the bottom of the window at 32"

 

[Rock knocker]

16" requires safety or tempered glass, while above 18" AFF does not

 

[JMER817]

Sorry meant 16 from ceiling. Been a long day