Dropped ceiling question

Terrible idea to drop the ceiling, especially since it's not that high for a loft to begin with; many have 12 feet or 14 feet ceilings. Loft buyers are their own kind (we tried and tried to buy a loft, settled for 9 foot and 10 foot ceilings.) I can tell you that in my experience, lofts sell for a premium and we got outbid a few times.

This might help you relate: you're in a similar position to somebody who inherits or somehow acquires a brownstone in Park Slope, but just can't stand all that dark curvy wood, all those crown moldings, and so wants to rip it out and make it look clean and modern.

Unless the architect is moving in, you should have what you prefer, not what the architect prefers. Perhaps you should get a new architect. Losing 3' of ceiling height seems excessive just for A/C, plumbing, etc. You may need a better designer.

Aghose,

It is not a terrible idea, lowering the ceiling to give you a clean look and someplace to hide duct work and do some recessed or cove lighting to totally fine. Aaron does have a point, why lower it a full 3 feet, you can do less

Just to clarify, architect is dropping the ceiling from 11ft to 10ft 4 in (that is by 8in) to hide the ductwork / wiring etc. Realize my original post optically suggested he was dropping it to 8ft. Still, to me, I "reckon" that10ft and change vs 11ft can make a big difference (merely high vs somewhat more dramatically high) in my space. But I'm not sure, and hence the question

I stick to my guns--if you do it you devalue the place for resale, and you asked about resale. A compromise I would do is to put in a dropped ceiling that could be cheaply removed by mere painters, if you can stand the look of those kinds of ceilings (suspended/acoustic). The newest ones are better, seriously, than those of 20 years ago.

One more thing---how big are the rooms or room? If the loft is small (people call all kinds of things lofts) then the impact of a lower ceiling is probably greater in terms of how big the area feels.

Soffit against a wall

If your ceilings are only 11 feet high, you don't live in a "loft"; you live in an "apartment".

My bad, I misread the " as '. I think 10'4 is an ok ceiling height, and if the overall proportions of the room are reasonable, it becomes about the increased value of what's above the ceiling. If you now have central air, well place recessed lighting, and a rational ceiling plan (maybe a flat surface rather than a hash of random sized beams and soffits), then I'd say do it. When you say 'drop the ceiling' I'm assuming a proper sheetrock or plaster surface, not acoustic tile in a suspended grid, which is unsuitable for anything residential. If you're covering over a good ceiling (original moldings, beams, etc.,) and not getting something in return (a/c), forget it.

The thanks for your replies. The rectangular box is about 1750 sqft, with the open plan living/dining /kitchen area about 60-70% of that box and the rest divvied as new bedrooms and baths. The ceiling is mostly flat, dropped version intended to be proper sheetrock, though at one end it slopes and my plan is to ask them to follow the slope in order to minimize loss of ceiling height.