Which makes us wonder what the standard height of ceilings should be in Switzerland. Does anyone know?
We are in the process of moving apartments and just by chance, we noticed that the ceiling height in the new apartment is only 223 cm ... which means none of our wardrobes and bookshelves will fit! They all measure 225cm to 229cm!! Luckily, we haven't signed the contract yet but, honestly, the ceiling height was not something that ever crossed our minds. Finding an apartment is hard enough!
2.42 m.
Martin
Which is, incidentally, also the minimum height required to construct a 2.36m PAX Ikea wardrobe.
Thanks Martin!
Where did you find this information? So is an owner still permitted to rent out an apartment which has ceilings below regulation height??
It may be that 2.42 m is the norm for new buildings, but let's not forget that Switzerland is a fairly old country. There are thousands of buildings that were built when the average adult was 10 - 20 cm shorter than now. I don't think that owners of those houses have to completely rebuild the structures.
The house of the parents of my first wife was built around 1770. I'm 6 ft tall, which is not much these days. In the living room my head touched the ceiling beams. In our vacation home in the Engadine, built 1616, the bedroom doors are only 1.70 m high.
That's a fair point. This particular apartment building is quite old, probably early 1900s. Guess we won't be moving
There is no minimum required height for existing buildings, just for new ones. So if you choose an old house, it may come in just about any size. By the way, the lack of ceiling height is not so much because of how tall people were but because it would have been very expensive to heat more spacious rooms. This is why grander places tend to have higher ceilings even when they are older.
Of course heating is an important aspect, but so is human anatomy. Let's say, people tend to build their dwellings at most as high as they can afford but at least as high as they need to prevent getting permanently deformed. Orthopedic surgery is much more expensive than proper heating.
I don't know many people as tall as 2.23 cm, let alone 2.42
2.42 m is standard but not necessarily the law: In the Canton of Zürich for example, art. 304 of the building and planning code states a minimum room height of 2.40 m, however, it is not applicable for family homes (Einfamilienhäuser) and similar apartments types. In core areas, i.e. in areas such as the old town in Zürich, the minimum height is 2.3 m.
In addition, small technically necessary equipment, e.g. lamps, might go below the minimum height.
Martin
In a country without air conditioning, there's no reason to have low ceilings.
Even older buildings have higher ceilings, as this is one of the primary means of combating heat.
Neither do I, but I think you'll admit that being in a room with a very low ceiling just makes you feel sort of bad. Ever heard of claustrophobia?
Ever heard of agoraphobia?
But either way, that wasn't the point you were making, either that or it was well hidden...
what's the fear of being seen with an ugly shirt on while out in public? I think more people need that kind of phobia.
Has anything changed since 2011 on the apartments ceiling specs ? :-)
I'm in disbelief, having now seen multiple apartments with 2.25m ceilings while looking to relocate back to CH... I've been very lucky for having lived in a 3m ceiling place up to now.
In many parts of the world even 2.4m, 5 story buildings are being teared down for being incompatible with decent modern living standards (built in the 60's on a Swiss design) ...
There are still a lot of older buildings around. Some uglier ones are torn down but considering many of those were built to last for an eternity plus 5 years there must be some good reason to replace them.