Low quality UK consumer units.

mapj1: 
 

But then what should we do with our existing housing stock?

Raise the ceiling to 2,4m to accommodate the CU, or more likely put it in a shed outside to go rusty.

UK building regs do not specify a ceiling height.

Mike.

The English Building Regulations did stipulate a minimum ceiling height of 7’6” this came from an old Public Health Act to provide ventilation for gas lighting, as it was generally unvented and combustion fumes built up in room to potentially lethal levels, some people did die.

This was then metricated and became 2.300 metres, however the requirement was removed from the Building Regulations because generally people don’t have gas lights anymore, but I have worked in some homes that still do!

This opened up the opportunity to create more bedrooms in lofts and cellars with what would have been unacceptably low ceilings. One student HMO comes to mind, the landlord had turned a two bedroom terraced house into a five bedroom house utilising the front room, loft and cellar as bedrooms. I cannot stand up in either the loft or cellar bedrooms and I am not very tall, I was doing a smoke alarm inspection, PAT and EICR when he was showing a group of potential tenants around and he suggested that the two shortest students may like to have one of these “bedrooms“, there’s no way I would have let my kids pay good money to live in those rooms, but they were licensed.

How ever the Council have had a crack down and upped the required standards resulting in the number of bedrooms being reduced in some HMOs and walls having to be moved to make bedrooms bigger, along with having to increase the size of communal living space, but I don’t think the council can do anything about low ceilings.

mapj1: 
 

But then what should we do with our existing housing stock?

Raise the ceiling to 2,4m to accommodate the CU, or more likely put it in a shed outside to go rusty.

UK building regs do not specify a ceiling height.

Mike.

The English Building Regulations did stipulate a minimum ceiling height of 7’6” this came from an old Public Health Act to provide ventilation for gas lighting, as it was generally unvented and combustion fumes built up in room to potentially lethal levels, some people did die.

This was then metricated and became 2.300 metres, however the requirement was removed from the Building Regulations because generally people don’t have gas lights anymore, but I have worked in some homes that still do!

This opened up the opportunity to create more bedrooms in lofts and cellars with what would have been unacceptably low ceilings. One student HMO comes to mind, the landlord had turned a two bedroom terraced house into a five bedroom house utilising the front room, loft and cellar as bedrooms. I cannot stand up in either the loft or cellar bedrooms and I am not very tall, I was doing a smoke alarm inspection, PAT and EICR when he was showing a group of potential tenants around and he suggested that the two shortest students may like to have one of these “bedrooms“, there’s no way I would have let my kids pay good money to live in those rooms, but they were licensed.

How ever the Council have had a crack down and upped the required standards resulting in the number of bedrooms being reduced in some HMOs and walls having to be moved to make bedrooms bigger, along with having to increase the size of communal living space, but I don’t think the council can do anything about low ceilings.