Artificially lower ceiling over shower and tub?

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Flyover

Flyover

Trying not to screw things up worse
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In both the bathrooms in my house there is a lowered ceiling over the shower and tub, respectively. There's no ductwork running through these areas that I can tell, since there's no vents on any side of it. (All our vents are in or near the floor, and we only have one ceiling return and it's in the hallway.)

When I knock on the bottom side of it (i.e. the "ceiling" side) it sounds like sheet metal with a hollow space above.

Why is this here?

If I remodel at some point in the future, could I remove it and get a higher ceiling over my shower and tub areas? Is there a good reason why I shouldn't remove it?

House is a late 1970s ranch located in the Midwest, in case that's relevant.

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Is the attic accessible and if so does the ceiling depress in those areas?

There is a logic associated with this and it's to affectively cause the steam and inherent moisture to not collect specifically over those areas, but to be distributed thu-out and dissipated.
 
In the 60s and 70s it was the style to do that over the tub and over kitchen cupboard.
Today it is more about hiding things. Cut a hole in the face from the bathroom or hallway and see if there is something in there, if there is a bathroom above you might find plumbing.
 
Snoonyb said:
Is the attic accessible and if so does the ceiling depress in those areas?

There is a logic associated with this and it's to affectively cause the steam and inherent moisture to not collect specifically over those areas, but to be distributed thu-out and dissipated.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if the attic is accessible there, so I wouldn't know.

I wondered if maybe it had something to do with dissipating steam. That makes some sense, although it doesn't seem that effective.

nealtw said:
In the 60s and 70s it was the style to do that over the tub and over kitchen cupboard.
Today it is more about hiding things. Cut a hole in the face from the bathroom or hallway and see if there is something in there, if there is a bathroom above you might find plumbing.
Click to expand...

It's a ranch, so no second floor. Plumbing's all under the floor in the crawl space. Anything else you can imagine I might find? Seems like Snoonyb's explanation about dissipating steam might be it.

If there's nothing in there it would make it pretty easy to add a second overhead "rainfall" showerhead. I don't like them much but it's an inexpensive upgrade that seems like it'd add a good bit of value to the house.
 
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To me it looks dated and as Neal said that’s how they were done then.

I doubt you will find anything in there unless someone stashed something in there for you to find.

When it comes time rip it out and see what you find. Hopefully not any mold.
 
During that era it was an answer to standing on the flood-rim the tub to clean and prep for repaint.
 
Snoonyb said:
During that era it was an answer to standing on the flood-rim the tub to clean and prep for repaint.
Click to expand...
That makes a lot of sense too. Well, for now clean and repaint is exactly what I'm planning to do.
 
we had this in our 50's ranch got rid of it w/o problem but we also had access to the attic and could see it was clear to raise.
 
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