01-13-2011, 11:29 PM
Ditto SH's concern about climbing stairs. The county tax issue makes me feel like 5'6" would be the ideal height, short enough to ensure no argument while being high as possible.
Ignoring "the man," I came to 4' as my ideal post height - high enough to get under easily and store "stuff" without having to climb too many stairs, carry groceries up too many stairs, have stairs so long that they might need their own roof or be exposed to the rain, etc. etc.
I love being up in the air - better breeze, further from the centipedes, harder for people to enter through open windows, and the storage/utility space is awesome compared to slab-on-grade.
My first house just had a 2' crawl space, that was a nasty experience - very dry and clean (except that you were belly-crawling on dirt), and very practical to inspect for problems / make repairs, but there was an 8 year stretch where I just "didn't go there" because it was such an experience to squeeze into "the hole".