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A storey (also spelled '''story'''The spelling ''storey'' (plural: ''storeys'') is used in the British Isles and the Commonwealth; ''story'' (plural: ''stories'') is used mainly in the U.S. See American And British English Spelling Differences .), '''floor''', '''deck''' or '''level''' is the level of a Building above (or below) the Ground . Buildings are often classified by how many levels they have. Low-rise, mid-rise, and High-rise buildings are all common, with the tallest Skyscrapers having upwards of a hundred. Multi-storey buildings usually must have additional Safety System s, such as Fire Sprinkler s and Fire Escape s, as Mandate d by Building Code s. The Height of each storey is based on the Ceiling height of the Room s and the thickness of the floors between each. Generally this is around ten feet or three metres total, however it varies widely from just under this figure to well over it. Storeys within a building need not be all the same height — often the Lobby is quite spacious, for example. Higher levels may be smaller than the ones beneath (a prominent feature of the Sears Tower ). Some House s have an extra storey of Living Space in the Attic , Basement , or both. Split-level homes have two sides of the house Offset from each other by a half-storey, while some homes have only a split-level entry, with the Front Door opening to two half-sets of Stairs leading up to the main floor and down to the basement Door . There are also Multi-storey Car Park s, also known as Parking Garage s. NUMBERING plate with floor numbering. In many buildings in the U.S. and Canada, there is no Thirteenth Floor .]] Floor numbering is the Numbering Scheme used for a building's floors; it varies depending on the level of the "first floor" and on the names given to the subterranean levels. Room numbers generally start with the floor's number; occasionally the first element may be the letter representing the floor. In large buildings, two conventions are common:
Confusion arises from the two forms of floor numbering in use worldwide. In most of continental Europe, as well as the British Isles and much of the Commonwealth , the floor at the ground level is the ''ground floor'' and the floor above is the ''first floor'', which maintains the continental European use that dates from the days of the construction of palaces. For example, in French , the term for the ground floor is ''rez de chaussée'' which is numbered zero. But in North American usage (except in Québec ), the floor at the ground level is usually, but not always, the ''first floor'' and the floor above is the ''second floor''; this system is also used in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union . China follows the American system, except that the numbers used are Cardinals (one, two, three, etc.) rather than Ordinals (first, second, third). The ''principal floor'' is the floor that contains the chief Apartment s, whether on the ground floor or the floor above; in Italy they are often on the latter and may be known as the '' Piano Nobile ''. The floor below the ground floor is called the Basement even if only a little below ground level, or the lower ground floor; the floor in a Roof is known as the Attic or the Loft . In the U.S., the expressions ''one pair'', ''two pair'', etc., apply to the stories above the first flight of stairs from the ground (see also Carpentry ). Lower floors Subterranean levels vary in numbering systems, often using B for Basement or '''P''' for Parking , for the first level below ground, although '''L''' (or '''LL''') for Lower Level or Lobby is sometimes used. In British department stores, "LG" for "Lower Ground" is commonly encountered, as the term "basement" is considered inappropriate for their image. The next level down may be '''SB''' for "Sub-Basement", although numbering more frequently occurs at this point, either '''B1'''/'''P1''' etc. or use of negative numbers '''-1''' etc. It is worth noting that in certain buildings in the US with a subterranean parking lot, the basement parking floor is labelled G, representing "garage". Such a labelling in elevators may be misleading, as the button for G is directly below the button for the first floor and may be understood as "ground". Occasionally, buildings in the US will have both a 1st floor and a Ground floor. The Ground floor is typically partially or completely underground. Sometimes in this configuration, the Ground floor will be accessible from outside the building as well. First floor In British English , in reference to typical buildings, the "first floor" is the first floor above the ground; but in American English , it is another name for the ground floor. Most Europe an countries, countries of the Commonwealth (except Singapore and parts of Canada , which use the American system), and Former British Colonies like Hong Kong , follow the same convention as the British. Finland , Norway , Russia , some countries of East Europe , and most of eastern Asia (including China and Japan ) have a convention similar to the American system. Hong Kong is unusual in that it follows the British rule in English, but for some old tenement buildings the Chinese Character s follow the American rule. Higher floors are then numbered consecutively in each case, as illustrated by the following table:
It is obvious that this can lead to some confusion, but little else can be done other than being aware of this issue. Put simply:
Explanation The distinction is between Ordinal Numbers (first, second, third, ...), which are used for order, and Cardinal Numbers (0, 1, 2, 3, ...), which are used for quantity. Some countries number their floors using ordinal numbers, beginning with 1 (meaning first), while other countries use cardinal numbers that measure distance from a starting point. In the latter case, the ground floor is, in effect, Floor Zero (i.e. the Ground Floor), and the next floor up is Floor One. In this system, the floor number gives its distance from the ground in floors. Floor numbers that measure distance from the ground are cardinal numbers, while floor numbers that identify a position in a sequence are ordinal numbers. Similar distinctions occur in the naming of highway exits, and in the number of years in history; see Exit 0 and Year Zero . Idiosyncrasies For buildings with entrances on two different floors, such as those built into a hill, different naming schemes may be used in different parts of the world. In North America, the lower floor would typically be called the "ground floor" and the upper floor the "first floor" In the UK, the lower of these floors would be known as the lower ground floor, while the upper would be called either the upper ground floor or simply the ground floor. Some U.S. High-rise buildings follow the British system, often out of a desire on the part of the building's Architect or owners to suggest a Posh UK/ European setting. Non-numeric names may be used in some buildings such as hotels; for example, the uppermost level may be PH (for Penthouse ), '''R''' (for Roof ), or '''OD''' (for Observation Deck ), and the entrance level may sometimes be denoted '''M''' (for Main), or '''L''' (for Lobby ). However, some buildings use extremely idiosyncratic denotation - one hotel in Toronto marks the first six floors as '''A''', '''M''', '''MM''', '''C''', '''H''', and '''1''' (for ''Arcade'', ''Main'', ''Main Mezzanine '', ''Convention'', ''Health Club'', and ''1st floor''). The North Carolina Museum of Art, whose entrance is on the third floor up, has the floors lettered '''C''', '''B''', '''A''', (main floor) and '''O''', meaning office. American and Canadian buildings typically omit the Thirteenth Floor in their floor numbering because of common superstition surrounding this number. The floor numbering may either go straight from 12 to 14, or the floor may be given an alternative name such as "Skyline". In some Asian countries, because the number four sounds like "death" in Chinese and related languages, it is sometimes skipped in hospital buildings, and some business buildings follow this convention as well. Other deviations from the norm can be seen around the world. Examples of such deviations include sometimes numbering basement or the lowest level basement as floor 1. Thus, the ground floor may be numbered 2 or even something higher. Another occasional deviation is numbering the ground floor as 0. One sometimes finds buildings where different parts of the same building are numbered differently, e.g., the carparks have a separate level numbering from the occupied spaces at the same level. Often these buildings will have a star next to the elevator button for the floor with the "main" street level exit. Many shopping centres in Hong Kong use unusual floor labelling systems. For instance, Festival Walk, a high-class mall in Kowloon Tong, effectively has four "ground floors" labelled LG2 (lower ground 2), LG1, G, and UG (upper ground). "Level 1" at Festival Walk would actually be the fourth floor if LG2 were to be considered the ground floor. Romania uses Roman Numeral s for floor numbers in postal addresses, but Arabic numerals in all but the oldest elevators. Floor zero In buildings in the USA, there is usually no floor numbered zero. The first floor is immediately above the first basement. Outside of North America, Japan and Russia, the ground level is referred to as 0 or some other local variant indicating the name of the ground floor in that language. SEE ALSO NOTES |
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