Does a loft count as square footage?
Published August 27, 2026
The loft floor counts; the opening it overlooks does not. Under ANSI Z765 a finished loft with a 7-foot ceiling reached by a permanent stair is gross living area, measured to its railing or edge. The open-to-below area (the two-story space it looks down into) is counted once, on the floor below, and never on the loft level.
What disqualifies a loft
- Ceiling under 7 feet over more than half the floor, which fails the ANSI ceiling rule.
- Access by ladder or ship's stair with no finished stairway (fails ANSI's finished-connection rule).
- Unfinished storage loft in a garage or barn.
Two-story foyers and great rooms
The volume over a two-story living room is not floor. It is counted on the first floor only. A second-floor hallway that bridges across it is counted for its own width. Same principle as stairs: count floor, not air.