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. Lofts are grouped with attics and upper floors in what counts as square footage.
What disqualifies a loft
- Ceiling under 7 feet over more than half the floor, which fails the ANSI ceiling rule (the same test a finished attic has to pass).
- 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.