Story height is the vertical distance from the top of one floor to the top of the next floor. In a one-story building, measure story height from the floor surface to the roof eave. Do not include parapets (extensions of the wall above the roof line) in story height.
When using a single section, if the story heights vary in a multistory building, you can do either of the following:
Compute the average story height by dividing the total building height by the number of stories.
Example: If the first floor of a three-story building is 10 feet high and each of the other two floors are 10 feet high, compute the average story height by adding up the heights for each floor and dividing by the number of stories:
18+10+10 divided by 3 = 12.67
Enter 12.67 for the story height.
Enter the occupancy twice, once with one of the heights and the second with the other height.
Example: In the previous example, enter the occupancy with a percentage of 33% and a story height of 10 feet, then enter the occupancy again with a percentage of 67% and a story height of 10 feet.
For a building with a very high pitched roof, (e.g., A-frame):
Compute the cubic area (length x width x height) of the lower building portion, excluding A-frame roof section.
Compute the cubic area of the A-frame roof section by multiplying the length x width x height and divide by 2.
Add both sections of the building together and divide total by square foot area (excluding mezzanines) to determine building height.
For unfinished attics, include half of the increased height of the attic area when computing average story height.
Example: A two-story building with a height of 10 feet on each of the two floors and an unfinished 8-foot-high attic has an effective height of 24 feet, computed as follows:
10 + 10 + 1/2 of 8 = 24
The average story height entered for this building is 12 feet (the 24-foot effective height divided by the 2 floors).
Commercial Estimator requires a story height for the calculations.