posted 04-21-2004 11:35 AM
If a tower has 2 floors it is 2 stories high.In Scotland (and I believe USA) the ground floor is usually termed the first floor (a two story property has first and second floor); in England the first floor is above the ground floor (so a two story property in England has a ground and first floor). I doubt that this usage is not hard-and-fast!
Some buildings have more than one basement, and indeed several ground floors (i.e. when on the side of a hill there might be a basement entrance at the front side and rear of a building).
In general, the ground floor (or first floor) is the first floor that does not have any part underground - if any part of the floor is below ground, it's usually a basement - any lower basements are usually referred to as "sub-basements".
In Scotland, so that buyers are not off-put by the connotations of living in a basements, flats that would normally be termed basement flats are called "garden flats" providing there is level access to the garden from the rear! Ahhh!
[This message has been edited by Levan (edited 04-21-2004).]