Difference between floor and storey

Solution 1:

The terms are different even though they can be interchangeably used a lot.

Floor is where you get off or live. Story is a measurement of height.

You would say:

• I live on the 10th floor.
• That building is 30 stories high.

You would not say:

• I live on the 10th story.
• That building is 30 floors high.

An example of this is that a lot of buildings do not have a 13th floor. So the person on the 14th floor would be 13 stories high. Also if you had a building with penthouses that were 4 stories high and you were on the 4th floor of the penthouse on the 20th floor of the building, you might be 83 stories high.

Solution 2:

This is just the context I've heard the terms used in the UK. Stories is the total number of distinct above earth floors a building has. If you refer to an individual level it starts at the ground floor, then 1st floor, 2nd etc. In the US the UK ground floor is the 1st floor. I haven't heard a UK 1st floor referred to as the 2nd story.