The definitive "How many apartments per floor?" Thread

[4ofN]

So I've seen a couple of threads with questions about the number of apartments per floor of the apartment building and I noticed in The Bad Fish Paradigm that this was very well answered.

Following are 2 pictures showing the wall opposite the elevator door. First towards Leonards door, then towards Pennys door. You can see the bottom of the trash can in the lower right of the first picture and you can see it in full in the second one so we know that the pictures do not miss any part of the wall.

The tricky part is to actually look at the back wall in the first picture as looking only at Pennys clevage will not help resolve the issue.

As you can see, there are no other apartment doors - so 2 apartments only per floor. The odd thing is that there are 16 mailboxes which, at 2 apartmernts per floor, implies that there are 8 floors of apartments. You would expect a bit more traffic on the stairs since they are only 1/2 way up.

[Alien94]

Hm! Now you've given me something to think about when i go to sleep! Thanks!

Maybe there are 8 floors,the lack of traffic problem...why would the producers put some random dudes in the show?

[4ofN]

This is what happens when you re-watch the show from the first episode after hanging around on a forum. You start noticing things that people have posted about.

[netmouse]

Steve from the wiki and I spent some time in a previous thread attempting to work this out.

If you base the number of apartments on the number of mailboxes, the building is what, 8 floors? PLUS the lobby. This assumes 2 apartments per floor.

I've already lost sleep on this one.

Too many anomolies... too little OCD medication >< lolz

[Imapotato]

Since the ground floor has 0 apartments, it would have be 9 floors, no?

Then again...what about below ground?

Also, one mailbox may be for the landlord, another for maintenance

I think it was just poor city planning lol

[netmouse]

@Ima: the theory of 9 floors in total seems to be correct. There are a lot of inconsistencies with regards to the mailboxes, to the point where it has been spotted that Sheldon/Leonard's and Penny's mailboxes change every now and then.

It's another one of those things that can really do your head in if you pay too much attention to it.

But The Bad Fish ep definitely opens up the theory that there are two apartments on each floor of the building.

[Master-Sephiroth]

Hmm, well, it's food for thought. Plus there's a pic of Penny's cleavage. Always good.

[JFCat]

If it was 8 floors the landlords would have had to have fixed the elevator by now. What we know is there are 16 appartments in that building. Mailboxes are placed for the convience of the mailman. There could easily be 300 appartments in multiple buildings. We have never seen the outside of the building so we do not know the size / scope of the establishment. Out the front door there maybe a courtyard with another stairwell, or two or three or four... Pasadena is sprawling, not metropolis. They probably live in a suburban appartment complex typical in SoCal.

[4ofN]

If it was 8 floors the landlords would have had to have fixed the elevator by now. What we know is there are 16 appartments in that building. Mailboxes are placed for the convience of the mailman. There could easily be 300 appartments in multiple buildings. We have never seen the outside of the building so we do not know the size / scope of the establishment. Out the front door there maybe a courtyard with another stairwell, or two or three or four... Pasadena is sprawling, not metropolis. They probably live in a suburban appartment complex typical in SoCal.

Yeah 8 or 9 floors without a fixed elevator is a problem. Perhaps there is a corridor in the foyer "behind the camera" that leads to a second foyer with a second set of stairs.

[netmouse]

Bill Prady has posted in the past that the mailboxes are all mixed up regularly throughout the series.

The mailboxes are numbered from left to right, bottom to top, 1A-1D, 2A-2D, 3A-3D and 4A-4D.

This destroys the theory of 2 apartments per floor over 8 floors as the numbering on each floor is A and B. C and D are never shown. Using this numbering system, once you get above the boys apartment, the numbering should theoretically contain the Cs and Ds from all 4 apartment blocks on the floors above them.

But I'm putting this down to Ima's theory of bad building planning and the show's producers coitusing with us.

With regards to the wall behind the camera in the lobby... I can think of 3 episodes (possibly 4) where the outside of the lobby area is shown.

At the end of the ep when we meet Leonard's mother for the first time.

There is an ep when the boys are together and enter the lobby from outside the building (can't recall the ep title)

I'm pretty sure Sheldon walks his sister Missy outside the building at the end of that ep too.

And finally, Sheldon's hot dog ep. This is the best ep to visually gauge what's outside their building as we get a long shot of the street.

When Sheldon and Howard exit the building, you can see a lighting shop attached to their building.

I would go so far as to say that there is just a wall running opposite the lift as the entrance door to the lighting shop is outside the building, directly adjacent to the lobby door.

I'm off to have a lie down now.

[Walowizard]

If it's any help, Penny and Leonard discuss the day Leonard moved in with Sheldon in Season 3 Episode 22 "The Staircase Implementation". Penny mentions having to walk up 3 flights of stairs every day. That means they live on the 3rd floor, if the lobby is Zero, surely?

In that case, the fact that they are apartments 4A and 4B doesn't make any sense.

On a separate idea, there could be more apartments on the lower levels, thinning out to 2 per level at the 3rd floor. Maybe.

[JFCat]

Also, when the cute blonde moves in (Alecia?) she moves in above Leonard / Sheldon in 5A so at least 5 floors.

[Walowizard]

Also, when the cute blonde moves in (Alecia?) she moves in above Leonard / Sheldon in 5A so at least 5 floors.

Ahhh The Dead Hooker Juxtaposition! However, 5A would be on the 4th floor, seeing as Penny walks up 3 flights of stairs every day. Unless there are a couple of apartments on the unseen wall of the lobby, the numbering of the apartments makes no sense.

Also, when we have seen the outside of the building, it opens up onto the street. Going by the positioning of the stairs and the lift, Penny's apartment would be overhanging from the main building, above the street. I know that this has nothing to do with the number of apartments per floor, but I just needed to get it out of my head.

[4ofN]

OK. now everything is going to get messed up.

Their apartment building is nothing like most apartment buildings. The apartments on the various floors are different.

Here we see that apartment 5A (Dead Hooker) has a room in the place that Leonard and Sheldon have a closet. I think this might be directly above Penny's bedroom.

Outside the door of 5A we can see that there is a wall where the apartment above Penny's should be and so there are no stairs going up from the 5th floor. Mind you they can still get to the roof for laser fun so there must be another staircase elsewhere.

This is an odd wall. Here we see the gang walking directly into that wall to get to the roof. I guess that there may be just an access door in that wall that leads to the roof.

On the other hand, the elevator buttons seem to indicate that there is an option to take the elevator UP from the 5th floor.

Curiouser and curiouser. I guess this thread is not so definitive after all.

[Master-Sephiroth]

Smells like irony. But this is pretty interesting.

[netmouse]

@Walowizard: it appears that the lobby is counted as the first floor in this building.

With regards to Alicia's room, I came to the conclusion that the apartments mirror each other as you go up one floor. ie: Alicia is in a one bedroom apartment like Penny, but it sits on the opposite side of the lift. A two bedroom apartment, 5B (like the boys place) would be opposite Alicia's.

[netmouse]

@dodecadude: that floor plan is VERY impressive. /clap

RE: The 2nd photo in 4ofNs post #14... the angle of the shot looks like there is a solid wall behind Leonard.

BUT look at the photo below it and you will notice the plaster finish on the walls (where the elevator call button is) is the same finish as "the wall" behind Leonard in that 2nd photo.

I'm thinking that the angle of that photo makes it appear that there is no way to get to the roof from 5A's lobby. When in fact it's just the edging of the wall near the lift that hides the continuing staircase up to the next level.

[netmouse]

When the boys went up on the roof in that episode, we only see them go up the one set of stairs outside Penny's apartment.

There is only the one scene pertaining to the group heading for the roof.

Looking forward to seeing your future drafts of the apartment.

[netmouse]

TARDIS is a good description

Work of fiction + writer lapses in continuity leave us hapless OCDers out in the cold on just how many floors this damned building actually consists of !!!

[HeWolf]

If it's any help, Penny and Leonard discuss the day Leonard moved in with Sheldon in Season 3 Episode 22 "The Staircase Implementation". Penny mentions having to walk up 3 flights of stairs every day. That means they live on the 3rd floor, if the lobby is Zero, surely?

In that case, the fact that they are apartments 4A and 4B doesn't make any sense.

On a separate idea, there could be more apartments on the lower levels, thinning out to 2 per level at the 3rd floor. Maybe.

In the US, the first floor of a building is the ground floor. One flight of stairs would take you to the 2d floor. The second flight to the 3d floor. And the third flight to the 4th floor. So, if Penny climbs three flights of stairs it takes her to the fourth floor.

[SydNC]

Perhaps the building is still under construction... or the damage Leonard did to the elevator messed up other parts of the building, rendering them uninhabitable, hence why we've only ever seen 1 neighbor.

[netmouse]

@HeWolf: ah ha, so it is a US building standard to classify the ground floor as floor #1 ? Here in Australia we usually go ground/1st/2nd etc although the hospital I work for has recently started labelling their ground floors as the 1st floor in our newer buildings.

[SydNC]

Maybe the 2 bedroom apartments get 2 mailboxes. So, 5 stories, 3 mailboxes per story, that's 15 plus one for the manager/landlord.

[Vortex]

Maybe the 2 bedroom apartments get 2 mailboxes. So, 5 stories, 3 mailboxes per story, that's 15 plus one for the manager/landlord.

That sounds about right.

That also brings me to wonder why the writers haven't put in more situations where the main characters see/interact with other people who live in the apartment. If there is potentially 15 people in the apartment that is a lot of them for basically never seeing any of them except the one across the hall from L and S.

[mjc45]

Maybe the 2 bedroom apartments get 2 mailboxes. So, 5 stories, 3 mailboxes per story, that's 15 plus one for the manager/landlord.

That sounds about right.

That also brings me to wonder why the writers haven't put in more situations where the main characters see/interact with other people who live in the apartment. If there is potentially 15 people in the apartment that is a lot of them for basically never seeing any of them except the one across the hall from L and S.

there was one i can recall,. @ the end of season 3 after

p/l had sex the next morning person came out of the door,

said something to leonard about the wild night they had.