Weight on bedroom floor

Lying in bed this morning, contemplating the world as the Today programme began, I began to worry about the weight placed on the floor of my bedroom. There has to be a limit. Recently I added my digital piano, two heavy speakers, and a computer desk. Already in the room are a bed, two separate floor-to-ceiling shelving units built out of Ikea Ivar components, plus various boxes of junk and papers.

Just how much can a modern floor bear? I think I'm going to start removing some of the heavier stuff, distributing it more evenly throughout the house.

MM

Reply to
MM
Loading thread data ...

MM coughed up some electrons that declared:

How many adults would you be happy to have in your bedroom at once?

All those 60-100kg masses add up fast.

Reply to
Tim S

The joists will sag way before they "snap". You could monitor the deflection reflected in the ceiling below. If it was that bad, the ceiling would have cracks in below. The legs of say a grand piano on a single floorboard may be an interesting thing to ponder. Or the weight of a cast iron bath on rotten floorboards. Simon.

Reply to
Simon

ISTR when doing calculations to meet UK building regulations noting that the uniform loads for floors was equivalent to about 2.5 average adults per square metre. This is purely from memory so cannot point you to anything to justify this but the loads you mention will be nowhere near that.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Minchin on the move

The question is - are they all stacked in the middle of the floor or against the walls?

In the middle of the floor, you *may* have a problem - but only if the room is a large one and the floor joists are long.

Against (or near) the walls - then it's unlikely to be a problem.

Unless of course you have a large audience in to listen to your piano recitals - then you'll also have to cope with all the beer and snacks, along with the 'live load' of the people on the bedroom floor! LOL

Cash

Reply to
Cash

A modern domestic floor should cope with a floor loading of 1.5kN/sqm. I doubt your equipment comes anywhere near that. Now fish tanks are another kettle of ...........

Reply to
Fredxx

whilst meeting a suitably low deflection figure, i.e. they are nowhere near the failure point.

Still - have a few cavalier sparks and plumbers through, and they'll drill away the joists until they're like aero bars.

Reply to
RubberBiker

Mid life crisis?

Reply to
Stuart Noble

Which reminds me of the home with a waterbed which caught fire.

The occupants were poached to death.

Reply to
gunsmith

"The weight we place upon a floor by way of bathroom suites, beds, wardrobes etc, is known as the "imposed load". It is again accepted that, for normal household requirements, the imposed load will not exceed 1.5kN/sq.m." Thats from the nuilding regs.

HTH

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

The old standard for residential floors, stairs, landings etc was 40 pounds per square foot. (Book and stationery stores, a hefty 200lb ft^2 )

Reply to
john

That would be some party.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

how many people were standing/stitting/lying on it last time you had a love-in?

I've carried heavy weights in vehicles, but none as heavy as 6 people in my camper :-)

If the floor aint bending. its well safe structurally. You would likely see about a foot deflection before it fails. assuming no rot!

Over a shortish span - say 12ft a regular joist will take at least half a tin. Which is a bath full to the brim of water..and humans. being of very similar density.

Note that you would struggle to carry half a ton to a bedroom in ten

50kg trips. 50kg is VERY heavy. Its about a hundredweight in old money.

Most people today struggle to lift half that.

A desk is about 35kg probably.

A TV is about 15kg.

A person is about 80kg

6 people are half a tonne.

A barrowload you can just push is about 100kg-150kg

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

The building inspector didn't like the laminated beam that I made. He said I had to get an engineer's certificate for it. The engineer wanted me to hang 1500kg from it while he measured the deflection. I got sick of carrying weights upstairs so I hung a lot of

20kg plastic bottles on the beam and filled them with water. The deflection was 2.2mm.
Reply to
Matty F

Domestic imposed floor load is 1.5kN/m2. I'm 90kg, 900N as near as matters so 1 2/3 x me. As said already, deflection is virtually always the determinant of floor joist size, also the same joist size and spacing in generally used for the whole floor so the shorter spans will take a lot more.

Reply to
Tony Bryer

Can you tell us more about the laminated beam. Sounds interesting. Did you build it in place in an upstairs room ? Simon.

Reply to
Simon

In message , MM writes

Nah, go the whole hog - add a waterbed

Reply to
geoff

Around the walls. However, "around" gets a bit general the more one stuffs into the room!

Well, it's only a digital piano. And I wouldn't risk placing a real piano in there, let alone a baby grand.

I am reassured!

MM

Reply to
MM

Way past mid, I'm afraid...

MM

Reply to
MM

Oh, yuk. I can't stand them. I'm sure they'd make me wee constantly.

MM

Reply to
MM

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.