Will my floor take the weight?

[bagarow]

Hi

We have bought a very heavy solid wood cabinet. I would like your help to determine if my living room hardwood floor can take this weight.

Cabinet info: It weights 580 lbs empty. With our items added to it, I estimate the weight of this cabinet would be 830 lbs. The wood cabinet is 20" deep,

67" wide and 90" high. The cabinet would rest on the floor using 4 levelers. This implies the load on each leveler, will by 830 lbs divided by 4 i.e. about 208 lbs approx per leveler.

The levelers have a 0.75 square inch surface area. This implies the load on the floor through each leveler is 208 lbs / 0.75 square inches = 277 lbs / sq inch.

Floor info: We want to place the cabinet in a ground floor room, butting a wall that is also an exterior wall of the house. [Cabinet would extend 20 inches out from this wall into the room]. The house has a crawl space below. The flooring in the room is Bruce prefinished hardwood.

Can you advise on whether my floor can take the weight of the cabinet? Is there additional data I need to gather, before this question can be answered?

Thanks a lot for your help Bob

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, I don't know about your cabinet. I have a 6 feet grand piano sitting in my living room and it did not cause any trouble. Also 3 curio cabinets full of stuffs along the walls. Been 12 years since we moved in after having this house built which has 12x8 inch laminated beam with 2x10 inch joist 16 inch OC on a concrete fuul basement.

[Whomever]

Hi Bob

Using a live load standard of 40 lbs psf, I would say your going to be fine.

What I would do is find out what your floor joists are, 2x8, 2x10,

2x12, engineered joist etc. Note the species/grade also. Then go to a span table and determined what the floor will accept.

Personally I would be more concerned with movement. Walking towards the cabinet can sometimes resonate into the joists. Especially on the floating floors.

I would be inclined to nail two 2x6's together and firm up underneath with a couple screw jacks about 20 inches from the foundation wall. Just leaving the jacks there of course.

I would also find some way to anchor it to the wall, for safety.

I'm not a certified carpenter Bob, but this is what I would do.

Cheers Dale

[mm]

Good. This means no one will be killed when the cabinet plunges through the hole.

If you have doubts, get some steel plates to put under the legs. You can arrange this so they don't show.

[robson]

how would you do that?

[albert landa]

Are you sure you have the right newsgroup?

[albert landa]

Are you sure you have the right newsgroup?

[albert landa]

Are you sure you have the right newsgroup?

[roddkay]

[e-mail] wrote in news:1168488108.320486.21110 @k58g2000hse.googlegroups.com:

If this were my situation, I would spend $50 to talk to a Strutural Engineer. I'd take all the information you have gathered along with some photos and ask his/her opinion. Then, follow the advice.

(This also has the virtue that when your cabinet falls through the floor you have someone to sue for the repairs.)

P.S. I suspect that if it is safe to have a woman on spike heels walking on your floor without damage, your weight of 277 lb. should be no problem, but I am not an expert so don't sue ME!

[Oztech]

One way to find out......suck it and see.....

[Michael Bulatovich]

You don't mention the floor assembly at all, accept for the finish, which is irrelevent.

[eromlignod]

That's not really that much weight for a floor. If distributed, that comes out to about 90 pounds per square foot, which is nothing.

Think of it this way. A person can stand comfortably in a 1' x 2' space of floor. That's 2 square feet and 90 lbs/sq ft would be the equivalent of a 180-lb person (an average man). An ordinary floor should be able to easily support a room completely filled with people.

A concentrated (non-distributed) load would put more stress at individual spots, but the floor boards largely distribute the load among the joists anyway. The only worry with a concetrated load might be piercing through the floorboard at a spot. If it's good hard wood there should be no concern...besides, your load is no worse than a

208-lb person standing on one foot.

Don Mechanical Engineer Kansas City

[sonofabitchsky]

580lb empty, solid wood, no shit. What is this thing? Pictures? Why is it built so heavily?

[e-mail] wrote:

[bagarow]

Thanks to all for the info. Below is additional information based on the questions you asked.

irrelevent.

The sub floor is supported by I-Joists from Boise - called All Joist that are I shaped with a 2x3 on the top and 2x3 on the bottom. In between is what seems like OSB board 3/8" think. The total height from top of top 2x3 to bottom of bottom 2x3 is 11 7/8". These I joists are spaced 19.2" from each other.

The length/span of the I-Joist is 29 feet 5 inches. The I Joists run from front of the house to the back. On the front end is the front foundation wall. On the backend is the back foundation wall. About 12 feet from the front, there is four 2x10s that run left to right i.e. are perpendicular to the I-Joists.

The room in question is in the front left corner of the house. The room wall length running front to back is 11 feet 9 inches .The width of the room left to right is 13 feet 5 inches. The cabinet would be placed.

The left wall of the room running front towards back of house is an exterior wall - The cabinet would be placed parallel to & butting this wall

The front of the cabinet would be parallel to an I Joist - with the cabinet width being 67 inches. The cabinet depth is 20 inches - so I imagine that the cabinet will probably cross over a I Joist somewhere - but none of the levelers on the cabinet probably will exactly on top of a I-Joist.

The finished flooring is Bruce pre-finished hardwood oak strips 3/4" x

2 1/4" nailed down.

The subfloor is OSB board.

Please advise

Thanks Bob

[mm]

Because it's a cabinet, I'm assuming that the sides come almost to the floor. Also because of the size and bulk, I'm assuming they come almost to the floor, because I think a really big cabinet would look strange standing on legs. OTOH, I'm no designer and maybe it does have legs, in which case, maybe you woulld have to put down the steel plate and then cover that with some more attractive cover, carpet, or plywood, maybe with quarter round at the edges.

I don't think the steel plate would have to be very thick to distribute the weight from just below the leg to a couple inches in all directions. Thicker would get 4 or 5 inches in all directions if the plate went in those directions. This would help if the floor were week but the plate extended over joists that are I'm sure stronger than the floor.

[CWatters]

Do the same calc for your wife in stilettos :-)

800lbs is equivalent to about 4 people.

[Barold]

It doesn't look good Bob. Most floors in homes aren't made to withstand furniture.

[Goedjn]

Well, I agree that there's no danger of a collapse or punch-through if the floor was built anywhere near to code, but I think I'd still put coasters under the four legs to limit denting and scarring (of the floor) when people slide the furniture around.

[SteveF]

No guarantees on this answer but this is what I would do.

That's a pretty heavy cabinet, but if you and 3 buddies stand together in your living room, the floor doesn't collapse. But wood can settle over time. In my living room there is a noticeable depression where the stone fireplace lintel (maybe 400 lbs) was set on the floor while the house was being built.

So, I'd make some wood blocks, maybe 2" x 2" or 3" by 3" and put them under each leveling leg to spread the load. Put the cabinet against the wall so the feet are between the joists. Then, in the crawlspace, build two columns out of concrete blocks and wood shims (put them in tight) under the floor where the two front legs are located. You can get wide hardwood shims from a mobile home supply company.

Good luck. Steve.

[mm]

I would want to put coasters under her too.

Barely related but in the 60's I used to attend a social hall, where there were often receiving lines. At the right angle, I notice the scores or hundreds of indentations in the asbestos? commerical quality tile floor where the women had stood in the their high heels.