When I think of the timbers, boards, tiles, plaster, pipe and even paint etc that have passed over our threshold over the years with much less being taken out, I wonder if the place is liable to fall down.
Yes, I just did a rough calc on our basement walls and floor and that came out as 400 tonnes. Two storeys of timber framing above that plus a couple of extensions (each on their own concrete foundations)...
The main beams supporting the ground floor are 6x8" supported on concrete pillars, and the pillars are probably a tonne apiece. I've no idea what the joists for the upper floor are, but they must be quite significant too - the upper floor occupies a smaller footprint than the lower, so they're supporting the whole front wall of the upper floor, along with the roof.
Nah, it's all downward action/forces for the most part, innit? It did occur to me, that same query, as I added floors, ceilings, and other gubbins to my shell, but I reasoned that for decades it had withstood much greater loads and forces from its previous fixtures and fittings - ie, drive, heating and pumping machinery.
I've often thought that if gravity were to be reversed stuff would fly all over. Just think, if you'd forgotten the pull the chain you'd go into the toilet and the shit would be on the ceiling. The more I think about it the more worried I get. Is there any likelihood of it happening? Any scientists here to put my mid at rest?
No, you need a euthanasist for that.. Science can not guarantee the universe will not fly apart any second. It merely can report that it hasn't done so in the past, but then if it had, we wouldn't be here to notice the facts.
In recent years (for general housing) the answer to that is probably proportional to the age of the property. The more recent the build, the less should be stored aloft!
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