Hi there Tim,
I have an unconventional question that maybe you can answer or point me in a direction. For years I have had a fear of houses collapsing due to the weight of what is inside the house. I will worry when we have friends over or when new furniture is added.
Is there some simple information I can see to understand what kind of weight a house can take? Like an example of " a floor of a house can hold 2 horses" or something in that vein. Am I being silly for worrying when 15 people are over for dinner?
I worry in all houses, currently I am in a 3 story house built in the 50's. I see cracks in the painted ceiling and get scared. Parts of the floor squeak and when some one walks by glasses might shake across the room. Things like that get me all worked up. Any advice?
I really appreciate it- so far all I can think of is moving onto a cement slab.
Hannah
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Hannah,
You would be very surprised to learn the amount of weight an average wood floor system can hold. Most model building codes require the floor system to handle 40 pounds per square foot. This *minimum* strength requirement assumes that the weight would be spread out to a large degree. In other words, if you took a pallet of concrete block and loaded it in the center of the span of the joists, then you could have a failure.
But consider this: The average room size of a house is say 12 by 14. Multiply those numbers and you get 168 square feet. Multiply 168 by 40 and you get 6,720 pounds. That is over 3 tons! If you start to add up the weight of the furniture and people in the average room I doubt you will get close to 1,500 pounds. Even when you have the 15 dinner guests over you are still safe as they may only add another 2,250 pounds to a room.
To further put your mind at ease, if heavy furniture such as a buffet or china cabinet are against walls - most are - and the floor joists under these pieces are resting on a beam or bearing wall below, you can relax. The closer the weight is to a bearing wall or beam the less stress there is on the floor joists supporting the weight.
As for the plaster cracks and squeaking floors, that is fairly normal. I am just about as old as that house and I have some cracks in my skin and I creak when I get up from laying on the floor.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB