# how much weight can floorboards take?



## big (Sep 14, 2004)

Any builders on here?

What is the safe weight limit on ordinary floorboards in a house?

Thanks


----------



## oggy1992 (Aug 13, 2007)

depends mate, depends how much weight is in a certain place, the smaller surface area the bigger overall pressure, will be put on the floorboards,

how big is the thing?


----------



## The_Kernal (Apr 5, 2008)

big said:


> Any builders on here?
> 
> What is the safe weight limit on ordinary floorboards in a house?
> 
> Thanks


Is it because you Uber Huge or something like a big fish tank that weight alot when its full??


----------



## evad (Mar 17, 2008)

as above its all about pressure aand it being evenly distributed

a bath is a good example, that much weight due to a full bath needs to be distributed across the whole bath size


----------



## s4m (Oct 25, 2008)

I guess it depends how spread out the weight is, i have seen some pretty big fish tanks with over a tonne of water in but they are 6 ft long, im no expert tho mate.


----------



## oggy1992 (Aug 13, 2007)

s4m said:


> I guess it depends how spread out the weight is, i have seen some pretty big fish tanks with over a tonne of water in but they are 6 ft long, im no expert tho mate.


thats some big **** fish tank :thumb:


----------



## evad (Mar 17, 2008)

is that one of them crocodile tanks?


----------



## Slamdog (Jun 11, 2007)

like its been sain, you need to know the square footage of the object. there is a difference though in how it sits on the floor too.. a 6'x2'x2' tank full of water needs to be on the floor itself or on a stand that is a frame 6'x2'. any other stand would concentrate the weight in a small area, increasing the load considerably...

think wimmins shoes.... flatties spread the weight around but a pair of stillettos can exert hundreds of kilos of downforce into a 5mm circle...


----------



## s4m (Oct 25, 2008)

oggy1992 said:


> thats some big **** fish tank :thumb:


I know mate the one i saw had an 18" piranha in it, it used to try and chase you as you walked past the tank!


----------



## big (Sep 14, 2004)

Thanks guys, reps all round xx

Probably a stupid question to those in the know... but I'm talking in terms of weights, downstairs in a room, possibly not a concrete-floor utility room

I currently have my weights in the garage, but moving soon and may not get a place with a garage.

I am talking a hefty power rack, bench and 300kg or so of weights. So if we take a rack deadlift, we are talking me (105kg or so) plus 300kg and the rack around me... that's way too much for floorboards isn't it?

If it's too much, I'll only look at places with a garage... even though it's fcuking freezing training outside at the moment lol


----------



## oggy1992 (Aug 13, 2007)

big said:


> Thanks guys, reps all round xx
> 
> Probably a stupid question to those in the know... but I'm talking in terms of weights, downstairs in a room, possibly not a concrete-floor utility room
> 
> ...


nah mate, get some floor protectors, and im sure floorboards will be able to hold 400kg, but not 100%


----------



## oggy1992 (Aug 13, 2007)

s4m said:


> I know mate the one i saw had an 18" piranha in it, it used to try and chase you as you walked past the tank!


wow:tongue:


----------



## flapjack (Mar 1, 2008)

In Reality thats probably less weight than a couple of couches full of lazy bastards in front of a large TV


----------



## oggy1992 (Aug 13, 2007)

flapjack said:


> In Reality thats probably less weight than a couple of couches full of lazy bastards in front of a large TV


true, just walk into my mothers and you have a few tonne on the couch the lazy ****s :tongue:


----------



## evad (Mar 17, 2008)

yeah good point above but where you drop/place down the weight the force is distributed just on the area where the dumbells meet the floor

the setee full of fat people is sistributed more across (there is a bigger surface area)

i would not personally do that much weight in an upstairs room mate, downstairs maybe

garage trainings great, i trained in me mum and dads for about 6 years its great in this weather cos you can work that much harder to warm up


----------



## pea head (May 28, 2008)

That does sound like some serious weight for floorboards.. i must admit though im no expert with this kind of thing as my mum only let me have 50kg weight set when i lived at home. 

Is there anything on google maybe which might help??


----------



## eurgar (May 5, 2008)

dont think you really need to worry about the weight but the problem you will have is if you drop weights you would be much better with a concreate floor.


----------



## oggy1992 (Aug 13, 2007)

davetherave said:


> i would not personally do that much weight in an upstairs room mate, downstairs maybe


you wouldnt be upstairs for long with that weight, you'd find yourself in a pile, few broken bones, in your kitchen or something!


----------



## John Wood (Apr 13, 2008)

If its a convetional wooden floor on the ground floor [timber floor boards or t&g chipboard panals] then they are only layed on 4x2 joists supported at 6ft center's on a dwalf wall the span of the room i.e. 12ft wide room, and there for will not be strong enough to take v/heavy weight

You would be ok if the floor is of a ashfelt covering as this is layed on the concreat foundation

I have over 45yrs in the building trade

John

Even on a conreat floor you'l need to build a wooden lifting platform for protection;; as dropping weights will break the concreat sufface up


----------



## bkoz (Apr 29, 2008)

If the your putting some thing heavy in.Find the joists and spread the weight over that area.The joists under the floor either go into brick work or on hangers. your floor can handle a fair bit of weight......


----------



## TH0R (Aug 15, 2007)

As John has said above, its not the floorboard that takes the weight but the joist size and the spacings between them (centers) and also the supporting walls, a floorboard will not

take much weight at all, if your thinking about putting weights on a timber floor then you must get it reinforced as you will smash through it in no time, better still it needs

to be concrete.

I'd recommend keeping it in the garage


----------



## donggle (Aug 28, 2007)

davetherave said:


> *yeah good point above but where you drop/place down the weight the force is distributed just on the area where the dumbells meet the floor*
> 
> *
> the setee full of fat people is sistributed more across (there is a bigger surface area)*
> ...


i don't know, if you have 4 fatties on one settee, each person about 120kg... they distribute their weight onto 4 castor wheels.

i'm no builder, but i think if you put a solid piece of wood under the rack, you could probably even out the weight over a larger surface area. also if you could line the base of the rack up over the joists underneath that the floor boards rest on, you could probably use more weight that in the middle of the floorboard.


----------



## ARNIE (Dec 19, 2006)

i wouldnt go over max around 140kg a square meter this is an average rating for wooden floors.


----------



## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

Heya Big,

I put up a 6foot by 2foot by 2foot fish tank in an upstairs flat! I was told by a builder friend to place the tank across the boards not in line with them and as close to a wall as possible.

Hope that helps with your home gym mate.

SD


----------



## evad (Mar 17, 2008)

> i don't know, if you have 4 fatties on one settee, each person about 120kg... they distribute their weight onto 4 castor wheels.


alright fair do's, my settee's dont have castor wheels so good point


----------



## BLUE(UK) (Jan 9, 2008)

Just wrote a detailed reply and lost the fokker!! 

Anyways,to quickly sum it up...all houses have different spec joist sizes and spacings and methods of hanging the joists.Dependant upon these specs will be whether you can or cant do this.

If in doubt,get a log cabin cos a collapsed floor will cost you a few quid in repairs.


----------



## ghostdog (May 14, 2008)

as has been said mate, weights not such a good idea upstairs.

I was in the loft when I lived at my mums and had a 6ft fish tank setup for Mbunas (which means lots and lots of rocks, more rocks than swim space) which was fine up there as it sat along one of our girders.

Things that are likely to move about are probably a bad idea.

Although I lost the really informative link I used as reference I do remember this tip - be wary when calculating joist strength etc as measurements have changed. Where they used to be generous (2x4 meant "2 n a bit by 4 n some" everyones houses were a bit more robust than anticipated. In todays world they are much more accurate (or miserly, depending how you see it) so 2x4 means literally "2x4 down to ninja-precise, molecular level"). It's anal thinking but could make the difference between holding the load or dropping it through the floor.


----------

