what weight can a typical upstairs floor cope with?

[danlightbulb]

Hi all,

Not related to DIY but would appreciate any help you guys can give.

I am using an upstairs spare bedroom to do some weight training in. The floor is wooden joists and floorboards.

Typically, (and I know it will depend on joist size, span, supporting wall locations etc), but typically, what is the maximum point load that can normally be placed on an upstairs floor?

Thinking about the act of lifting a bar, I will have my own weight, plus the weight of the bar acting on my feet and in turn the floor, so it is potentially alot of weight over a small area.

Many thanks for any help!

Cheers
Dan

 

[mattysupra]

whats the span of the joists with no support? Is it a 6' room or maybe a 15' room with no support for the joists. Is is stud wall below or brick? Rsj's or any thing? and what is the total weight of the gear?

 

[mattylad]

In other words, "need more input"

 

[danlightbulb]

Thanks for replies so far:

Approx weight of gear would be around 100kg at present (including my weight when lifting). However I am obviously hoping to get stonger so i'd like to work on maybe 150-200kg for total weight during a lift.

The room is about 10 feet by 13 feet but there is a supporting beam half way. So the unsupported distance is about 7 feet. I would be working in the middle of this span (can't be helped due to available space for equipment).

I have had floorboards up in other rooms before, the joists are not huge. I never measured, but would guess 1.75" wide x either 4 or 5" deep. They were at 400mm centres in the other rooms.

So one end of the joists rests on the half way beam, the other rests on an internal brick wall.

Cheers

 

[mattysupra]

cant see your joists being a problem over that span. But the beam will be taken the weight. What size is this beam and its span? Timber or steel? The weak point in your room will be the load bearing of the feet of the bench? How big are the feet on the bench? To be safe you could over board the floorboards with 18mm plywood.

 

[danlightbulb]

Thanks mattysupra;

the large halfway supporting beam is a twin timber beam. Its span is about 12 feet. Each of the twin beams is 2" x 8" deep. This beam is embedded within brick walls both ends.

Regarding the bench, there are 2 scenarios. When i'm using the bench its feet are about 2 foot apart and about a foot long. However when i'm not using the bench i am free lifting, in which case the weight is projected to the floor through my feet only.

Cheers

 

[mattysupra]

you will not be able to lift something that will make you disapear through the floor! The problem will be how big the load bearing area of the bench is. I.e if the feet touching the floor are not spreading the weight then you could break a floorboard. The floor it self will take the weight . I think i would over board the floor with 18mm plywood to be safe.

With lets say your lifting 200kg and you weight is 100kg this is only the same weight as having 4 adults in the room.

 

[Deluks]

Put a couple of scaff boards under each end where the feet are.