Organ and speakers and weight on the floor in house...

[rjsilva]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum but I couldn't decide from the available choices! :)

I'm moving things around in my house and am moving my organ into a different ground floor room. It's an extension to the house—not sure when it was built. In this room is also a grand piano and other music related items. The piano is 610lbs., the organ is probably 400-500lbs, the speakers are another few hundred pounds, and I have other items in the room including a lot of music. The weight is rather concentrated into where these items are. The room also has a bathroom supported on the same flooring.

Should I worry about exceeding the maximum weight limit the floor can hold?

[davidecasteel]

You say it's a "ground floor" room. Why is there a concern? The earth isn't going anywhere. Is the floor raised above the ground somehow? If the floor is laying on a concrete slab, there should be no problem.

David

[toodles]

Here's a pretty good article on the subject: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/article...ium_weight.php

I have never had any problem with nor know of anyone who has had a problem with load bearing from pianos and organs. It seems the design factor is 40 pounds per square foot (per linked article), but this is not based on pressure but on overall load for the floor: i.e., if you have a 10 x 10 ft room, then you have 100 square feet, times 40 and you get 4,000 pounds load for the room. I can't imagine you could exceed the design specs with any reasonable space between the piano, organ, speakers, and other furniture.

[JoeyB3]

I wouldn't rely on anyone on an Internet forum for the final answer for this, that's for sure. If you're THAT concerned, do yourself a favor and hire a local architect to come and look at the situation. I've done that for similar situations before. $200 for a quick visit and either you get the "thumbs up" and you move on, or you have to do some structural reinforcing and save your house! Either way, you'll be glad you hired him.

[rjsilva]

Thanks for the replies!

Very interesting read toodles, thanks!

This extension is not over the basement but it's also not entirely over a concrete slab. From the basement I can see part of the extension because it was built over the steps previously leading up to bilco doors. So I can see the joists, although it kind of disappears past some cinder blocks and so I'm unsure if the concrete slab is closer to the floor beyond that. In any case, with how much I can see the joists are about 3' above the concrete foundation. Part of my concern is that to the eye the room doesn't exude quality—it could have a really great structure but I also wouldn't be surprised to find out there were cost savings at the expense of strength.

Anyway, I realised I do know a builder so I should ask his advice.

[toodles]

I owned a home in California (bay area) where the finish wasn't very good, but where the construction was very solid. Looks are often deceiving.

Is there a crawl space? It would be relatively easy to assess the construction quality if there is one.

If the construction was done under a building permit, then the specifications are likely to meet construction quality requirements. An inspection is a good idea if you suspect problems. Was there an inspection when you bought the house? (If you own it.) If so, that inspection report might provide insight.

[rjsilva]

There is sort of a crawl space, and if I get right in there I can see past the cinder blocks. I only know that because I was running an ethernet cable a while back. However, it's a real pain to get there and I'm not even remotely qualified to assess build quality! The only thing I observed is that the original joists in the basement ceiling are true 2x10s and the new ones are the somewhat smaller modern 2x10s. Beyond that I can't assess anything :)

In any case, the organ and speakers are in. The organ appears much bigger here than where it was! I'm thinking of ditching the sub to save space since the full range do 16' very well and the 32' is pretty lame anyway. Or maybe I'll wait until I get the v2 voicing chips in case those 32's are better.