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Second Floor Weight limit


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Hello all, I'm trying to find out the weight limit of my game room area on my second floor. Its located over my garage area.Room is 12x20. I want to install vinyl plank flooring and notice that the weight for my total Sqft would be around 600# give are take a few # , each plank is 48inL x 7 1/8inw and 10 pc per box at 54.45# per box. I'm a little worried as the carpet I'm replacing is no where near that weight also being that the game room is over the garage the span is longer across not like a second floor bedroom with alot of support from walls underneath. Is there a way to figure this out? Thanks for any input.

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Depending on the age of the structure, most single family residential homes are designed for a uniform distributed live load of between 40 and 50 lbs per square foot. The deadload is already accounted for in the capacity of the structural members.  That being said, at 48x7x10 is an area of about 23 square feet. This comes out to about 2.3 lbs/sq feet. Even if its heavier than carpet, it will marginally eat into the live-load rating capacity of your floor,. Sructurally that likely wouldn't concern me. If you need more assurances or something in writing you'll want to hire a structural engineer. The only thing for is if the space was attic and then converted into occupy-able space. If it used to be attic space, my answer would differ. 

 

Best of luck. 

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2 minutes ago, kraemer94 said:

Purdueenginerd, Thanks for the reply and info I appreciate it . House was built in 97.  Believe me next time before buying flooring I will look at the weight. I was really surprised by it lol.


Yep, 1997 should be designed for 40 to 50 psf live load. At 2.3 you'll be good! 

If you want to confirm, your house is new enough that you should be able to get the drawings from the City of Houston permitting office. Most of the time the live load rating is listed in the general notes.  

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