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Floor weight limits?

SailorLodestar

SailorLodestar

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Glendale California
I was wondering if anyone here has knowledge about this as I periodically do google searches but seem to get varying answers.

I keep my small arcade on the third floor of an apartment building in Glendale California. Besides the three cabs pictured, I have an Aero Table that I would like to take out of my office and integrate into the arcade to share with guest.

But I'm nervous about the weight limit being that I'm not on the first floor. Even more than that, if something went wrong, theres' a tenant below me who would suffer.

If I put a leveler on the ground, it doesn't seem too sloped. The bubble touches whichever line is closer to the wall showing that the floor slopes ever so slightly toward my couch in the middle of the room. I'm wondering if the floor could handle my Aero table sitting by the back of the couch facing the astro.

Or have I already stacked this room with too much?

Anybody else with an arcade on an upper story of some knowledge of building codes?
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I wouldn't worry about it unless your building is incredibly ancient.

I had eight candies, a Groove Coaster, and Drummania at the last place on the second floor. Place was built in the 60's.
 
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Depending of the type of building (wooden beams, concrete slab) and age it can vary greatly. Most armored concrete buildings are rated 250kg/m2 (and this probably includes a huge safety margin). Unless you're stacking your cabs on top of each others you should be good.
 
I very recently had a major issue where my house was starting to split apart due to the weight and the floor was sagging!

It wasn’t due to arcades though. Being a DJ for the past 25 odd years, I have a collection of vinyl records which amounts to 15,000+ spread over two rooms, neatly on shelves, but were talking tonnes of weight per room, concentrated in horizontal areas with a lot of height (and weight, weight, weight).

They’ve been like that for over a decade at this house, but slowly it began to take its toll. It took two builders a day to pull the house back together in the roof with beams. Now there’s a strut underneath the house to help with the weight and everything seems fine.

I live in a old style house in Australia called a “Queenslander”, which is unique to my region but it’s made out of wood. They withstand the extreme weather however being old, they come with their issues.

Like Apocalypse said it’s all dependent on the structure of the house, the age and also the placement and distribution of weight.
 
You should be able to go to whatever city / state agency that governs building codes and pull your place up (architectural and engineering drawings) and get the data you need to figure out the structural integrity / load bearing capacity of your place.

Or you could look up building codes in your area and as long as your place isn’t clearly 100+ years old you should be able to expect that kid bearing number is legit
 
You know what, of all the ways to die, I guess I'd like to go out with a few candy cabs falling on my head, so I say don't worry about it!
 
Put it this way, your cabs are about the same weight as the average American (around 200 lbs).

If you had 3 friends over, does your floor sink in? Now what about if all 3 of them sat on the couch? That's even more concentrated weight with the additional weight of the couch.

You're in California, right? A lot of buildings are made with reinforced structures to prevent earthquake damage. I would assume they are sturdy enough to handle extra weight, no?

If there is a concern because you feel something wrong or different in the floor, then you should move. I would anticipate a lot of cracks in an area with a weight issue if it was starting to occur.

Have you tried putting your level on different sides of the apartment (away from the cabs) to check for a slope? Maybe by the refrigerator and the stove? I'd check around to find any additional sloping.

I hope some of these explanations put your mind at ease. I think you're going to be ok though.
 
it would help if you knew the direction of the joists under the floor - so you could spread the load and not risk it all being on one beam.
 
The only way you'll know for certain is as suggested above you need to consult the engineering drawings for your building, everything would just be speculation and what old mate down the pub told you.

Think of the candys as just furniture, you could of just as well had 4 fully loaded bookcases with the same weight if not more weight.
 
You can also look at the local building laws to see what the minimum requirements are for live loads. You can assume from there that your building would at least meet these requirements to pass code.
 
I feel sorry for ya'lls backs!

In Florida we have most communal things on the first floor. (Unless you live in a apartment of course).
 
PlayYing said:
I feel sorry for ya'lls backs!

In Florida we have most communal things on the first floor. (Unless you live in a apartment of course).
Click to expand...
Only problem there is that it leaves you open to floods and hurricanes.

Theft too (which is why I like the upper floors)
 
Geez, this is really a simple problem to solve guys.

Just fill the room with candy cabs until the floor collapses, then count the number of candies, rebuild the room, and stay one under that limit next time.

Done.

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