Question for anyone that knows about house construction

Linflas

Lifer
Jan 30, 2001
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How would I go about finding out what the maximum load bearing capacity is in an upstairs room in our house? Is this something that is specified in the building codes that I could go look up? Specifically I want to find out if 350 pounds spread out over an area of 6' X 3' would be ok in an upstairs room. I figure that with the average person weighing between 150 to 200 pounds it would probably not be that big a deal but given that it would be in 1 spot I want to be sure before I do anything.

To be more specific we are thinking of moving this into the same room we used to keep the turtles in an aquarium in because there is a lot more sunlight up there than in our basement. We probably have around 40 gallons of water in it which should roughly weigh about 334 lbs.
 

faZZter

Golden Member
Feb 21, 2001
1,202
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I'm no expert here, but I would certainly think the upstairs room should hold alot more than that 350 lbs to be anywhere near safe.
 

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
48,920
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Originally posted by: faZZter
I'm no expert here, but I would certainly think the upstairs room should hold alot more than that 350 lbs to be anywhere near safe.
 

Blieb

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2000
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When building a multi-level home ... they usually put the drywall flats inside before they throw on the windows. I can't imagine the stacks I've seen to weigh under 1k ...
 

HappyPuppy

Lifer
Apr 5, 2001
16,997
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I had a king size waterbed in the upstairs master bedroom for many years. I figured it weighed at least 1500 lbs. My house is very old, too. Maybe that's a plus. :D
 

Linflas

Lifer
Jan 30, 2001
15,395
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Originally posted by: MCrusty
What kind of turtles do you have?

Red eared sliders. One of them is about the size of a small dinner plate and the other 2 about half that size. Since my computer room is right beneath that room the last thing I want is 40 gallons of water coming down on my PCs. Waterbeds were the first thing I thought about when we started talking about moving the pond and I vaguely recalled that the weight of them was a concern in some situations. This thing weighs a heck of a lot less than a waterbed so tomorrow upstairs it goes.
 

OrganizedChaos

Diamond Member
Apr 21, 2002
4,524
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Originally posted by: Linflas
Originally posted by: MCrusty
What kind of turtles do you have?

Red eared sliders. One of them is about the size of a small dinner plate and the other 2 about half that size. Since my computer room is right beneath that room the last thing I want is 40 gallons of water coming down on my PCs. Waterbeds were the first thing I thought about when we started talking about moving the pond and I vaguely recalled that the weight of them was a concern in some situations. This thing weighs a heck of a lot less than a waterbed so tomorrow upstairs it goes.

do the turtles stay in the pond or do they cruise around the house turtling about? do they need a heatlamp?

/me knows crap about turtles
 

Linflas

Lifer
Jan 30, 2001
15,395
78
91
Originally posted by: OrganizedChaos
Originally posted by: Linflas
Originally posted by: MCrusty
What kind of turtles do you have?

Red eared sliders. One of them is about the size of a small dinner plate and the other 2 about half that size. Since my computer room is right beneath that room the last thing I want is 40 gallons of water coming down on my PCs. Waterbeds were the first thing I thought about when we started talking about moving the pond and I vaguely recalled that the weight of them was a concern in some situations. This thing weighs a heck of a lot less than a waterbed so tomorrow upstairs it goes.

do the turtles stay in the pond or do they cruise around the house turtling about? do they need a heatlamp?

/me knows crap about turtles

They stay in the pond and they need a heat lamp over an area they can come out of the water and bask in. There are all sorts of ways to make a basking area. We are using rocks for ours. The lamp is over the rocks and heats them a bit and the turtles sit up there, sometimes piled on top of one another basking.