An average safe weight for wooden house flooring?

[Dungannon Gunner]

I will soon take delivery of a 660 pound safe and the size is 30” wide and 27.5 deep… So, let us add maybe 200 pounds in guns and ammo. Now that puts us at 880 pounds. Does anybody know how much weight a typical second floor wooden house floor will hold? The house was built in 1999.

[stepnmud#33546]

modulus of elasticity chart indicates:

 

http://www.awc.org/pdf/WSDD/C2B.pdf

[Seldom Seen #16162]

No but I'll bet it will be a basement safe in the event of a fire.

[Adirondack Jack, SASS #53440]

Placed near an outside or other load bearing wall ya ought to be fine. Beware weak stairs when moving it. Use good thick planks as ramps to spread out weight.

[Cliff Hanger #3720LR]

27.5" x 30" = 825 sq inch foot print = 5.729 sq ft

 

880 pound on foot print = 153.6 pounds per square foot

 

or 1.066 pounds per sq inch.

 

Now we need to know what your floor is spected out to with stand continuously.

[BlackhawkPaul]

Got a basement? If so, get some good sump pro battery back up backup water pumps. Have a pro with the special safe moving "foot" tool help put the safe up or down the stairs and avoid disaster. I can't figure out that load bearing computation above

[Captain Woodrow Cahill, SASS # 54363]

Two other things to consider: spacing of the joists and what the floor is made of. If they're on 24" centers and the floor is a single layer of 3/4" plywood, like some houses in that era were constructed, you might have some serious structural problems down the road.

[Hellfire # 35333L]

If your home has 2x6 floor joists you'll be just fine. Mine weighs 990 lbs empty and its on the second floor.

 

Hellfire

[Malpais Mike]

Hello the camp! You can always install a lolly column under it for support. 'Course, if that winds being in the entry or the front room, you may have issues with the war department. You can always call it a tall scratching pole or hat rack. My .02 and a 3rd. mm

[Assassin]

I will soon take delivery of a 660 pound safe and the size is 30” wide and 27.5 deep… So, let us add maybe 200 pounds in guns and ammo. Now that puts us at 880 pounds. Does anybody know how much weight a typical second floor wooden house floor will hold? The house was built in 1999.

 

 

Let's say you weigh 200 pounds and are standing on one foot, your foot is approx. 12" long and 4" wide. That'll put you at 600 pounds per square foot. If the floor is not spongy I would not worry about it. Like AJ said, keep it near an outside wall or on top of a load bearing wall and you should be fine. If you don't feel comfortable build a platform around 4 feet wide and 27.5 inches deep and set your safe on that for better weight distribution. What would happen if a 200 pound man was sitting on a chair with those little 1 inch diameter glides on the bottom of the legs, approx 50 pounds per square inch. That's live load, not dead load.

 

If you want to figure the exact amount your floor is designed for I'll need the size of your floor joist, the span, and the spacing between joists. Also, the type of wood of the joist. Houses are designed for live loads and dead loads. Live loads are things that move around; people, wheel chairs, vaccuums, or anything mobile. Dead weight is pretty much static weight. As a rule dead weight is about 20% of live weight. You have right at 5 square feet as a footprint on your safe, the 4 foot X 27.5 inch platform will spread your weight to an additional joist, and enlarge your footprint to around 9 square feet. Therefore if the safe is 900 pounds you're looking at 100 pounds per square foot vs. 180 pounds per square foot without the platform. You can also build a bigger platform if you are not happy with 100 pounds per square foot. It might prevent some settling if the safe is in that spot for a long time.

 

Mine is on the concrete floor in the basement.

 

Congrats on your new safe.

 

LL'

[Three Gun Cole]

Most building codes are main floors 50 pounds per square foot and sleeping rooms can be 40 lbs per foot

 

most will hold 250% weight without problems as long as its not in the middle of the span and not covering the whole room.

 

 

 

good luck,

 

3GC

[Cpt Dan Blodgett, SASS #75655]

If you have a problem my house sits on a concrete slab, your safe and contents are welcome. Will need the combo as well.

 

Just trying to be neighborly

[Adirondack Jack, SASS #53440]

Fer cryin out loud, is yer house made of match sticks? I got a large ammo can full of lead ingots that weighs over 400 lbs in my shop. The shop is only 2X4 joists on top of 4X4 runners, and 5/8 ply on top of that. I wheeled the box of lead in on a hand cart (400 lbs on the contact patch of those two little tires), and slid it up against the wall to prevent the LONG TERM issues that might cause the floor to sag, sweet as ya please. Nothing broke, etc. I can gaurandammtee my shed ain't built as well as a "per code" house. Yer fridge weighs how much? It sits on those four little feet..... Two big people on a couch puts well over 600 lbs on four or six small legs. The MOST weight you will ever concentrate on one spot of a floor is a lady in spike heels. Yet we don't see a rash of them breaking through floors now do we? You figure it out.

[Rye Miles #13621]

They've been puttin upright and grand pianos in houses fer over 300 years now. Upright pianos can weigh 800-1000 lbs. A 7' grand can weigh somewhere in that neighborhood too. I think a house built in 1999 would have strong enough flooring for that. Think of 4 --200 lb. people standing in that spot. I don't think they'd fall through. Rye

[Quick Draw Granpaw #48525]

Very good question! I placed my safe on the second floor in

the closet of the spare room. My safe weighed 480 pounds

empty, add about 180 pounds for the firearms and you have 660

pounds. I never experienced any problems, well that was until

I sold it and had to move it back down stairs! I will never do that

again......

Happy trails

QDG

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

I put two of my Zanotti safes against an outside wall. They are not weighing on the 2x10 floor joists as much as they are on the foundation. I imagine that if I put them in the middle of the room I might have to consider the load.

[Cowboy Rick, SASS #49739L]

Just note that concentrated loads over time can deflect wood framing. Most deflection will happen if the load is placed mid-span. Modern houses built under modern codes should be fine, especially near joist bearing points or over bearing walls. The 50# live load is multiplied by the area between bearing points. A 14'x 16' room should hold over 11,000 pounds of "live" load. I still design houses with the refrigerator and washing machines near a bearing wall or over a beam.

 

Bottom line, don't worry.

 

CR

[Fairshake]

My wife and I are home designers. We are not architects but draftsman. She has been in the business over 30 years. By just saying the home was built in 1999 leaves several questions unanswered. If your home was what is called a spec home it will have a different floor than what is called a custom home. A spec home is built by the builder at the lowest possible cost so that he makes a better profit. A custom home has many features that are called out by the buyer as the home is what is known as a pre sold. The spec home is built for the general market and has no buyer. A custom home could have 3/4 in plywood with real 3/4 wood which is very strong. A spec home could have the 3/4 plywood but only 1/8 laminate wood which is not very strong. Then you have to know if your area has good building codes which require at least 2x10 floor joist or better yet 2x12 which are placed 12 inch centers for a second floor living area. This all depends on the different spans you have on your second floor.

[Rye Miles #13621]

........like I said they've been puttin 800 lb. pianos in houses fer 300 years. It'll be fine.

[Dungannon Gunner]

Thanks pards! I sure do appreciate all the information. We sure got a lot of smart people in our group.

Thanks again!