Hi all, I asked this on BreakTime (where I think it belongs) and I did not get much of a reply. So here goes.
I have been given a set of book cases (3 of them 4′ wide each) so they are 12 of case. Each case can hold 7 shelfs (counting the bottom) if you assume 20 to 25 pounds of books per foot (as on the sagulator) you get about 100 pounds per shelf times 7 is 700 pounds per book case times 3 is 2100 pounds of books.
Now if this is the case I wonder if my floor can hold this. I am putting this against an inside wall that runs the same way as the floor trusses so this case will span two trusses (18″ shelf) and run for 12′ along said floor trusses. Is this going to be an issue?
Doug Meyer
Replies
Shouldn't be a safety problem unless the building has some serious structural issues already.
John White, Shop Manager, Fine Woodworking Magazine
Edited 5/15/2007 7:52 pm ET by JohnWW
Well it is a brand new house built last fall and the floor is a truss floor from Truss Joist and they did the engineering on the floor so it should be more then up to spec. In fact they had two options on the floor as it was close to max span for option A and I went with option B as I am a big boy (close to 300 pound myself) and do not like to have a bouncy floor if I can help it.
Still when I was looking at the wieght of all those books I did get concerned.
Sad part is if I was not between jobs this week I could just ask on of the Arch I work with (I am a cad guy by trade) but I have not done anything like floor loading in years and back then we did not use trusses so i wanted a secound opion.
So thanks for the input.
Doug Meyer
I doubt if you'll have any problems. You're looking at a "worst case" (fully loaded with books) floor loading of ~116 lbs/sq. ft and that's a "dead load" near a wall.
At ~300 lbs, you're creating a much larger "live load" as you walk around your house, so if you aren't feeling any bounce in the floor, you should be fine.
The floor will collapse. The walls will fall in. It will be an event not seen since the fall of the house of usher. You need to send me those book cases. Now! ;-)
Doug, I would contact the company that made the trusses, with this question.
Without having the truss span and depth, how do you expect anyone to really know what kind of dead load is acceptable?
If the trusses conform to any of the current building codes, and the use of trusses suggest that the building is of modern construction that would have to be code compliant, they would be more than strong enough to safely handle the load. Buildings are designed with very large safety factors, and there is nothing exceptional about the weight being discussed.
John White
It was more of a general question. I am not the first person to put a book case into a room and run it parralell to the floor trusses. So i was wondering what others had found out.
As for the loading factor most houses (at least in mich) are built to the same min load numbers 10 dead 40 live (this one is built to 12 dead and 40 live) the span is 21' from I beam to basement wall. the trusses are 16" deep and 16" OC. Not in truth the depth still means little as thier are two families of trusses from Truss joist one is heavyer and stronger then the other. So this was really more of a general question and not ment for spicifics.
But really I was wondering it anyone had experience with this type of thing in general. And yes the house is new (moved in in Jan. 07)
As for the book cases. Well they are kind of cheep but I have so many books and so many onther things to do that for now they will hold the books. With luck this winter I will start building good book cases for the whole library.
Doug
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