Structural Damage Question

From: Steve Robertson <steverob_at_hotoffice.com>
Date: Wed Oct 27 09:37:13 1999

On Wednesday, October 27, 1999 9:38 AM, Mike Ford
[SMTP:mikeford_at_socal.rr.com] wrote:
> >I live in a 29 story building. I have 2000 pounds of racks with CPUs in
my
> >"lab" (a room 20' X 20'). I am going to move in another 2-3 thousand
pounds
> >of minis as I am going through my storage and moving them up here. I am
also
> >picking up more minis from a plant in the US. I am placing the mini
racks
> >along the walls in the hope that there is more support there. A real
serious
> >question I have is... Can a room in a building like this support 5000
pounds
> >or more? If someone here has experience with this please tell me if this
is
> >okay.

Buildings are designed to withstand both "live" and "dead" loads. A "live"
load is one where the load is not constant or is moving. IE: people, wind,
etc... A "dead" load is a load that is constant or does not move. IE: the
structure itself.

Although local building codes dictate what loads the building must support,
they are usually pretty consistent. I did a search and found the following
reference:

According to the 1991 standard building code:

Occupancy or Use Live Load (psf)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Libraries:
 Reading rooms 60
 Stack rooms (books and shelving) 125
 Corridors, above first floor 80

Residential: Multifamily houses;
 Private apartments 40
 Public rooms 100
 Corridors 80

Dwellings:
 Sleeping rooms 30
 Attics with storage 30
 Attics without storage 10
 All other rooms 40


So, for a 20' X 20' room in your building the allowable load should be:
20 x 20 X 40(psf) = 16,000 lbs.

If one of your neighbors has a large book collection, they may be putting a
greater load on the building than you are... :-)


Steve Robertson - <steverob_at_hotoffice.com>
Received on Wed Oct 27 1999 - 09:37:13 BST