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How much weight can an upstair room can hold?

I was " confined" to 2 small empty bedrooms for my A/V gear(14x16 and 14X15)and they are both upstairs. I have added up the weight of all my equipments and racks/stands in one room and it's about 400 lbs so far . I am looking into some mono-amps and some speakers for the other room. Being living in a city that tends to have some " foundation" issue, is it safe to load up another 200 lbs equipments in the other empty room. The builder is no longer in business so ther is not much help there. Any one who is in the same boat can share a thought or two ?
andrewdoan
semi
646 posts
 
Older house has an edge because old trees are denser and can support more weight.

You can always spread out the pressure point by placing a platform under your rack, can act as vibration damping device as well.
hevac1
811 posts
 
Semi,
I would check the distance between joists if I were you.
They used 24" centers alot and the joist is usually a true 2X6 in older houses. Today it's 16" centers and the joists are 1.5"X7.5" at best. The issue is, will 24" centers with 2’X6”s hold enough weight? Maybe, but when I remodeled my 3rd floor they made me add joists between the existing joists and onto the existing bowing 2"X6" joists to bring it up to code.
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
No problem.. But if you line the walls floor to ceiling with LPs.. At about 4,000 equals a ton..
I knew a guy who was evicted because his 30,000 LP collection was causing the ceiling in the apt below to crack open from the joists sagging.
andrewdoan OP
223 posts
 
Thank you, guys and thanks to a friend who warned me. Yes, I just now notice a crack about 6 " on the ceiling of the garage where I have put my main rack on the carpet floor in the room above . I wonder what kind of house Kimball Hills built but the house is less than 10 years old and it ain't a cheap one either. It 's time to get busy to pack all the gear and gets rid of them at a loss a again. Time to get ICE stuff. It's just a story of my bad luck.
hevac1
811 posts
 
1 crack is not a problem. Cracks happen throu out the life of a house. They happen as the house settles. Watch the crack and see if it gets longer and you could also have someone come and look at it. No reason to get rid of anything.
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