WEIGHING HEAVY ON HOMES? Pubblico Deposited
BOOKS
The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 49, December 5, 2004, Article 10
BOOKS: WEIGHING HEAVY ON HOMES?
Last week Nick Graver asked: " Since average homes
are built for typical room occupancy, most book collections
place a much heavier strain on them, long term. Have
homes sustained cracks or damage due to the weight of
collections?"Alan Luedeking writes: "My advice to Mr. Graver: Choose
not to locate your numismatic library, your waterbed and
your grand piano on the second floor.David Davis writes: " I am not sure if I have ever seen anything
either written or discussed on the subject. It would seem
prudent to anyone designing a new home to let their architect
know about the size of their library and method of storing
books. As I keep almost all of my books in barrister bookcases
that are relocatable and of different heights due to the ability
to stack same, I designed my bonus room (soon to be my
library, I hope) over the garage to carry 125 lbs. square foot
instead of the typical 50 to 60 used for conventional homes.
I used barn trusses instead of residential trusses. The fact that
most bookcases are located on the periphery of a room which
are more likely to be over weight bearing walls or beams probably
saves most floors. Such problems are the reason most remodellers
have to be very cautious when asked to remove walls in older houses."Granvyl Hulse writes: "My house is a 130 year old fifteen room
two and a half story wooden building. It was in the attic that I
stored the Numismatic International library until recently.
About ten years after I took on the job as NI Librarian, and
before I had my cataract operations, my late wife called me
into the living room on the first floor, and pointing to the ceiling,
asked me if I saw anything unusual. One look with my glasses
off and I headed to the lumber yard and picked up two eight by
eight inch eight foot long beams. One was placed in the
basement, and after jacking up the cross beam on the
living room ceiling the second was placed directly above
the basement beam.The weight of the books in the attic was literally
forcing the house to sag inward. I am happy to say that
I have had no further problems, but if my wife had not
spotted the living room ceiling sagging we, and the l
ibrary, would have eventually descended into the basement.Joe Boling writes: "When Fred Schwan built his (then-new)
house in Port Clinton, he had a full wall (floor to high ceiling
with ladder) book case installed. As he loaded it, the wall
began to sag and crack. The solution was to go under the
house and install wedges on the foundation pilings that
were supporting that wall.Books are not the only load-creator. Safes also create
massive floor loads. One reason I could never live in
a condo is that there are none that will support my
two-ton safe (that was the weight before it was filled)
not to mention the problem of getting it to any floor
above the ground level - it has to come in through a
garage with no steps)."- 2004-12-05
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