Safe to have 220lb rack w/ 300# in a 1st floor apt ?

[rrbb]

shoulda probably asked this question before getting all this stuff. ugh.

It's a three story building with 8 apartments on each floor (approx) and it has a basement.

powertec rack
oly bar
300# of plates
FID bench


i googled this and all other threads were about homes/condos. I am hoping a large three story building would be built to endure more than a regular sized house.

[rthawker]

Would you invite five friends or more over to watch a game or play some poker? Even if you all only weighed 150lbs each that's 900lbs right there plus your furniture. Would that concern you? It wouldn't even cross my mind so 600+ pounds of equipment shouldn't be a concern.

[RSXTerrence]

Should be fine. It's really not that much weight as said above.

You should probably be careful with deadlifts tho

[irongrandpa]

Would you invite five friends or more over to watch a game or play some poker? Even if you all only weighed 150lbs each that's 900lbs right there plus your furniture. Would that concern you? It wouldn't even cross my mind so 600+ pounds of equipment shouldn't be a concern.

this^^^^^^. floor framing should be for a min. of 50 lbs. per square foot.

[rrbb]

thanks guys, i appreciate it.

I'm going to get rubber stall mats today and I'll just make sure to do negatives on my DLs and make sure not to drop anything, ever.

BTW, i checked my basement storage closet and the ceiling is sheetrocked so I was unable to see any 2x10s or 2x12s.

[MC707]

I got my 600 pound rack + 300 pounds weights in my second floor room. So far I haven't gone through the floor, but I absolutely do not recommend doing deads on second floor. I have a separate setup in garage with stall mat and crappy oly bar + weights, works great and I can lower the weight without worrying about going through the floor. I don't literally drop the weight though, I lower the weight using counter muscles because it's also part of the exercise, but I wouldn't like to lower weights in a second floor either.

[rrbb]

I got my 600 pound rack + 300 pounds weights in my second floor room. So far I haven't gone through the floor, but I absolutely do not recommend doing deads on second floor. I have a separate setup in garage with stall mat and crappy oly bar + weights, works great and I can lower the weight without worrying about going through the floor. I don't literally drop the weight though, I lower the weight using counter muscles because it's also part of the exercise, but I wouldn't like to lower weights in a second floor either.

I just lightly put my bar onto the safety arms and it definitely vibrates the floor. right now it's on carpet, going to get rubber mats tomorrow.

Does your setup make any sounds/vibrations when you rack the bar?

When I DL i always do negatives on the way down. I never dropped weights even when I had my setup in my parents basement.

plywood underneath the rubber mats... will that do anything to deaden the noise or impact?

do you have rubber mats on your second floor gym?

[irongrandpa]

having a layer of plywood under your mats will distribute the weight even more.

[ProtienandIron]

As has already been mentioned, its not an issue except for deadlifts. The deadlifts might not go through the floor but the noise will be immense. Plywood and stall mats are ideal for this but i would also add 'grass mats' to any potential impact areas. They take a lot of shock out of the landing area before the plates even get to the stall mats. I bought a 1.5 metre x 1 metre grass mate and cut it down the middle to make a piece for each side of my power rack and it works great.

Sorry for the british link, but it shows what I'm talking about.
http://www.technix-rubber.com/shop/s...grassmats.html

[smokeater]

Would you invite five friends or more over to watch a game or play some poker? Even if you all only weighed 150lbs each that's 900lbs right there plus your furniture. Would that concern you? It wouldn't even cross my mind so 600+ pounds of equipment shouldn't be a concern.

That is a bit different because you're talking about a dynamic weight load that will shift weight and be gone by the time the game is over. Static weight loads are much different and wear on the structure differently.

That being said I do think most apartments would be ok. Most are built on concrete slabs (and I assume that is the case here) which are more than capable of handling fully equipped gyms.

A few years ago my brother and I did some work on a house which had a gym on the second floor. The owner had one of those vertical dumbbell racks, which had about 1000lbs on it. We were following some electrical on the floor underneath and noticed that the floor joist had dropped nearly a full inch at the centre of the room. The gym was only about 6 months old. We could actually see where the joist had pulled away from the cross member bracing. it was quite the shock to see. People need to keep in mind, when building home gyms, that residential building codes were not designed with the continuous static weight loads of a home gym in mind. Things like bath tubs were in mind, but people are only in the tub for a few minutes at a time when compared to being filled to capacity with 500lbs of water 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. And if you notice, most tubs are not in the center of a room. They are on a wall, closest to where the joist meets the beam where it is the strongest.

[mr. strength]

Things like bath tubs were in mind, but people are only in the tub for a few minutes at a time when compared to being filled to capacity with 500lbs of water 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. And if you notice, most tubs are not in the center of a room. They are on a wall, closest to where the joist meets the beam where it is the strongest.

Solution: set up gym near outside wall?

[matrix563]

yes but most can support a water bed. thats a static load if there ever was one. mine is above a crawl space and i think about 5000 pounds of equipment downstairs but i'm not doing anything major so i think it will be ok for now.

That is a bit different because you're talking about a dynamic weight load that will shift weight and be gone by the time the game is over. Static weight loads are much different and wear on the structure differently.

That being said I do think most apartments would be ok. Most are built on concrete slabs (and I assume that is the case here) which are more than capable of handling fully equipped gyms.

A few years ago my brother and I did some work on a house which had a gym on the second floor. The owner had one of those vertical dumbbell racks, which had about 1000lbs on it. We were following some electrical on the floor underneath and noticed that the floor joist had dropped nearly a full inch at the centre of the room. The gym was only about 6 months old. We could actually see where the joist had pulled away from the cross member bracing. it was quite the shock to see. People need to keep in mind, when building home gyms, that residential building codes were not designed with the continuous static weight loads of a home gym in mind. Things like bath tubs were in mind, but people are only in the tub for a few minutes at a time when compared to being filled to capacity with 500lbs of water 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. And if you notice, most tubs are not in the center of a room. They are on a wall, closest to where the joist meets the beam where it is the strongest.

[rrbb]

Solution: set up gym near outside wall?

luckily i'm on the end apartment unit and my rack & weights are against the wall.

[smokeater]

yes but most can support a water bed. thats a static load if there ever was one. mine is above a crawl space and i think about 5000 pounds of equipment downstairs but i'm not doing anything major so i think it will be ok for now.

A waterbed certainly would be a static load, no doubt about that. If you put a waterbed on a floor structured with 2x8's, you'd eventually run into serious problems.

[matrix563]

A waterbed certainly would be a static load, no doubt about that. If you put a waterbed on a floor structured with 2x8's, you'd eventually run into serious problems.

i'm not sure what my joists are but the wood is alot thicker than what is used nowadays to build with. the guys fixing the rear part of my attic told me you can't even get the kind of wood they used to replace in the attic's roof at the store anymore. it has to be custom cut. i think i'm at like 10 to 15 pounds per square foot spread out over the floor so its not too bad.

[MC707]

I just lightly put my bar onto the safety arms and it definitely vibrates the floor. right now it's on carpet, going to get rubber mats tomorrow.

Does your setup make any sounds/vibrations when you rack the bar?

When I DL i always do negatives on the way down. I never dropped weights even when I had my setup in my parents basement.

plywood underneath the rubber mats... will that do anything to deaden the noise or impact?

do you have rubber mats on your second floor gym?

Sorry for late answer didn't see your post.

My rack is near the outer wall which I hear is the one that bears the weight (weight bearing wall if memory serves), so I get no vibrations. Then again, I don't lift particularly heavy weight yet, but I don't expect any vibrations regardless of weight. Vibrations in the floor usually happen when the rack is in/near the middle of a room, where the floor joists bend easier. The closer the weight is near to the wall, the better IMO.

I have heard that plywood + rubber mats help a LOT with noise, they don't really help much in distributing weight as plywood + mat still bend under the weight. And yes, it does help reduce impact, at least to protect the floor. The actual floor joists will still receive the force from a deadlift, though.

Yes I have a rubber mat w/out plywood, my monkey chin bar barely touches the ceiling just with the mat so plywood is not really an option.

Cheers

[smokeater]

i'm not sure what my joists are but the wood is alot thicker than what is used nowadays to build with. the guys fixing the rear part of my attic told me you can't even get the kind of wood they used to replace in the attic's roof at the store anymore. it has to be custom cut. i think i'm at like 10 to 15 pounds per square foot spread out over the floor so its not too bad.

Ya if you have a place that was built in the 60's, 70's or even early 80's the wood is thicker. Not to mention they braced them properly. If you have 2x8's the easy solution is to brace between the joists with other 2x8's. Have a 2x8 ever 2 feet or so that that will do a tremendous job of reinforcing the floor. I'd still be cautious about putting crazy heavy weights on it, but if you space them out so the weight is evenly distributed you could get away with it. That had having the heaviest items closest to load bearing walls.

[dumb.bell]

I think I had over 5000lbs in my home gym at the last house. I had it strategically placed next to load bearing walls and supports. All of the weight had been there for several years when I decided to sell the house. I knew the floor hadn't been compromised in any way (2 x 12 floor joist). However, I was afraid this might scare off a potential buyer so I put additional supports in so there wouldn't be any questions. I poured several cement piers under the house and used four vertical 6x6 treated post to support a horizontal 6x6 treated beam that ran perpendicular/under the floor joist at the center of the joist span. Several people questioned whether the equipment might have made the floor sag, in response, I showed them the supports and they all seemed satisfied.

[matrix563]

Ya if you have a place that was built in the 60's, 70's or even early 80's the wood is thicker. Not to mention they braced them properly. If you have 2x8's the easy solution is to brace between the joists with other 2x8's. Have a 2x8 ever 2 feet or so that that will do a tremendous job of reinforcing the floor. I'd still be cautious about putting crazy heavy weights on it, but if you space them out so the weight is evenly distributed you could get away with it. That had having the heaviest items closest to load bearing walls.

it was built in the 30's so even thicker wood . the wood they showed me for roof/attic was even thicker than the wood people use for their wood power racks on here . i'm not for sure but i think the joists are every 16 inches or so.