Considering moving record collection upstairs, concerned about the weight

I have maybe 4000 LPs stored in the basement, and I am giving consideration to relocating them to an 11' x 13' room on the top floor, placed against two opposing walls. FWIW the house was built in 1961.

My concern is whether the floor can handle the weight.

I am pretty sure the two walls are both load-bearing. One is on the outside of the house. The other one supports the peak of the roof's self-supporting arch, and I'm pretty sure there are metal support beams inside the wall running all the way down to the first floor. (One metal support beam was exposed during a bathroom renovation downstairs on the other side of the house, but in line with the peak of the roof.)

Can anyone offer any insight into whether this is a good or bad idea, or if there are specific precautions I should take?

 

That's around 2500 pounds of extra load, not counting the storage racks, probably OK if distributed, but good idea to get a professional opinion.

 

Not familiar with US construction methods, so I guess it all depends on your joists and boards, I've seen a lot more records in similar rooms with absolutely no issues, I've also seen what was admittedly more records causing majors issues and the downstairs ceiling to bow, use shelving with a large footprint to spread the weight and also fixed to and supported by the load bearing walls and you should have no problems, even if you don't have I beams, if you do have them then chances are they can more than handle the weight, definitely get professional advice if in any doubt though.

 

I appreciate the responses!

The room where the records will go is on the right side of the house directly above the bush. Some of the records will be along the right side of the house and the rest will go along a wall that is in line with the peak of the roof.

If you look closely, you can see the exposed end of a horizontal wooden beam that runs along the peak of the roof and is buried inside the room's wall, and that beam has to be supported by something, right?

 

According to the internet a bath full of water weighs about 650lb and they are usually upstairs.

In a similar vein I filled a birthing pool on the third floor of a Georgian townhouse and it didn't collapse. That must have been in the 2000lb range at a guess.

But if your house collapses don't come running to me.

 

That's a nice place!

 

Thank you!

It was designed by MIT-educated local architect, Walter Pierce.

 

Doing some math...

Let's assume that the floor is designed to support 30 pounds per square foot. An 11' x 13' room is 143 square feet, which means it can support approximately 4290 lbs.

Now let's assume the average weight of an LP is 180 grams = approx .4 lbs.

4000 LPs x .4 lbs = 1600 lbs.

Even factoring in the weight of the shelving, it would appear that this is OK, especially since approximately 1000 lbs would be along one wall and approximately 600 lbs along the other wall.

Are my calculations accurate?

 

I'm not structural engineer, but the load will be distributed across the floor, it's not like you have 1600lbs per square foot, likewise if you choose shelving that can be fixed to load bearing walls by long bolts then most of the weight will be supported by the walls, also try and run the shelves in the same direction as the floor boards at 90 degrees to the joists so the load is spread evenly over the joists.

If you were in the UK it would be easier to advise as the quality of housing often varies by when it was built, I live in a pre war house and the floors are great, decent joists and lovely long Baltic pine boards, but there are plenty of houses that look like they were built from sticks or rubble, it also depends on who it was built for, my guess is your house was built well without cutting corners and should be fine.

 

That sounds about right. Thirty pounds per square foot sounds like it's not nearly enough - I can exceed that by a factor of ten just by standing on one leg, but that 30 pounds is an average over the entire floor, not just the parts of the floor that actually have loads resting on them (as you've correctly calculated).

 

Some more calculations.

Let's assume there are 300 LPs per square foot (50 LPs/cube, stacked 6 cubes high).

300 x .4 lbs = 120 lbs. If that was too much of a load, the house would have fallen down by now.

 

When I joined 15 years ago, Steve promised no math.

 

Sorry, Steve!

 

If I’m reading these calculations right, and I like to believe that I am, that means you have capacity for an additional 10,725 more records!!!

 

It'll be fine. I had 5000 upstairs in a 100 yr old home and they were along inside walls. It's all about ppsi. A big guy can weigh 300 lbs and his weight distributed in a 1 foot area when he takes steps.
-Bill

 

Best thing I've heard all year!

 

Would you be happy to place a dining table in that room, and have ... 4? 6? 8 people sit around it?

If so, calculate what that loading would be, most likely in the centre of the room, and see if that is greater than the above calculation based on all of your LPs being 180gm pressings .....

I think you'll find the diners weigh considerably more. And your LPs will be around the edge of the room, where all the support is.

 

I think the OP is fine. But I will state that none of the math examples would have gotten anybody a passing grade in a Strengths of Materials class. The example that a 300 lb man can walk on the flooring is decent reasoning though. I just wish the OP well in moving all those records. I moved over 2000 record to my temporary living quarters for a contract job a few years ago. I specifically rented an apartment on the 1st floor to avoid moving that many records up stairways. This double my record collection. This going to take a lot of effort.

 

Some people place pianos upstairs, both upright and grand. Look up the typical weight of each, and consider that their weight is concentrated on three or four point supports - their castors - and that these usually do NOT correspond with any joists or sub-flooring. The floorboards are taking all the weight, and are not deforming under it. A grand piano is typically placed away from a wall, with at least one leg some four feet to eight feet away from it.

Again, compare this to estimated weight of records, which will be spread over the flat base of shelving or racking, and will be at the wall.

 

Moving the records up there should pose no problem at all if the house is sound. That said, You should look into removing that giant bush. That home is too nice to keep hidden.

 

Wow you have a "ton" of records!

Thank you...thank you...I am here all night...2 drink minimum.

 

No doubt to find the jokes funny.

 

Just my experience, as every house is built differently, I have around 4000 LPs, actually they are 3877 records in my Excel database, all stored in an upstairs room and there is absolutely no problem.
You should probably be fine.
We also have a grand Steinway and we were advised never to move it upstairs.

 

Awesome! Steinways have a sweet beautiful sound. What do you play on it? Is it a baby grand? I can only imagine how much that weighs...

 

This is one of those times I'd hate to be the one who says "It'll be fine" and you check back in next month with another pic of the house and LP's scattered all over the first floor!

It's hard to say without knowing details of the construction, where your load bearing walls are, etc. Also depends what you already have up there.

Tough to answer this one on the net with any certainty.... normally most second floors are built to handle that kind of weight, and if the house is solidly built and this wasn't an addition added later, I bet it's fine, but again no nothing about the construction or situation so that's a tentative rec.