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Any house with a floor that cannot handle the weight of 1,000 pounds or less is a house that needs to be condemned. It's not a problem.

Ace30

My 6'1" is around 700 lbs.. it holds fine, but you can tell teh floor is holding some weight.. there's a bit of bounce to it.

Wil the basement of your house be finished, lambo? If not, you could reinforce it yourself. I did on mine when I finished my basement, every room EXCEPT where my piano is.

$3K seems a bit much to reinforce one room.

The other part that we do not know is what stage is the house? Is the floor built and now the contractor has to go back and add supports? Are the materials on site, contractor started and now he looses time waiting on additional material ( I-joists or LVL is usually not a stock item). Like I said we do not have enough info to make a call on this matter.

mjg,

YOu seem to be pretty well versed in construction. What's the code where you live?

We would need to know:
1. Span
2. End support conditions
3. Current design
4. New design
5. Current stage of house
6. Are materials on site
7. lead time for new materials

Ask the builder to give you a complete breakdown on the costs:
1. Material and lead time to get material
2. Labor
3. Overhead and profit

From that you should be able to judge if it is fair since you know what stage the house is in.

Makes me glad my grand is on carpet over concrete in our basement!

I do worry a bit that the stove & dishwasher are almost directly above it. I console myself with the thought that at least I have a separate piano insurance policy in addition to our homeowners.

...

It's a new house still unfinished. Plumbing was just finished this week, electrical is next, and drywall is about two weeks away.

I think it's safe to assume that all materials are still on site and available.

Mama-Check your hose connections. THey will bulge particularly at the fittings before they let go. I once saw a house that had a washing machine hose burst while the owner was away. the basement filled up with water and overflowed before it was discovered.

Mama-Check your hose connections. THey will bulge particularly at the fittings before they let go. I once saw a house that had a washing machine hose burst while the owner was away. the basement filled up with water and overflowed before it was discovered.

I moved back to my second floor (top level) condo. It was built in 1986 - so whatever the codes were back then, I doubt they were as good as they are today. In fact, I know they are not as good in many areas; electrical and plumbing.

My last piano weighed 900 lbs and never fell thru the floor. My current piano weighs 1200 or 1400 lbs (can't remember). It was still in my livingroom this morning when I left.

Either this builder is really dumb, or thinks that you are. Sorry to put it so bluntly. Forget spending any extra money.

Derick


[Edit] I should add that the 2x10 joists run 19' from one support wall to the next. The neighbor's ceiling downstairs hasn't bowed or cracked.

lambo,

Don't worry about the weight of your piano. 750 lb. is nothing. The builder is not honset, and just wants to make money on you. Here is a link I suggest you check out. It helps to understand how to calculate load.

http://www.awc.org/technical/spantables/tutorial.htm

Let me know if you have any questions.

Based on the assumtion that your builder MAY know a thing or two and on the sizeable proposed cost, I would check with an architect/engineering firm and get an answer you will be comfortable with for the long haul.

"It's a new house still unfinished. Plumbing was just finished this week, electrical is next, and drywall is about two weeks away."

This means that the floor has been built which would cost more to make changes. Are your floors 2 x 10 construction, I-joist or LVL?

You also said that materials are on site. Are you saying that the extra materials for the floor are on site?

I guess you should ask your builder or an architect if it is going to be safe to have a house party with 20 or more guests using the room. It is not unusual to have a large number of people in one room at a time on special occasions.

When you told the builder that you were going to place a heavy weight (piano) on the floor, you forced the builder to assume some liability due to today’s society. It is not just a question of will the floor support the piano or not. It probably will. To give you an example the cable that I buy for my crane is rated at about 6,000lbs working load. I could use this cable to pick up 12,000lbs and it would not break (breaking strength is a little over 25,000lbs) but I would have exceeded the design requirements of this cable and by doing so I would be responsible for any problems caused by exceeding the working load.

When you told the builder that you were going to place a grand piano in the room you forced him to respond that the floor need additional reinforcement. What else could he say the room was not designed based on this additional weight. As to the cost. You said that the house is about ready for drywall, which means that the floor is built. Maybe the guy does not want to rework the floor and he priced it accordingly. He might be irritated that you did not tell him this before he built the floor. Then again he could be a crook. Saying that I have a piano on my floor and it has not fallen through is a ridiculous argument. That is not the criteria that you build to. You have not given us enough info to fully evaluate your situation.

If I was building a house and planning on placing a grand piano on the 2nd floor I would certainly beef up the joist framing, but that is me. When I build for myself I greatly exceed the minimum building requirements. You should see the retaining wall that I built. I feel sorry for the guy that has to tear it out in the future.

Very true. The builder might also be thinking "750lbs today and maybe 1400lbs in a few years, not to mention 25 people in the room singing Happy Birthday". The bottom line is we really don't know the entire story.

Good thread.

People sitting in the space a piano uses can weigh as much as the piano. If you had a dance in the same space, the danger of collapse would be much, much greater, because that would be a dynamic load. If there is any danger from the weight of a piano, the room is unsafe to inhabit. It doesn't matter if you add more weight in another part of the room, because, whether a piano is there or not, you can have the same weight as the people that the room should be expected to hold.

The builder may be expressing a legitimate concern of his. He just may not be aware that pianos do not regularly fall through floors. (The image is amusing, isn't is?). So even if he is wrong, he is not necessarily dishonest. Contractors are not known for their interest in grand pianos and piano playing.

This thread reminds me of an old boyfriend, who headed a fire department. The department would receive occasional calls from citizens who were concerned about cats up in trees. You know the old cliche about calling the fire dept. to bring their ladder to get the poor kitty down. Of course, the FD will not actually perform this service. My friend, when confronted with complaining citizens who expected this service, responded with, "Have you ever seen a cat skeleton in a tree?"

Mary