Can you put a waterbed on the second floor

Now pounds sounds like a lot of weight and it is. That number alone might give some people pause until they do the math and can see that the weight is distributed over 36 square feet and the load on the floor system is 36 pounds per square foot. The load limit for the average residential flooring system, built to code, is a minimum of 40 pounds per square foot.

Now let us look at the weight and the potential floor load of the average household refrigerator. A modern refrigerator with a freezer, icemaker and all the usual accoutrements could weight more than pounds.

If we allow a generous nine square feet of floor space, the load on the flooring system could be well in excess of 44 pounds per square foot, even more when the refrigerator is loaded with groceries. In fact the footprint of the refrigerator could be slightly smaller thereby increasing the load per square foot. In all fairness to those folks who think that it is likely that a waterbed could fall through the floor, it is possible, though not very probable.

Placing any heavy object in a house with a substandard flooring system could be an invitation to trouble. A flooring system that is damaged or weakened by fire, dry rot or termite infestation could fail under load whether from a waterbed, refrigerator or other load source. Likewise a flooring system that was not constructed in accordance with modern codes could be prone to failure under even a normal floor loading condition.

So the burden, so to speak, is on the waterbed owner to make sure that floor is solid and up to code. The fact is that refrigerators and waterbeds are not falling through the floor.

Press ESC to cancel. Skip to content Home Philosophy Can you have a water bed upstairs? Ben Davis April 23, Can you have a water bed upstairs? How much weight can an upstairs floor hold? Can you die from a water bed? Why are waterbeds dangerous?

How often should you replace a waterbed mattress? Can you sleep on a cold waterbed? Can you put a regular mattress in a waterbed?

Is water bed better than air bed? What type of waterbed is the best? Are waterbeds bad for your back? Can you put fish in a waterbed? Well, if your floor cannot support a waterbed, you've got much bigger problems than that.

You had better move, and soon. Most people are ignorant of the fact that a properly filled water mattress puts less stress on it's supporting structure than does an average adult walking on it. This is a fact, not my opinion. You see, water weighs five pounds per square foot, per inch depth. A deepfill waterbed , when filled correctly, has about inches of water. If you did the math, you would know that it equates to no more than 40 lbs per square foot.