Weight concerns : Adding a bath to a room with underfloor heating and floor tiles

[jacko555]

The previous owners of the house I am buying removed the bath from the bathroom, and made a wet room with underfloor heating and large floor tiles.

When we move in, I'd like to add a freestanding bath. I'm able to do the plumbing etc.

My concern is weight. The floor tiles and underfloor heating screed must weigh a lot. Add a freestanding bath, water and 2 people and I'm concerned. It is an old house 90+ years.

How do I get this checked to see if adding a bath will be too much weight? I'm guessing a structural engineer or architect?

I've no idea who to contact to get this checked.

Or am I being overly cautious?

Help!

 

[sircerebus666]

Your freestanding bath is it on legs?

What's the bath made of?

I'm thinking if you just plan to leave the tiles in place the legs of the bath will be bearing all the weight and may damage the tiles

 

[foxhole]

There are millions of homes with baths in, why should yours be any different?

 

[jacko555]

Your freestanding bath is it on legs?

What's the bath made of?

No legs. Wifey has chosen an acrylic tub affair. Odd designer look buy flat base.

There are millions of homes with baths in, why should yours be any different?

Because there's now 16sqm of thick floor tiles at between 20 and 30kg a sq meter, and however much the screed containing the underfloor heating weighs.

Add another 200 to 300kg for the bath full of water and myself and wife in there and it means we have more than doubled the load of the floor, maybe tripled.

Maybe this is all fine and well within tolerances. I have no idea so want someone smarter than me to let me know it's ok.

That's the question - how can I get this checked?

 

[foxhole]

You could have a dozen people in your bathroom weighing 100kg each , the floor would still be fine .

 

[jacko555]

That makes sense.

So let's say a dozen people is 1200kg
The floor tiles, screed, full bath and 2 people (and let's chuck in a loo, massive cheese plant, misc furniture) comes to 1200kg, or even 1500kg

What sort of load is a floor designed to take?

What we if had a party and 12 people came in the bathroom?

I'm not being facetious, genuinely interested.

If a floor can take 5000kg then fine. It it taken 2000kg then we've exceeded it.

Maybe I am worried about nothing. I just won't want the floor crashing down (literally) as I didn't check something that in hindsight was obvious

 

[sircerebus666]

It's a question you have asked that a forum cannot answer

How much weight a floor can take depends on many factors, thickness of joists, spacing of joists , the span of the joists to name a few

If you want to splash the cash and get in a structural engineer to calculate this for you then go ahead , bear in mind it won't be cheap and he will need to damage the fabric of your building to work it out for you

An extra 300 kgs of weight on a floor in the grand scheme of things isn't a lot of weight and as Firefox says is the equivalent of an extra three bodies.

If you believe that your floors are liable to collapse if three extra people walk on it then I suggest you move out immediately and don't move back in until the entire building has been structurally tested and is safe

 

[jacko555]

Ok, that's put in a way that's clear
It's 3 extra people.
It'll be fine

Thank you for bearingwith me