Can my home support the weight of a baby grand piano?

[RinOakland]

Hi...I'm just a homeowner here. I'm trying to determine if the living room in my 1928 home can support a baby grand piano.The concern is, the joists span roughly 19’…which sure seems like a lot. Joists are old wood — roughly 2-1/8” (w) x 11-1/2” (t), 16” on center — and the piano would be placed at the very end of the room, so it would at least be close to the supported ends of the joists (as opposed to in the middle).A baby grand is around 500 lbs distributed over 3 legs, in a roughly 5’ x 5’ footprint…do you think it would be okay in here?? No doubt it would be ideal to add a pier under there to properly support, but I’m just trying to determine if it’s okay as-is to move in. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[Violator]

Without crunching numbers 500 lbs isn’t really a lot of weight, especially for that size lumber. & generally houses were built better then-

is the area beneath your living room in a basement or crawl space that you can access?

I don’t think it would be necessary but for comfort you could add some stiffeners (cut some 2X12’s) to fit in between the joist to add some support.

But just imagine all those people that put water beds in their houses in the 80’s. Probably 3X the weight of the piano?

 

[csb]

Hi...I'm just a homeowner here. I'm trying to determine if the living room in my 1928 home can support a baby grand piano.The concern is, the joists span roughly 19’…which sure seems like a lot. Joists are old wood — roughly 2-1/8” (w) x 11-1/2” (t), 16” on center — and the piano would be placed at the very end of the room, so it would at least be close to the supported ends of the joists (as opposed to in the middle).A baby grand is around 500 lbs distributed over 3 legs, in a roughly 5’ x 5’ footprint…do you think it would be okay in here?? No doubt it would be ideal to add a pier under there to properly support, but I’m just trying to determine if it’s okay as-is to move in. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

What do you do for a living? 

 

[RinOakland]

@ViolatorThanks for your note, and appropriate analogy with the waterbed: It reminded me my college roommate put a king-size waterbed on the 3rd floor of an old house way back, probably 2,000 lbs 

I agree, the weight of the piano isn't too crazy, it's more the 19' joist span with no additional supports along the way that worried me. In response to your question, it's crawl space under there -- dirt and rock -- so I could certainly add some sort of support under there if I go this route. I was more curious if it would be okay to move it in as-is, as the movers are wanting to bring it very soon here. I guess if I was rushed I could probably just put a hydraulic jack or two with a horizontal 2x6 right under where the piano is going.

 

[Road Guy]

That does seem like a long distance but keep in mind they are all working together - If I recall from my college days most wood floor joists in houses are designed for something around 10-20 lbs / SF of loading?

(lets see if I remember how to do this)  

So if you have a room thats 19 X 14 = 266 SF

@ 15 lbs/sf ( guess) you would be around 4000 lbs  so I woudlt worry about the floor jacks for 500 lbs either, unless you also have a 400 gallon fish tank in the room?

(inside joke for an old friend) - can you play anything from Cats?

 

[RinOakland]

Well...one other option? It occurred to me that while the joists are 19', that the support wall under one end was actually inset a few feet as the windows are cantilevered. 

In the photos below, the support wall location is represented by the pole sitting on top, and the plates are the legs/pressure points. Obviously the first pic would be safer, but this might seem more feasible as the wall is directly under part of the piano.

Thoughts??

 

[DoctorWho-PE]

Well...one other option? It occurred to me that while the joists are 19', that the support wall under one end was actually inset a few feet as the windows are cantilevered. 

In the photos below, the support wall location is represented by the pole sitting on top, and the plates are the legs/pressure points. Obviously the first pic would be safer, but this might seem more feasible as the wall is directly under part of the piano.

Thoughts??

View attachment 20298View attachment 20297

Curious why you say the first is safer.  The second would take the doubled up load off and have the three point loads influencing a greater width.  The first option two of the legs would be sharing tributary area even though the third would be closer to the support.

 

[RinOakland]

@vhab49_PEVery good point...that would spread things over more joists, whereas in the first pic, I now see 2 of the legs would be on top of the same joist. 

In response to your question though, the reason I thought the first pic might be better was because 2 of the 3 legs are sitting almost directly on top of the supporting wall, which I assume would mean less stress on the joists. As mentioned, I'm not an engineer so I don't know exactly what's best to look at...so your point about distributing the three load points would seem very valid.

 

[Supe]

Try looking at it from a practical perspective - do you think you'd have an issue with three adults standing where those plates are?  Because that's basically your scenario for point loads.  

(Beautiful house by the way!)

 

[Bot-Man]

I have an 1850’s Victorian and placed a baby grande in the living room turret without a second thought. The only way it would be an problem is if the house had serious structural issues. 

 

[RinOakland]

Thanks everyone for all your time and thoughts. As noted, I was originally worried simply because a 19' span for the joists seemed a bit much, but it sounds like the consensus is...it's not a problem. An architect friend also just suggested rolling a marble on the floor before and after the piano is moved in to see if it's creating any change. 

Either way, it sounds like it's fine/safe to move in as-is. And knowing me, I'll probably put a couple footings and posts under there at some point just to be safe, we'll see.

Thank you again!