Q: Is a Gold Crown or Diamond too heavy for a bonus room?

W

wambamcam

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Question- our family is in the early process of picking a home plan to build our house. Haven't spoken to any builders and whatnot, but I'm curious if anyone has placed a large table in their bonus room. The plan my wife really likes has a large 15x20 bonus room over the garage, and it seems like the perfect size for a table.

Has anyone done this? Is a GC or Diamond too heavy for such a room?

Thanks in advance.
 
Just tell the builders what you are doing, 1200ish pounds sitting at 4 points and have them re-enforce the floor. Shouldn't be a huge deal.
 
The others are right about the load carrying capacity of the floor system. But if it is just built to meet code you will have some problems maintaining it level as there will be some movement as the heat and humidity levels change and it will settle some. Do you have any info as to the size and span of the floor joists? Normally bonus rooms are required to be built to meet sleeping room requirements and would be required to support 30 pounds per sq.ft. live load and 10 pounds per sq ft dead load. Dead load being the structure itself and live load being everything else. Other living spaces are required to support 40 and 10.
 
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. We haven't spoken to any builders yet, but I will keep that in mind when I do so.
 
spktur said:
The others are right about the load carrying capacity of the floor system. But if it is just built to meet code you will have some problems maintaining it level as there will be some movement as the heat and humidity levels change and it will settle some. Do you have any info as to the size and span of the floor joists? Normally bonus rooms are required to be built to meet sleeping room requirements and would be required to support 30 pounds per sq.ft. live load and 10 pounds per sq ft dead load. Dead load being the structure itself and live load being everything else. Other living spaces are required to support 40 and 10.
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So...when I stand on one foot...weighing 265lbs...I might fall through the floor?...LOL
 
DoubleD said:
Pool tables really aren't that heavy.

A new gold crown is listed at 525kg (~1200lbs).

Would you have a problem with 6-8 full grown men standing in the middle of such a room?

dld
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Live load and dead load are two different animals...I can hold up 200 pounds for a little while... more than 24 hours and I start to weaken:embarrassed2:...
 
realkingcobra said:
So...when I stand on one foot...weighing 265lbs...I might fall through the floor?...LOL
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No, you won't, those numbers are based on uniform loads and a reasonable allowance for deflection. The deflection of the joist system is the problem for a pool table as it can create a problem maintaining level. Obviously you're not familiar with building codes.
 
softshot said:
Live load and dead load are two different animals...I can hold up 200 pounds for a little while... more than 24 hours and I start to weaken:embarrassed2:...
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In the building codes and architectural design dead load is the allowable load from the materials required to build the structure and live load is all the contents of the area including furnishings and people.
 
Last year, I was in the same place you are. I searched my area for a builder who could make a game room that supported a table. All of them said that I could not put a 9 ft slate pool table on a second floor or it would void my structural warranty. After some diligence, I found two that would reinforce my floor and warranty the work. They both had two different construction methods.

One offered to laminate / double up two 2x10's (perhaps 2x12's don't remember) directly under where the legs of the table would be. They believed the two extra 2x10's together would easily support the table and left the rest of the floor with normal spacing. They also doubled up the sub floor. I went to the pool hall and measured the footprint of the table and they placed the supports accordingly. Cross section of the floor looked something like this.

|____|____|____||____|____|____||____|____|____|

The developers of that sub division were using a central propane scam. (interesting read on the internet) I got out of that house before completion. That was one SOLID floor, most likely due to the 1.5 inch sub floor.

I went to another home builder who used open trusses instead of 2x's. They told me that according to code, normal spacing is 16 inches on center. They said they would build them 12 inches on center. They also said they wouldn't need to double up the sub floor because the load was spread out evenly. I didn't bring a ladder to measure the supports from below but they looked closer together than the other upstairs bed rooms. One area below the game room had 6 inch recessed lights next to each truss (or joist, depending how you look at them.) The 6 inch recessed lights filled up about 60 to 70% of the space between trusses. I'm pretty confident they are 12 inches on center. The floor doesn't feel as solid as the first home, but they only used 3/4 inch subfloor. I think 1.5 inches makes a huge difference on feel.

Looking only at the legs of a table, not the top, the footprint of a 9ft gold crown and a diamond are (roughly) 6 ft x 4 ft. Both my game rooms were about 15 x 24 ft. Not sure which construction method was better. In both rooms the supports ran widthwise.

Looking at normal construction, a room with supports built 16 inches on center gave me 4.5 supports under the table and 18 supports across the width of room in a 24 ft span. Lets compare the two houses.

Construction method 1:
The doubled up 2x's directly under the table's feet at 16 inches on center gave me 6.5 2x's under the table. (72" / 16" = 4.5 ... add two extra 2x's = 6.5) This was 2 extra supports directly under the table compared to standard construction, but no extra support elsewhere. Across the width of the room, this gave me 20 supports plus 1.5 inch thick sub floor.

Construction method 2:
Building trusses 12 inches on center gave me 6 supports under my table compared to 4.5 under normal construction. (72" / 12" = 6) This was 1.5 extra supports directly under the table compared to standard construction. Since the whole game room floor was built 12 inches on center, my 24 ft game room had 24 trusses with 3/4 inch thick standard sub floor.

I think method one might have handled dead load better since the extra supports were directly under the table's feet. I think method two might have handle live load better since the whole floor was evenly stable. I'm no engineer, I had to research myself on construction techniques in a short couple of weeks time span. Either is better than standard construction. I have house 2 now and will be ordering a 9 ft table soon. I'm leaning toward diamond but having trouble finding one at a good price. Whatever you (or your builder) decide, I would definitely beef up the floor, nothing beats piece of mind. Remember that home builders build to meet minimum code. Hope my experience helps.
 
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My garage is roughly 23' x 23' with an 8" I beam down the center. The joists are 2" x 10" on 16" centers and they overlap on the I beam about a foot each way. There are planks on the beam under them:

ry%3D400


This 10' Brunswick Centennial (3pc 1" slate)sits across the I beam ie 2 1/2' each side as the beam runs the 10' length of the table:

ry%3D400


The subfloor is 1" plywood and there is some knd of particle board on that as there was carpet before I installed laminate.

I had a Brunswick 'Prestige' 9' (High-end furniture table) before this and before that I Had a Palmer 'Classic' oversize 8' 3 pc i" slate.

I have had no problems keeping any of the tables level and I plan to get an 8 leg 6' x 12' 5 pc slate table when I find the right deal.
 
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Depends on which way the joist run but 12" or 14" TGI's will be fine. Your builder will have a support through the center of the garage. Anything else will be overkill but 16" TGI's I believe are good for 24' spans. These will be placed on 16" centers too.
 
If this is a bonus room over a garage that is framed out of the trusses, you will definitely need to discuss this with the builder or architect before you start. Also, the Diamond web site states some of their table are for ground level only. I would assume they are concerned with floor deflection.
 
Let your builder know what you are going to do with the room, also let him know what the max capacity ( ppl ) that you would ever see having in the room at any one time. Then have him take that info to his Structural Engineer and design the floor system. Yes it will be over engineered but it needs to be, it is not just weight loads that need be considered but deflection under those loads also.
 
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With those that posted that they had the builder add extra to the flooring and structure, may I ask how much extra that cost? Just wondering how much I should be looking at if I did so and if it would be too cost prohibitive.
 
seb1899 said:
My garage is roughly 23' x 23' with an 8" I beam down the center. The joists are 2" x 10" on 16" centers and they overlap on the I beam about a foot each way. There are planks on the beam under them:

ry%3D400


This 10' Brunswick Centennial (3pc 1" slate)sits across the I beam ie 2 1/2' each side as the beam runs the 10' length of the table:

ry%3D400


The subfloor is 1" plywood and there is some knd of particle board on that as there was carpet before I installed laminate.

I had a Brunswick 'Prestige' 9' (High-end furniture table) before this and before that I Had a Palmer 'Classic' oversize 8' 3 pc i" slate.

I have had no problems keeping any of the tables level and I plan to get an 8 leg 6' x 12' 5 pc slate table when I find the right deal.
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Based on the info you have given it seem your floor system would be designed to support a uniform load of approximately 100 pounds per square foot. And with the table being situated centered over the beam should be solid as a rock.
 
My cost was minimal maybe an extra couple of dollars per board. I increased my joist from 2x8's to 2x10's. If your plans are calling for a bonus room above the garage then it will be designed to meet minimum code requirements. Increasing that for non sleeping area isn't much. I am betting the bonus room will call for 2x10 anyways which would be more than adequate for a pool room.
 
spktur said:
No, you won't, those numbers are based on uniform loads and a reasonable allowance for deflection. The deflection of the joist system is the problem for a pool table as it can create a problem maintaining level. Obviously you're not familiar with building codes.
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If you use low deflection joists they reduce or almost eliminate deflection.

Sorry, couldn't resist... :)

Scott
 
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