How much floor space does an average person occupy when standing.
How much floor space does an average person occupy when standing.
(OP)
I'm a structural engineer with a friend, who is asking what is the maximum number of people, that her deck can safely support.
What I am trying to do is find an article that answers this question. I did several internet searches and could not find one.
The articles I found all took the deck area and multiplied by 175 then divided by 40. Which for a 12' x 12' deck would give an answer of 32 people. The articles all went on to say that you couldn't put 32 people in a 12' x 12' space.
Her deck provides a very good place to watch fourth of July fireworks, so I can see a lot of people crammed onto her deck.
What I am trying to do is find an article that answers this question. I did several internet searches and could not find one.
The articles I found all took the deck area and multiplied by 175 then divided by 40. Which for a 12' x 12' deck would give an answer of 32 people. The articles all went on to say that you couldn't put 32 people in a 12' x 12' space.
Her deck provides a very good place to watch fourth of July fireworks, so I can see a lot of people crammed onto her deck.





RE: How much floor space does an average person occupy when standing.
Also, 144 X 40psf /200#/person = 29 people, based on loading alone.
Take your pick.
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask
RE: How much floor space does an average person occupy when standing.
I consider 100 PSF (200 pound person occupying an area 1 ft x 2 ft) to be a reasonable number for a packed crowd for two reasons:
1. IBC lists 100 PSF for several applications where crowds gather such as dance halls, restaurants, stairs (perhaps during fire drills), public rooms in hotels, etc.
2. Live load reduction for 100 PSF (and greater) is not allowed by IBC. IMHO, since people could gather just about anywhere for numerous reasons, live load reduction would not be wise anyway.
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RE: How much floor space does an average person occupy when standing.
RE: How much floor space does an average person occupy when standing.
RE: How much floor space does an average person occupy when standing.
I have looked at the deck, it is very solidly built. Like most decks, one of the main weak points is the attachment of the ledger to the house. My friends is concern because her deck is 16'W x 50'L, and about 12' off the ground.
Have talking to her previously, I know to give her an answer of the deck capacity in terms of p.s.f. would not be meaniful to her. Maybe I can give her a rough occupancy estimate based on assuming the weight of a person at 250 lbs. and deviding by the deck capacity to determine the area the 250 lbs were need to be spread over to prevent overloading the deck. I could then adjust that by some swag factor.