File Storage?
File Storage?
(OP)
I have a structure that I recently designed and is currently under construction. The building is a medical office and was designed using the IBC 2009 with a floor live load of 80psf (we use 80 vs 50 (live) + 20 (par)). There is now a tenant who would like to have a file storage room added to their layout (this after we specifically discussed file storage in meetings and how it wasn't needed). My question is how to figure out if the file storage overloads the floor.
If you figure the actual load of a cabinet on the floor we are talking about 200psf which is nowhere close to working. However, if you add up the total weight of the storage area and then divide it by the floor area it takes up you are looking at a load of 40psf. Now this doesn't figure for any LL around the cabinets which would need to be added.... say at 50psf. Floor construction consists of steel joists at roughly 2'-6" o.c.
How do others figure the effects of file storage on their floors?
If you figure the actual load of a cabinet on the floor we are talking about 200psf which is nowhere close to working. However, if you add up the total weight of the storage area and then divide it by the floor area it takes up you are looking at a load of 40psf. Now this doesn't figure for any LL around the cabinets which would need to be added.... say at 50psf. Floor construction consists of steel joists at roughly 2'-6" o.c.
How do others figure the effects of file storage on their floors?






RE: File Storage?
Once you call the place file storage, someone in the future might go up to the code limit.
RE: File Storage?
RE: File Storage?
Is your case a moving storage system? We have had those too and it presented a very unique challenge to a building engineer.
PE, SE
Eastern United States
"If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death!"
~Code of Hammurabi
RE: File Storage?
In this instance, it doesn't look like rolling storage at all. Just a bunch of cabinets of different sizes with isles in-between. It's kind of late to be bringing this up as the building is almost finished.
RE: File Storage?
Rolling high-density storage, on the other hand, can be bad news. They are called "high-density" for a reason. The equipment salesman will try to justify them claiming that while the floor in the storage area is loaded to, say, 200 psf, the remainder of the room is unloaded so it all evens out in the wash. Don't fall for it. Unless he plans to post a sentry there for as long as the storage equipment is there, at some point the remainder of the bay will also be loaded; nature abhors a vacuum. In short, it's ill-advised, in my opinion.
Also, ASCE-7 has some provision for allowing the overloading of one bay if the other bays are unloaded, but I'm of the opinion that that approach is hare-brained...er, ill-advised, I mean.
RE: File Storage?
RE: File Storage?
This might get your floor to work globally but you also need to look at the local issues with floor slab - or if individual joists are aligned with a line of cabinets where it gets the heavier load along its length.
Also be sure to determine whether the file cabinets are traditional types or if they are fire-safe cabinets which can be much heavier.
RE: File Storage?
The cabinets run parallel with the joists. I also suggested turning them 90 degrees which was shot down by the owner. I guess if I suggest either adding additional joists in-between the existing or turning them 90 degrees which I can get to work.
I just wanted to make sure I wasn't being to harsh on the client.
RE: File Storage?
Dik