Hello,
I am considering putting a traditional free standing sauna unit on my second storey floor and am concerned it could cause damage to my hard wood floors or worse fall trough the floor.
The house is located in Saint-Hubert, Quebec in Canada and was constructed in 1995.
The sauna weights a total of 1250 pounds and is 8 feet long by 6 feet wide and 7 feet high.
Is it safe to place such a large heavy unit on a second story floor of an average house? I think I have the buliding specs docuemnt but am not qaulified to interpret such information. I would appreciate nay kind of profesional opinion and advice.
Thank you for your professional expertise and feedback.
Good Morning Jade:
You will have to get the plans for the house, and then contact a structural engineer. Depending on the location and structure, you will most likely need bearing points all the way to the foundation.
Good luck. Another option to consider would be a deck off of the room that you are thinking of installing the hot tub in and have a doorway leading to it. What most people do not consider is the additional weight of the people in the hot tub.
Chuck
Hi Jade, If this is a kit type sauna, you should check the instructions or technical specs to see what the structural requirements are. You also have to add the weight of the maximum number of people in the sauna to arrive at the total you need to securely support. If you have the plans for the house, checking with a structural engineer should be a fairly simple task. You could put your requirements in the "post your projects" section and get some local people to have a look.
Having said that, I did some quick math and determined that the load (empty) is approximately 26 lb / sq. ft. and I think that any floor should be able to support that, assuming it is evenly distributed.
The heat and humidity will definitely affect your hardwood floors. You will need to install or upgrade your exhaust fan to deal with it.
Most saunas I have seen have been installed in basements, on a concrete floor. You might want to consider that option. Absolutely no problem with the weight in that scenario.
Sounds like a great project, Good luck with it!
Jim Kuzma
Kettleby Handyman Services
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