Floor load limit

Definition

The posted weight a floor under construction may carry, and the buildings where nobody posts it.

Why It Matters

Stacking board on a deck is a structural question with a federal rule behind it. Stored materials may not exceed a floor's maximum safe load limits, and the employer must post those limits in pounds per square foot in every storage area except on a slab on grade. A 2019 amendment carved single-family and wood-framed multi-family residential structures out of that, and the asymmetry is the thing to see: the carve-out reaches the POSTING only. The duty not to exceed the limit has no exception, so on a house the limit still binds and nobody has written the number down. Material may also not sit within six feet of a hoistway or floor opening, within ten feet of an exterior wall that does not rise above it, or on scaffolds beyond what the immediate work needs. Ask how a load-in is planned on a multi-story job.