I live in a rowhouse just south of Baltimore. It has no garage, but has a basement with concrete floors. Thinking about putting in a home gym, but I am kind of worried about the floors. Anyone know if a residential basement floor would support the weight of a bench, rack, and maybe 300lbs of weights(plus user)?

I'm not an engineer, but I'd say no problem. The 50 gallons of water in your water heater weighs 350# and that's concentrated in a smaller area than a weight bench. Many of us also have gun safes that weigh that much sitting on basement floors. It's dang tough to break 4-6" concrete that is supported by compressed gravel.

Without any admixtures to enhance the concrete, the compressive strength of most concrete mixes will be a little over 3000psi. Most driveways are made with that type of mix, so you should be ok assuming it's at least a 4" slab.

I would recommend going to a tack shop and buying stall mats to lay down to protect the concrete from be chipped by any dropped weights/equipment. It will last longer, and be cheaper per square foot than most products marketed specifically for gym flooring.

You mean will the concrete hold the gym equipment.

Absolutely. If it doesn't you have some real issues.

Your house may tip over, like Guam almost did.

I was going to build a lifting platform with plywood and mats. But have seen a neighbor whose house has cracks all over the floor in the basement. No obvious damage, just cracks.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: buddy357,

It will definitely crack if you drop weights on it. Maybe use a thick rubber matt. It will hold the weight fine.

I was shocked that my Dad's basement is only 2" of concrete. I erroneously thought they were 4" thick.

quote:

Originally posted by buddy357:
I was going to build a lifting platform with plywood and mats. But have seen a neighbor whose house has cracks all over the floor in the basement. No obvious damage, just cracks.

Horse mats (i.e. heavy duty rubber mats) are good unless you're doing olympic lifts then you need a lifting platform.

Thanks for the help. Maybe I was worrying for nothing. My original plan was to set it up in the backyard. But there's no fence and it would all likely disappear pretty quickly if it didn't rust first.

You should have NO problems with workout equipment on that concrete floor. I would not worry about it, at all.

And concrete floors should not "crack" from a dropped weight. Might chip it, but not crack it.

Cracks very likely are coming from some other inherent problem.

My old house had 1" of some sort of concrete. It held all the weights my brother had. It also held tons of coal at one point and a furnace.
Depending on the mason the floor can be good or poorly done.
Should be 4" thick of 3000# or 3500#.
It will chip if you drop weights on it. Rubber matting should be good to keep that from happening.