Is it safe to be lifting heavy weights with radiant heating system

icu222much

I am thinking of transforming my spare room which has radiant heating into a home gym. My house is built in the early 90s. I won't be slamming weights onto the ground, but I may occasionally drop 300lbs if I fail my lift. I am wondering if this will be safe for my radiant heating system?

Jamie Hall

It's much more likely to damage your flooring material. I would be genuinely surprised if the impact load from dropping a 300 pound weight bar -- particularly on mats -- would drive enough impact through to get the tubing.

If you are not using mats, though, there is a very good chance that it will damage your flooring.

icu222much

Sorry, I should have mentioned that my flooring is carpet and I plan to use gym mats.

"would drive enough impact through to get the tubing"
Do you mean that it is unlikely that the radiant floor tubing would get damaged?

Jamie Hall

Exactly what I mean. The tubing is beneath at least one layer of subfloor under the carpet, and even cheap construction using 5/8 inch ply is going to absorb the impact.

PC7060

Are these concrete floor with radiant tubing or frames subfloor with tubing and aluminum plate under subfloor?

If concrete, Id pull up carpet and put down a layer of T&G subfloor edge to edge in the room. Top off with 1/2” rubber mat and you’ll had a great room for weights (or yoga!). 

The extras layer will impact heat transfer but I don’t think that will be a problem in a workout room. 

If this is a standard framed floor I’d do same as above but would use a minimum of 3/4” subfloor and would screw the floor off to the subfloor (not joists) at the 1/4” way point between joists.  For example for 16 inch spacing, place the screws at 4 inches or 12 inches between the joists. Best if you do at both point given the heavy impact loads. 

Vibrational forces are maximum at the joist and the mid point; this is why bridge girders are connected at the quarter node points.  Screwing the subfloor at the the 1/4 points will reduce the transmission of vibrations from your workouts through rest of house. 

BDR529

Strong, Law is with Murphy. -Yoda

Zman

If the tubing is in concrete slab on grade or attached to the bottom of plywood, you should be good to go.
You may damage a Roth and possibly gypcrete setup. What type of radiant do you have?

neilc

how about a plywood platform, with deadlift pads?
https://startingstrength.com/article/how-to-build-a-home-gym
(end of the article)
if it adds 3 inches to the floor,
and will you be doing OH presses?
do you have adequate ceiling height ?